Wisconsin Basketball Thread 2021-2022

[Brewcrew82]

3 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Everyone who played in 2020 was given the extra year of eligibility if they wanted it. All indications were that Tyler Wahl was leaving after this, his SR year. There are now rumblings that he MIGHT be thinking about coming back for 23-24.

That would be huge.

Would make sense as he has no legitimate NBA prospects unless he suddenly turns into a 35% (at least) three-point shooter. Lights will never be brighter for him than in college, so might as well suck as much as you can out of it. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 hours ago, Brewcrew82 said:

Would make sense as he has no legitimate NBA prospects unless he suddenly turns into a 35% (at least) three-point shooter. Lights will never be brighter for him than in college, so might as well suck as much as you can out of it. 

It would make sense for you & I, but UW has a history of guys who usually have pretty promising lives waiting for them once they leave college. He strikes me as someone who would be ready for what's next after four years. I think he's a finance major. Would love to see him continue the ride though.

Any NBA potential he might have would, I assume, come from being someone who can guard multiple spots on the floor. But that's pretty specialized. 

[UpandIn]

5 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

It would make sense for you & I, but UW has a history of guys who usually have pretty promising lives waiting for them once they leave college. He strikes me as someone who would be ready for what's next after four years. I think he's a finance major. Would love to see him continue the ride though.

Any NBA potential he might have would, I assume, come from being someone who can guard multiple spots on the floor. But that's pretty specialized. 

Those lives will be waiting for them when they're 24 or 25 either way.

Plus, he'll likely be making as much in NIL as he would his first year anyway. Adult life sucks. Being a College Athlete...performing in front of crowds and at a school like UW and being a Basketball player, that's a WHOLE lot of fun to swap out the start to a year in Finance. 

[Brewcrew82]

7 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

It would make sense for you & I, but UW has a history of guys who usually have pretty promising lives waiting for them once they leave college. He strikes me as someone who would be ready for what's next after four years. I think he's a finance major. Would love to see him continue the ride though.

Any NBA potential he might have would, I assume, come from being someone who can guard multiple spots on the floor. But that's pretty specialized. 

If he could shoot, I think he'd have some serious NBA potential due to his defensive versatility. His body-type has always reminded me of Dekker's. Just doesn't have as polished an offensive game. 

You are right in that he will have some nice opportunities beyond basketball, but so did Ethan Happ, and he chose to come back for the extra year. I hope he does, as he's always been my favorite player since his freshman year when I sat behind him in class lol

[LouisEly]

One can make good money playing pro ball overseas.  NBA/G-League aren't the only pro options.  Not so much Russia anymore, but Europe and Asia.  A surprising number of fairly average college players, too.

[Jim French Stepstool]

9 minutes ago, UpandIn said:

Those lives will be waiting for them when they're 24 or 25 either way.

Plus, he'll likely be making as much in NIL as he would his first year anyway. Adult life sucks. Being a College Athlete...performing in front of crowds and at a school like UW and being a Basketball player, that's a WHOLE lot of fun to swap out the start to a year in Finance. 

That's how many would view it. It may be the way Wahl views it. But he's been an actual student-athlete for, when it's all said & done, four years now. This ain't Kentucky. A degree is a means to an end to him; if it wasn't he would've gone somewhere else. I'm not predicting one way or the other, just saying it isn't as cut & dried as it might seem.

[Jim French Stepstool]

15 minutes ago, Brewcrew82 said:

 he's always been my favorite player since his freshman year when I sat behind him in class lol

Sweet?,

The thing with Happ, his fifth year was due to the redshirt so it's a little different situation. This is something sprung on Wahl after setting up whatever academic roadmap he may have had. After originally not considering it (he & Crowl both), I'm thrilled that it's a possibility.

[Jim French Stepstool]

19 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

One can make good money playing pro ball overseas.  NBA/G-League aren't the only pro options.  Not so much Russia anymore, but Europe and Asia.  A surprising number of fairly average college players, too.

Yeah, Tyler could certainly play overseas. Zack Showalter spent some time there. Hell, I wouldn't rule out him making a G-League roster if he was compelled to. Happened to be at Mitchell International a few years ago, the team that plays out of Wisconsin had just arrived from somewhere & out pops Vitto Brown. I just don't know if Tyler is a "chase the dream" type of guy w/regards to the NBA.

[UpandIn]

2 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

That's how many would view it. It may be the way Wahl views it. But he's been an actual student-athlete for, when it's all said & done, four years now. This ain't Kentucky. A degree is a means to an end to him; if it wasn't he would've gone somewhere else. I'm not predicting one way or the other, just saying it isn't as cut & dried as it might seem.

I'm still not getting what you're saying. Especially the bolded part. Yes...of course the degree means something. It means everything if you're not going to make millions after College. If you're not an NFL prospect or you're not an NBA prospect, or...as I did, you participate in a non revenue generating sport. I don't get the "he would've gone somewhere else." But why?

By your 4th year, you're basically done with your degree. You either decide to start go for your masters or you just sit back, take a nice easy schedule and you spend most of your time playing/practicing or hanging out. You're living the dream. Every year of my life would be that 5th year...and again, we didn't have 17K fans a night.

 

The only difference as I see it is there are so many other pro-leagues he could play in or maybe he thinks the NBA is still a realistic option. Or maybe he wants to finish up at Minnesota. 

