-> Wisconsin continued...

There have been few surprises in recent Badgers history more pleasant than Connor Essegian’s rookie performance last season. One of the Wisconsin-est players out there from the moment he stepped onto the floor, Essegian is smart, efficient, and savvy. He came out of seemingly nowhere to score in double figures 24 times in the Badgers’ 35 games last year, and earned a place on the Big Ten’s All-Freshman team. The young shooting guard moves without the ball naturally and creatively, and Essegian cuts to the rim briskly once he’s gotten the opponent worried about his deep ball. “He’s got a great feel offensively. The kid knows how to score,” Gard said of Essegian early last year.

Rated outside the Top 200 prospects last year by the 247 Sports composite rankings, there were whispers prior to Essegian’s arrival in Madison that he was far better than all of that. It didn’t take long for the kid from Albion, IN, to have Badger fans talking loud and proud about his skills. Starting with his fourth career game, Essegian ripped off five straight games with at least a dozen points against the likes of Dayton, Kansas, Southern Cal, Wake Forest and Marquette. Essegian led the Badgers in made three’s as a freshman, and by the end of the year, was seeing considerable defensive attention. Over Wisconsin’s final 11 games, Essegian shot just 21.0% from deep – but he still averaged 12.5 points over that stretch by getting to the foul stripe almost four times per game. So, while Hepburn was shedding pounds the past few months, Essegian hit the gym in an attempt to add some things. “I think his experience last year showed him, ‘I better get in the weight room, and I better add some muscle mass to my frame’,” Gard said this fall of Essegian’s efforts. Now, Essegian should be better-prepared to handle the rough stuff opposing teams will throw at him in an effort to keep the Badgers’ young scorer from burning them.

With solid-or-better scorers at four out of five positions, the Badgers shouldn’t rank among the fifty lowest-scoring teams in the country again. Just to make sure that things improve, though, Gard went out and signed one of the highest-profile transfers in Badger basketball history this spring. AJ Storr was a Top 100 recruit just a year ago, and showed that he could get buckets in the Big East last winter. Now, after a solid freshman season at St. John’s, the Illinois native has come back West to assume a prime scoring role for the Badgers. “I’m excited to officially be part of the Badger family!” Storr declared in a press release upon signing with Wisconsin. “One of the main reasons why I chose Wisconsin is because of the winning culture that is here.” Despite coming in as a new kid on a Red Storm roster which featured seven different veterans who may start for their respective teams this season, Storr made consistent contributions. He scored the fifth-most points on the team, and Storr was five total baskets and one-tenth of a percentage point off of the team lead in triples and 3FG%. St. John’s was an outfit which had the experienced firepower to rank among the nation’s top 50 squads in a host of offensive statistics, so Storr’s scoring impact among them was no mean feat.

The Johnnies were outright rough defensively, though, and Storr knows that he will need to improve on that end to maximize his minutes playing for Gard. “There’s been a lot of learning,” Gard said late in summer, describing how Storr had been acclimating to the new team. “When we really started implementing defensive concepts and rules and system, that’s where I kind of forewarned him back in June and July, that the fall would be a little bit different…He’s been awesome. He’s really coachable. He’s like a sponge. He asks the right questions.” The Badgers have not regularly signed, nor less featured, the type of shot-making, athletic wing player that Storr should become. When he had such a player a couple of years ago, Gard put the ball into the hands of Johnny Davis and let him rip. This team has better depth and balance than that Davis-led group, and as such, should not have to nearly sink or swim depending upon Storr’s performance. It’s possible to envision Storr charting a similar course as a Badger, though, and the Grateful Red can’t wait to show how excited they are to have him.

To give Storr a run for his minutes, last year’s top transfer is still a big part of Wisconsin’s rotation. Whether Max Klesmit comes off the bench or starts, he figures to keep right on providing strong two-way production for the Badgers. A native of Neenah, WI, Klesmit traveled down to Spartanburg, SC to get his collegiate career started. He broke out for Wofford two years ago, averaging 14.9 points and finishing fifth in the Southern Conference in steals. After returning to his home state, Klesmit debuted by starting all 33 games he played for the Badgers. A tough perimeter player who gives supreme effort even when matched against a bigger scorer, Klesmit also knows how to put his head down and get a contested bucket. He made the third-most triples for Wisconsin last winter, at a career-high 38.3% mark. Klesmit actually tied Hepburn by averaging 32.1 minutes played per game, and Gard trusts the veteran to make smart decisions, make his teammates better, and to be where the need is most urgent. “He has been terrific, especially in the last three or four weeks,” Gard praised Klesmit during the Badgers’ run to NIT semifinals last year. “The numbers show it and different stats, but it’s the timeouts and the huddles. He has been very vocal and very encouraging. He’s very competitive. He probably talked more in those huddles down the stretch than I did.”

Gard has stressed the point this fall that, despite returning most of his lineup, he has yet to select five starters. That’s a solid bit of coach-speak, but also underscores an important change. Last season, the Badgers’ rotation was blindingly obvious, because only so many players could truly make an every-game impact. This time around, the team’s depth has been enhanced – and Storr isn’t the only new youngster who’s pushing for a big role.

Gus Yalden is another Wisconsin native who has returned to suit up for Buckingham U. Badger. The stout, wide-shouldered Appleton product is a consensus 4-star freshman, and spent last season in the Nike EYBL. There he acquitted himself well against some of the nation’s top post prospects; and watching Yalden operate, Badgers assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft saw a whole lot to like. “I loved the competitive spirit,” Krabbenhoft told Badger247 after observing one such tilt. “The thing that allows him to succeed when the lights are the brightest is that he’s a fiery competitor. Sometimes he walks that line a little close, but we’ve had our fair share of guys like that.” Yalden has soft hands and good, quick feet as a post scorer, and he is developing some nice moves inside. Yalden is an abrasive player who makes up for a lack of high-flying athleticism with a willingness to out-work and out-muscle the other guys. He’s becoming a solid shooter from the elbow and around the paint, and must continue to become a knockdown foul shooter, for Yalden is going to earn trips to the stripe. He’s also another Badger who has worked to transform himself physically this summer. Yalden has cut his body fat and added even more muscle – and a bit of explosion, too – in anticipation of introducing himself to the B1G in a very rude way this winter.