Senior starters

Thought I'd take a look at the converse of the Badgers' reluctance to start freshmen -- what is the frequency of senior starters? While UW has had 11 freshmen who were primary starters in the last 26 years, it has had 49 senior starters, according to the team's record book. That's an average of 1.8 a year.

2008 2
2007 3
2006 1
2005 4
2004 2
2003 2
2002 2
2001 4
2000 1
1999 2
1998 2
1997 1
1996 1
1995 3
1994 1
1993 1
1992 1
1991 4
1990 1
1989 2
1988 0
1987 3
1986 2
1985 2
1984 0
1983 0
1982 2

You can't read as much into this as you can into the lack of freshman starters. The only real correlation I see comes in Bo's years: 2006, in which Ray Nixon was the only senior starter, was the Badgers' worst year under Bo (it's all relative, of course: 19 wins and a trip to the NCAA Tournament). Also, the 2005 team, with four senior starters, overachieved in the Big Dance, advancing to the Elite Eight before losing to eventual champ North Carolina.

The 2002, 2003, and 2008 Big Ten championship teams all had just two senior starters. The 2000 team that went to the Final Four had just one, Jon Bryant; that same roster, the next year as seniors, was bounced in the first round by Georgia State. And the 1995 team, with three senior starters, was the most underachieving team in recent memory - no team with Michael Finley and Rashard Griffith should have a losing record.

Experience and leadership are important, but it doesn't necessarily have to come from seniors.

Badger hoops globetrotters

Today the Journal Sentinel had a list of Euroleague basketball players with Wisconsin connections. Very interesting list. Thought I'd take a closer look at the Badgers who are playing internationally.

Jason Chappell, Gussing Knights (Austria)
I'm sort of surprised at this one. J-Cheezy never seemed like the type who cared much about basketball, just played it because he was tall and his dad was great. And there's that whole aspiring fashion designer angle. But he turned out to be a solid contributor to a great team and is now getting played to hoop. When we saw him back in Tucson in September 2004, if you would have told me Chappell would play basketball professionally, I would have told you there was a monsoon coming and the temperature would drop 30 degrees in an hour. Oh wait ...

Rashard Griffith, CSU Asesoft Ploiesti (Romania)
Shard apparently plays for the most successful Romanian club of the past decade. He could play forever over there, couldn't he?

Andreas Helmigk, Allianz Swans Gmunden (Austria)
Wasn't able to interpret much that was written about Andreas, but check out this hottie he married. Way to go, dude!

Danny Jones, Schwetzingen (Germany)
It is shameful that this is the first time Danny Jones has been mentioned on Badgercentric. This guy was the greatest player to wear red when I was a kid, or at least that's how I remember it. Sort of amazing that he's still playing professional ball, he's got to be pushing 40. He still stands 198 centimeters tall, just like in college.

Zach Morley, Leche Rio (Spain)
I took four years of Spanish in high school, and can tell you that Leche Rio means Milk River. Morley hit a big shot this season to give the Prince's Cup to Lugo.

Ray Nixon, Tuebingen (Germany)
Speaking of guys who would have been well-served by a redshirt season ... this guy defied stereotypes by becoming a Wisconsin player who won a slam dunk championship! Click here to see his winning dunk. It's safe to say there are few things funnier than a German-language call of a slam dunk contest. Below is another YouTube video of Nixon dunking, but of very poor quality.



Kirk Penney, Breakers (New Zealand)
Apparently the guy hasn't just given up basketball to hang out with Andy North. He was first team NBL last season after averaging 24 points per game, and guess who one of his teammates is? Rick Rickert! Here's an interview with him from three months ago.



Kammron Taylor, L'Hospitalet (Spain)
Do yourself a favor and visit this team's official website — it's funky fresh! Best I can tell, Kamm, playing primera temporada, led the team in total puntos and tres-puntos made, was second in assistos. And his middle name is Harry.

Mike Wilkinson, Khimki (Russia)
Wilk has been granted Macedonian citizenship and plays for the Republic of Macedonia national team. What?!? Who does the ol' US of A turn to at power forward next time Elton Brand blows out his knee? Just kidding, Wilk's doing fine - 8.6 ppg and 4.4 rpg at last check. Notable teammates include Daniel Ewing and Pat Burke. Tell you what: I wouldn't dare fail to hedge out on a screen or miss a box out with those coaches glowering from the bench.

That's all I was able to glean in 45 minutes, maybe I'll revisit this post again and bring my personal translator, Babel Fish, with me. If anyone has any more info about these dudes please post a comment.

Introducing Ryan Evans

Last week Wisconsin added a fifth recruit to this fall's incoming class of freshmen. The kid's name is Ryan Evans, and he's a 6-6 forward from Phoenix. Apparently he's grown about 10 inches since his freshman year, and still growing. My thoughts:

-Like that this adds athleticism to the class, and have hopes for Robert Wilson and Evans as defenders/slashers.

-I saw at least one comparison to Ray Nixon, but when I saw the measurables and a picture, the name that came to mind was Maurice Linton.

-He seems to have been an under-the-radar type who was a long shot to land a scholarship from a BCS school. In fact, the talk had been that he might come to Madison as a walk-on. Some observers are startled at the move, but Evans was one of the best players on one of the best teams in Arizona's largest high school division, so I'm confident he has some game.

