Madison, WI– College basketball season is just around the corner, with Wisconsin men’s basketball set to begin their first official day of practice next week. And as has long been a tradition in Madison, the Badgers wrapped up this offseason’s edition of ‘The Hill,’ where the team runs on Bascom Hill for conditioning ahead of the year.
Following Friday’s session, head coach Greg Gard met with a handful of media members in attendance.
On how he feels about this offseason for Badgers
“Yeah, I think this is always the first step, when kids get back to campus and into September. And, for these three weeks we’ve been out here, gym, the weight room… they’ve been terrific. We’ve been able to indoctrinate the two new guys, with Aleksas (Bieliauskas) and Hayden (Jones). And, they’ve hit the ground running.
And, they’ve attacked this hill, all 15 of them, or 13, we’ve had Nick Boyd and Greppi on an injury minimization plan, which is normal when we have guys that we don’t want running it and pounding it consistently.
But, they’ve all done a really good job. And, this is real. It’s intense, it’s hard. And, they do a good job of disciplining themselves throughout the week, and today. But, it’s as much mental as it is physical, and that is intentional.
I’m happy with where we are. But, this is just phase one, and we jump to another phase on Monday afternoon.”
On how Hayden Jones and Aleksas Bieliauskas have transitioned and settled in
“I think both Hayden and Aleksas, you can tell, even if they’re freshmen in the program, their experiences have put them ahead. They’ve played on a world stage, they’ve played in the systematic things that we do.
And, it’s probably a little bit easier for Hayden coming from New Zealand. Obviously, he’s traveled the world, but, the language barrier, English is still a prominent language in New Zealand and Australia. Aleksas, his English is good, but, just insert yourself in a different country that you’ve never been in.
I think the team, and their teammates, have all done a really good job of putting arms around him, and having him acclimate. There’s always an adjustment period, but from where he was two weeks ago to now… I think more and more comfortable, and he really likes being around here.”
On communications with players while they are abroad, national team work
“Yeah, well they are really busy. When they are with their national teams, the scheduling is pretty packed. They are practicing, they are traveling, playing. So, there’s not a lot of free time for them.
And, for two freshmen, from an NCAA standpoint, if they can’t be here for the full eight weeks, then they are not allowed to come. So, we couldn’t piecemeal the Summer together.
After you finish your first year of college, you can do that, you can go with your national team for two weeks, come back for three, whatever that may be. But, as an incoming freshman, you have to be here for eight weeks, or not at all. There is no in between, and that’s not a Wisconsin thing, that’s an NCAA thing, that we had to follow, and they were busy, too.
Not a whole lot of down time in that span, anyway.”
On helping guys like Jones and Bieliauskas get up to speed
“Well, their experience is what helps them, and gets them off to such a fast start. They’ve played at a world level, against other countries. The systems they come from, the programs they come from, what they are exposed to.
They are exposed to more mature players, and there is a transformation into our program. I think that is where you really lean into your older guys, and quite frankly, the guys that have been around college basketball.
Nick Boyd, Andrew Rohde, guys that have been around the block so to speak, and that helps, anytime you can bring experience in.
Obviously Janicki, Blackwell, Winter have all been with us for three years. So, older guys helping the younger guys, whether they are coming from Middleton and DePere, our two in-state kids, or coming from thousands of miles away, the older guys help out the transition.”
On any thoughts on how the Big Ten schedule shook out
“Yeah, I had seen it weeks before they actually released it last night. So, hey, you’re playing 20 games against 17 other teams. We knew who our ‘two-plays’ were going to be anyway.
And, it’s gonna be challenging regardless. I know we get five out of seven on the road at the end. You wrap up at Purdue… I always look and see where we wrap up at, and that tells me what everybody else on the outside thinks about us.
So, we are going to Purdue, which, could be the preseason top team in the country. So, that tells me that I know what the outside world thinks of Purdue, I think we are pretty highly thought of, too.
And, they usually try to…it doesn’t always work out that way. We’ve seen it work out in other ways, where, I think they are anticipating late-season matchups having a lot of weight to them, and a lot of meaning behind them.”
On how meaningful it is to have an exhibition against a team like Oklahoma
“Yeah, you might sometimes walk into shallow water first, and then hit deeper water. But, it’s gonna be a great atmosphere to be able to go to Milwaukee. I think anytime that you can take this program out to other parts of the state, and get Badgers fans across the state to Milwaukee, where we have so many loyal fans.
They get to see us in a different light, and they also sometimes maybe can’t get to the Kohl Center on a consistent basis. And, the fan base here has been terrific. I’ve been getting reports on season tickets and renewals, that are through the roof.
We’ve had many, many, several hundred new accounts, and new season ticket holders. The renewal rate is at an all time high, so there is some outside fan base and excitement around the team.
And then playing Oklahoma, you’re going to get a well-coached team right out of the gates. So, you can learn a lot, and I’ll be learning from that one about our guys, and hopefully when we get back there in December, we’re a much better team than we had been, and continuing to trend upward.
What we see in October won’t be a finished product, and same for Porter (Moser)’s team. That is the whole point of this, to grow, and find out a lot of answers about yourself, and get yourself tested. See how we learn ourselves, I think first, because you have so many new faces.
I think we’ve done a really good job of playing a lot this Summer: more five-on-five than we ever have. I think that has really helped with establishing roles, and hopefully down the road, that will help because of the advancements we have made throughout the off-season.”
On why he feels this season’s expectations are so high
“You start with who you return, and you return three really good players. You know, two guys in Blackwell and Winter that have really bright futures at the next level. And, they are really guys that have grown in their game.
Their bodies have gotten so much better, obviously they came off of really good years, and John and Nolan cross halftime now of their college careers, to take another step. And Jack has continued to improve. His shooting has gotten so much better, he won just about every rep on The Hill, other than when he had to carry the sign, for three weeks.
He has just dedicated himself to taking another jump. Then, you add a premier point guard in Nick (Boyd), an experienced wing in Andrew Rohde, player of the year as a freshman award out West, Austin Rapp, pieces of the bigs, and even our freshmen.
Hayden’s come in and really opened eyes, we talked about Aleksas, but Kinziger and Garlock, too. One we didn’t really know how Will would come in, and we haven’t had a guy that can run and jump like 7-1, 260 as a freshman in a long, long time.
And I don’t know when that is gonna translate to actual playing time, I really like what I see from him and what his future can be. I don’t know whether that will be November, or February, or down the road.
But, he has got a bright future. There are some tools that at this level, are really valuable and how he moves. And, he has been a sponge. Really that whole group.
I don’t see a weak link in the whole group. It is going to be competitive, and I can only play five at a time. So, that is what starts on Monday, trying to really establish who is going to be in the rotation. Maybe you are gonna start, maybe you won’t, maybe you don’t start in November, maybe you do in January.
It is a long season, and it is going to take everybody. And that is what this group has understood– about teamwork, togetherness, and as a coach… I get asked about it a lot with the portal and comings and goings, does it impact your roster and chemistry?
It can if you let it, and it can if you don’t have the right people in your locker room. So it is so important to get like-minded people, and if you’re gonna be here for eight months or four or five years, the mission and the goals collectively, are the same.
Win a championship, they want to play deep into March. They know it is going to be a long journey, and they know we are going to have to do it together. You can’t separate through that.”