The Badger program has not taken the modern path to being a preseason national title contender in 2020-21. Wisconsin is in fact banking on the exact antithesis of the one-and-done era next season: They will likely start five seniors.
Fresh off of winning a share of the Big Ten regular season crown at Indiana with a starting lineup that consisted of five juniors who all return to Madison next season, Wisconsin basketball has sky-high expectations in 2021.
ESPN’s Jeff Borzello recently released his way-too-early top 25 along with projected starting lineups, and the Badgers found themselves at No. 7 overall. The more interesting note from a Wisconsin perspective, however, was in analyzing the projected starting lineups that Borzello and ESPN laid out with the rankings. The Badgers will likely have D’Mitrik Trice, Brad Davison, Aleem Ford, Nate Reuvers, and Micah Potter as their starting five. An all-senior starting five in this era of college basketball for a preseason contender? Almost unheard of.
Wisconsin basketball has always gone against the one-and-done grain. Senior leadership has been essential to the successful Badger teams over the past decade, while one-and-done five-star talent has gone elsewhere. This is apparent next season as the Badgers are not only the lone team in ESPN’s preseason top 10 with five seniors projected as starters, but also the only team with four or more. In fact, only two teams, Baylor and UVA, have three seniors projected as starters next season according to the ESPN projections. Of the two, only Baylor actually had three projected senior starters who were on the active roster last season.
The numbers for traditional blue bloods are even more alarming. Michigan State, Kansas, and Duke are all top 10 teams next season according to ESPN. Their projected starting lineups include a combined two seniors in Kansas guard Marcus Garrett and MSU big man Xavier Tillman, the latter of which is likely to be NBA bound.
Wisconsin is breaking the mold next season in a major way, and time will tell if the experience pays off in March.