Check out this video suggested by Mr. Man. You'll see a lot of dunks, some made 3-pointers (jumper will probably need a little tweaking), and some nice hustle.

-Like the 3.3 GPA.

-Don't like that this class ties up five scholarships. Having that many tied up in one class leads to imbalance that we have not seen yet under Bo. Bo's first class had five signees, but one of them never made it to campus.

-When Schwalbach emailed me the Evans news, his subject line was "No Jamil Wilson." And my heart dropped! Because in theory, that's what this means - we now have two scholarships open for next year's class, and those are committed to Diamond Taylor and Mike Bruesewitz.

Here's the thing, though: Jamil has said he won't make his college choice official until March 8, 2009, his late mother's birthday. I've also read that he's delaying his announcement in order to get his high school teammates some recruiting attention, which if true is admirable.

As evidenced from the redshirt post, lots can happen in a year, namely transfers. I wouldn't bet against a departure from the program sometime in the next 12 months. It's inappropriate to start or advance rumors on who, but there is at least one logical candidate given the two 7-footers arriving in Madison this fall.

In the short term, it's exciting to add another prospect to next year's team. Time will tell if giving Ryan Evans a scholarship was the right move.

Redshirts

All this talk about Butch and Stiemsma has me thinking about the pros and cons of redshirting in college basketball. Certainly sometimes in works out. In Butch's case, we got more out of him as a 23-year-old senior than we would have as an 18-year-old freshman. And as you've read, I think Stiemsma could have been a similar case.

But what about guys who might never contribute, and redshirting just keeps them in the program for another year, tying up a scholarship? Let's take a look at the incoming recruiting classes under Bo.

2008 freshmen: Tim Jarmusz, Keaton Nankivil, Jon Leuer. None of them redshirted. Leuer played a lot early, not much late, but showed great potential. Jarmusz was solid in action late in the season. Nankivil hardly played at all, but should play a lot next year. Even though his body was ready to compete in the Big Ten, he was blocked by Butch and Stiemsma, and in my opinion should have redshirted this season.

2007 freshman: Trevon Hughes, Jason Bohannon, J.P. Gavinski. J-Bo played the most of the three, and had his moments. That team needed him, especially at the end of the season. Hughes had a nice game against Marquette, not much else, but he didn't seem like a redshirt candidate either. Gavinski redshirted, and right now I'm dubious that he'll make an impact on this program. But I thought the same thing as someone else I'll review here in a minute, and he turned into a contributor, and don't like it when guys get labeled "busts" early in their careers, so let's give him time.

2006 freshmen: Joe Krabbenhoft, Marcus Landry, Mickey Perry. Krabby and Landry played right away, Landry would have been an even bigger contributor if not for his academic problems. Perry redshirted and left early in his redshirt freshman season. My question is, why did it take him that long to come to the conclusion he wasn't going to get the playing time he was looking for? In any event, at least he moved on and freed up a scholarship, best of luck to him.

2005 freshmen: Greg Stiemsma, Michael Flowers, DeAaron Williams. Stiemer and Flowers played right away, and you know how I feel about the former's decision not to redshirt. Williams was an academic casualty. Had he stuck around I think he would have made an impact as a defender and hustle guy.

2004 freshmen: Brian Butch, Kammron Taylor (Zach Morley was a JC transfer). Butch redshirted, wise move. Kam didn't even though he was clearly lost out there and made no impact. Maybe he would have benefited from another year of seasoning.

2003 freshmen: Alando Tucker, Ray Nixon, Jason Chappell, Boo Wade, Marcettus McGee. McGee had problems and never made it to Madison. Wade contributed right off the bat, flamed out later, but his decision not to redshirt was a good one. Nixon was a young freshman and didn't play much, and could definitely have used another year. Tucker was ready to play right away, and eventually took an injury redshirt, but his decision was correct. J-Cheezy for some reason did not redshirt as a freshman and played about 15 minutes. He took an injury redshirt later, and while I lamented the fact he was tying up a scholarship, he eventually became a dependable player as a fifth-year senior. So there's hope for Gavinski.

In this fall's incoming class, you've got to think Jared Berggren and Jordan Taylor will play right away, Ian Markolf might be a project and redshirt candidate, and even if their offensive games are raw, Robert Wilson and Ryan Evans might see time as perimeter defenders.

The guys who redshirted as freshmen were Butch, Williams, Perry, and Gavinski. Hard to argue that redshirts work out for the best - one for four. But that one is so hard to ignore. Because of he redshirted, Butch had three productive years at UW (averaged 9.9 ppg as a sophomore), if not four (he played almost 10 minutes per game as a redshirt freshman, slightly less than what Stiemsma played as a senior) instead of two or three.

In basketball more than football, incoming recruits expect to play right away, and a pattern of redshirting probably works against a program. But there is merit in developing the right guys over a longer period of time. Emphasis on the right guys - if you made a recruiting mistake, get it out of your system ASAP. Wisconsin is not the kind of program that is going to attract the supremely talented one-and-done guys making a layover on their way to the NBA, so why not give them more time to grow?

What do you guys think?