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I just don't see how Gard sells this team. I think guys you get in the portal will be guys without much options to go anywhere else like low end starters or D2 guys without other D1 offers.The next 2 transfer portal dominos have fallen. AJ Storr and Gus Yalden have entered the portal and will likely be playing elsewhere next season. Storr is of course going to test the NBA waters first and get an evaluation.
If Storr stays in college and ends up at another school, it will be his 7th school in 7 years if I heard it correct. Yalden just never got started on the right foot at the UW with his underage drinking and pot disciplinary issues. He too is a bit of a nomad always searching for a new/better team as he played for multiple high schools and AAU programs.
Gard will need to hit the portal hard to add a 3 and a 4. I don't have much faith he'll get much done. Maybe he'll surprise me.
Said this before, if you want to play pro basketball you don't go to WisconsinI don't wonder that Storr decided to enter the portal. It would give him a choice outside Madison. I'm not certain how well he'd be welcomed back, if he decided to opt out of the draft. He'd kind of said, by putting his name out there, he was ready to move on.
Also, as I said, I'm not certain he was that enthused with how Gard wanted the game played. It could be stifling, until he'd let lose and just play the way he knew how.
I am not too comfortable with the Blackwell situation either. I have this horrible feeling he's going to decide the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. Hepburn plays the old school game exactly the way Gard wants it, and both Blackwell and McGee are kind of loose cannons by comparison, despite the fact that their game really does give the offense a boost, and their defense is a little more aggressive.
As far as recruits, I wonder how many will pull the plug if Krabbenhoft ends up taking a head coaching job somewhere else. I know his name is in the ring for Southern Illinois University down in Carbondale. They are DI, but a lower level. Krabby's ability to recruit could well take away a lot of the Badgers power in that department. In fact, I'd say, that if Krabby is offered, and takes the job real soon, some of these guys could follow him. That could even include Storr.
What would really torque my jaws is if Essegian went to somewhere like Indiana, and we ended up playing them twice next year, and he put up huge numbers. I'd be willing to pay for the tar and feathers to ride Gard out of town on a rail.
I just don't like the way Gard handles his players. Even if he won a national championship, I'd feel the same way.
Many of these kids will learn they are overvaluing themselves just like pro players do and that there will not be teams willing to pay their price and will have to lower their value if they want to find a job.Now that Storr put a $1 mill price tag on his spending another year in college, we know exactly where NIL has gone. Apparently he was offered $750k in NIL money to go to Kansas, and they won't up the ante.
Like I've been saying, based on what I knew back when it first started, it's all about the money, and guys moving around to get it.