Wisconsin basketball head coach Greg Gard met with reporters on Wednesday in advance of the university’s winter sports postseason reception.
There were numerous pressing topics, including the program’s lack of transfer portal success, the program’s direction and the state of the sport as a whole.
Related: An updated list of Wisconsin basketball’s transfer portal targets
However, no topic was more pressing than the departures of stars A.J. Storr and Chucky Hepburn.
Gard elaborated on the context behind their decisions and what he felt about the situation:
“If anybody in their right mind told any of you guys or gals that you could go triple your income by taking a different job, you’d do it in a heartbeat. No questions asked,” Gard said. “Did we all not want to see them go? Yea, of course. Love those two kids; they were great for us. But I understand the landscape we’re in. I would tell my kid probably to do the same thing if I was in that position.”
Wisconsin’s head coach was clear in his message: He understands the current landscape and the players’ perspective.
“The earning power window is really small,” Gard continued. “And when they have those type of opportunities in front of them, that’s hard to say no to. So I don’t begrudge them at all for that.”
Here’s his full answer, courtesy of WKOW’s Karley Marotta:
Greg Gard talks about NIL and the transfer portal as well as Chucky and AJ leaving.
“If anybody in your right mind told any of you guys that you could go triple your income by doing a different job, you would do it in a heartbeat.” #Badgers @WKOW pic.twitter.com/K25Cm5Q10F
— Karley Marotta (@Karley_Marotta) April 24, 2024
For context, Gard also noted Hepburn’s representation did not give Wisconsin a chance to match any name, image and likeness licensing offer before he entered the open market. Meaning the Badgers fell on the wrong side of the unfortunate reality that college basketball has become. He also said the program’s NIL budget tripled from year-to-year, but in that time the market increased fivefold.
The only thing Gard and his staff can do now is retool the 2024-25 team, work on retaining the remaining talent and return to winning on the court. A strong 2024-25 campaign with top point guard Daniel Freitag leading the show could be what’s necessary to get buy-in from the fan base and continue to see the NIL budget increase.
Players will transfer out, it’s the nature of the sport today. But wins on the court is still the one thing that defines programs. And Wisconsin hasn’t started losing on the court quite yet.
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