Otherwise, you're taking the best part of all aspects of College and squeezing it into one year doing the thing you love the most...and again, now, with NIL...he may even be making 100K or so. I don't know what it'll be exactly, but I know a lot of Wrestlers who aren't stars getting money, so I'd imagine a starter for the Badgers is getting something...on TOP of his scholarship and his food paid for, his stipends. 

 

He is living-the-DREAM. 

[UpandIn]

2 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Sweet?,

The thing with Happ, his fifth year was due to the redshirt so it's a little different situation. This is something sprung on Wahl after setting up whatever academic roadmap he may have had. After originally not considering it (he & Crowl both), I'm thrilled that it's a possibility.

LOL...it just makes it a free year. All the heartbreak on that 2020 season, they get a free one back, no strings attached. 

You sound like you have everything planned out perfectly, but...I think you might be a little different than the normal kid. They've got no worried. That roadmap, they're at the end of it by now(or should be). So now if they want, it's basket weaving...or maybe it's Grad School, but it's another year that'd be paid for at least. 

Iowa just graduated a trio of 7th year Sr's who were in their mid 20s, who all had degrees. Hell, one of them was married to the director of Carver-Hawkeye...and they were the same class. Though that's a little different. Each was just on the verge of a National Title...and the team was trying to compete, but that's a whole other story. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 hour ago, UpandIn said:

I'm still not getting what you're saying. Especially the bolded part. Yes...of course the degree means something. It means everything if you're not going to make millions after College. If you're not an NFL prospect or you're not an NBA prospect, or...as I did, you participate in a non revenue generating sport. I don't get the "he would've gone somewhere else." But why?

By your 4th year, you're basically done with your degree. You either decide to start go for your masters or you just sit back, take a nice easy schedule and you spend most of your time playing/practicing or hanging out. You're living the dream. Every year of my life would be that 5th year...and again, we didn't have 17K fans a night.

 

The only difference as I see it is there are so many other pro-leagues he could play in or maybe he thinks the NBA is still a realistic option. Or maybe he wants to finish up at Minnesota. 

Otherwise, you're taking the best part of all aspects of College and squeezing it into one year doing the thing you love the most...and again, now, with NIL...he may even be making 100K or so. I don't know what it'll be exactly, but I know a lot of Wrestlers who aren't stars getting money, so I'd imagine a starter for the Badgers is getting something...on TOP of his scholarship and his food paid for, his stipends. 

 

He is living-the-DREAM. 

The "he would've gone somewhere else" simply is a way of saying the education means more to him than it did had he been a 5-star recruit going wherever he wanted. My speculation that he may want to move on is largely based on his knowing he had an extra year available but until recently wasn't considering it. If it was a slam dunk decision you'd think that wouldn't have been the case. Maybe the NIL has something to do with it (I suspect it's nowhere near 100 grand though). 

This is simply a case of me speculating on what he's already intimated--that he doesn't know what he wants to do. Believe me, it definitely would be "living the dream" if it were me.

[MrTPlush]

Why do people project their own views/values on college athletes and try to convince the player/other fans on what they should do with their lives? I’ve always found it a bit weird sometimes. People will internally tweet the player and then argue in the comments about it.

Maybe Wahl doesn’t even like playing basketball at this point? Maybe living the dream would actually be transferring to a school that has seen the Sweet 16 in the last half decade? I mean, I’ve talked to my fair share of athletes that went somewhere on a D1 scholarship. Many of them were happy when it was over and it felt like their sport of enjoyment became more like a job. One girl took a scholarship at NDSU and then realized she hated the school and only went there because they gave her a D1 offer…so after a year she just quit and transferred to the local UW school and wasn’t an athlete.

If he wants to play and be at school he will. 

[UpandIn]

15 hours ago, MrTPlush said:

Why do people project their own views/values on college athletes and try to convince the player/other fans on what they should do with their lives? I’ve always found it a bit weird sometimes. People will internally tweet the player and then argue in the comments about it.

Maybe Wahl doesn’t even like playing basketball at this point? Maybe living the dream would actually be transferring to a school that has seen the Sweet 16 in the last half decade? I mean, I’ve talked to my fair share of athletes that went somewhere on a D1 scholarship. Many of them were happy when it was over and it felt like their sport of enjoyment became more like a job. One girl took a scholarship at NDSU and then realized she hated the school and only went there because they gave her a D1 offer…so after a year she just quit and transferred to the local UW school and wasn’t an athlete.

If he wants to play and be at school he will. 

What "values" have been projected upon anyone here? Also...nobody's telling him what he SHOULD do, we're speculating on what he WILL do. 

Why are you so upset we're having a discussion? I find that weirder than anything. 

And sure...MAYBE Wahl doesn't even like playing basketball. Then...he'd probably just quit. I knew a lot of guys who felt like it was a job and quit. Generally not their 5th year when they were done with the school part of it, but...sure. 

If living the dream would "actually be transferring to a school that has seen the sweet 16 in the last half decade," he can do that. He could do that this year. He could have done it last year...he could do it whenever he wants. That's got absolutely nothing to do with what we're talking about. 

What are you so upset about here? That we're speculating and talking about the benefit of using the free year he got vs starting a career in Finance? If it was taking shots at a kid like Allen for leaving school early, I must understand why this is getting you worked up, but we're talking specifically about taking a free year...something that's literally NEVER happened before in College athletics and using that rather than going into a career in Finance.

There's been no debate or morality or pushing someone's views or even telling the kid what he SHOULD do. Relax.