By Peter Cameron, BADGER STRIPES
When Wisconsin tipped off their first exhibition game last week against UW-Stevens Point, phenom Connor Essegian was in an unusual spot: the bench. It was an eyebrow-raising decision, especially for those of us expecting a big jump from the 6’4? shooting guard in his sophomore season, when many players take a big jump.
It’s the correct call from Coach Greg Gard and staff.
The unheralded rookie Essegian caught Badger fans and the Big Ten by surprise last year, lighting it up in the first half of the season and helping to keep a shorthanded Wisconsin team in every game they were healthy. He set a Wisconsin record for most three-point baskets made in a season — 69 — and finished the season with a points per game average of nearly 12 and a three point shooting percentage of 36%.
But the young sharp shooter was forced into the starting lineup midway through the year, in part because the thin roster struggled to score. Essegian has a great shooting stroke, but he wasn’t ready defensively or physically, and stronger and more veteran players often took advantage.
Then he hit the freshman wall late in the season, shooting 16-72 from three — a dreadful 22% — in the last six weeks.
The Badgers will likely need much more from Essegian in March to make a deep run in the NCAA tournament.
And imagine his numbers if he puts together a full season.
Now, after an off-season in the weight room, Essegian has noticeably put on 10 pounds of muscle and should be better prepared for the rigors of a Big Ten season.
But the Badgers added the 6’6? sophomore transfer AJ Storr, another sharp shooter who is a monster in transition. He runs the floor and can get easy baskets, often with crowd-arousing hammer dunks in transition. Essegian has been pushed back to the bench — at least in the Badgers exhibition against UW-Stevens Point last week. After leading the Badgers in scoring in that game and in the Red and White Scrimmage, the starting lineup almost certainly will be the same tonight when the Badgers open their season tonight at the Kohl Center against Arkansas State.
Storr must be in the starting line up. The Rockford native Storr shot 40% from three in his first college season last year with St. John’s, and he shot 2-3 from deep against UW-Stevens Point, touching no rim on his makes and swishing a third that was waived off.
Senior Max Klesmit, the hard-nosed two-way player from Neenah, also needs to not only start but also play as much as possible, to defend opponents’ top perimeter players and bring his general toughness to the floor.
Seeing the freshman star Essegian on the bench might be confusing for Badger fans, and maybe for the sophomore shooter also, but it makes the most sense. While depth was a weakness last year, head coach Greg Gard and staff have turned it into a strength. Landing Storr, a player nearly every major program wanted, was a huge get, and the three freshman scholarship players, 6’11” Nolan Winter, 6’9? Gus Yalden (when he returns), and 6’4? John Blackwell are ready to play now.
Super senior Tyler Wahl will be gone next year, and perhaps sliding Storr into his power forward position will allow Essegian to enter the starting lineup as the #2 or #3 in a three-guard line up with Klesmit, who has already announced he is returning for his fifth, Covid year (along with fellow seniors Stephen Crowl, the starting center, and reserve forward Carter Gilmore).
Of course, keeping a budding star like Essegian happy is a good idea, and he was likely one of three players Gard said had been recruited hard by other schools with big NIL deals in the off-season. Who was trying to poach Essegian? He’s from Indiana. But he also grew up a Michigan fan. Probably the Hoosiers, as the Wolverines don’t seem to be all in on NIL (yet), as seen by Hunter Dickinson’s abandonment of the program over the issue. Chucky Hepburn, the point guard from Omaha, almost certainly had a big NIL offer dangled to him from the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Who’s the third player? I don’t know.
In other news
Yalden, the Badgers’ prized 4-star, in-state recruit, has taken a mysterious leave of absence from the team, Gard announced before the exhibition.
A statement released by the team aid he needs to “to address a personal family matter.”
Badger fans (including this one) immediately worried and thought of Lorne Bowman, a promising guard who apparently struggled with mental health in his two seasons at UW and doesn’t even seem to be in college basketball this year after playing sparingly last season for Oakland University in Michigan.
Yalden has seemed all in with UW, and said he was “home” on social media when he first arrived on campus this summer.
The Appleton native put out his own statement last week through the team’s social media channels, thanking fans for the support he’s received and vowing to be back “soon.”
“Playing for Wisconsin has been a goal and a dream of mine since I was a kid and I’m looking forward to seeing Badger Nation at the Kohl Center soon. On, Wisconsin!”
Badger Stripes is a sports news organization that provides in-depth coverage of Wisconsin athletics. Follow us on Facebook.
