ESPN’s Jeff Borzello released a new way-too-early Top 25 recently for the upcoming college basketball season and ranked the Badgers at No. 7, two spots up from their slot at No. 9 in his previous ranking.
“The Badgers keep sliding up a few notches in my rankings with every new edition. Not because they’re adding players or getting positive personnel news but because a team that shared the Big Ten regular-season title and brings back all five players who started the final game of the season is hard to ignore,” the article reads. “What changed over the final month, when Wisconsin won its final eight games? The Badgers became an elite offensive unit, despite losing double-figure scorer Kobe King in late January, and it was mostly thanks to two things: perimeter shooting and Micah Potter.”
Borzello continued by citing the team’s projected starting lineup, one which will be veteran-heavy and contain all guys who surpassed or neared a scoring average of double figures last season.
D’Mitrik Trice (9.8 PPG, 4.2 APG)
Brad Davison (9.9 PPG, 4.3 RPG)
Aleem Ford (8.6 PPG, 4.4 RPG)
Nate Reuvers (13.1 PPG, 4.5 RPG)
Micah Potter (10.1 PPG, 6.2 RPG)
Not much will change between now and when sports–college basketball in this case–can come back but all the early rumblings are pointing towards great things for Greg Gard‘s team in 2020-21.