Heading into the 2020-21 season, the chatter surrounding Wisconsin basketball all dealt with continuity. The Badgers returned more than 80% of their scoring from a team that had just pulled off a miraculous late winter run to a Big Ten regular season title.
This season, Badger fans will be watching a nearly all-new cast of characters wearing the red and white. Aside from returning graduate senior Brad Davison, the Badgers feature a number of young players, new faces, and transfers looking to make an impact.
If you watched a Wisconsin basketball broadcast last season, you may have heard everybody’s favorite note discussed a time or two. No, it’s not that Davison was a quarterback in high school and it doesn’t have to do with Barry Alvarez’s relatives. Instead, it was the fun fact that Wisconsin’s 2020-21 starting lineup had an older average age than the 2020-21 Chicago Bulls.
For much of the year, the Badgers started five seniors and had the oldest starting lineup in college basketball. While the starting lineup for this season isn’t even a sure thing quite yet, the Badgers are getting younger.
How much younger? Last season, Wisconsin basketball’s average age was 22.6 years old. This year? The Badgers will field a team with an average age of just 19.5 years.
The journey starts tonight, as Wisconsin takes on UW-Whitewater in an exhibition to begin their 2021-22 campaign.