Men’s Basketball: How Greg Gard saved his job with change in playstyle
Gard revitalizes Wisconsin basketball with increase in tempo, point-scoring
In December of 2015, just 12 games into the 2015-2016 season, legendary UW-Madison men’s basketball team coach Bo Ryan retired and handed the team over to his long-time assistant coach Greg Gard. This was Gard’s first head coaching job ever — he had spent the last 22 years as Ryan’s assistant coach at UW-Platteville, UW-Milwaukee and UW-Madison.
Gard was taking over one of the most successful programs in the country. The Badgers had made the last 17 NCAA tournaments including Final Four appearances in 2000, 2014 and 2015 and even made the national championship in 2015, the season right before Gard took over.
Gard started his tenure well, making the tournament each of his first two years and leading the Badgers to two big upsets against No. 2 Xavier in 2016 and No. l seed Villanova in 2017.
After missing the NCAA tournament in 2018 for the first time since 1998, a theme hit the Badgers. Impressive regular season starts lead to a solid NCAA tournament seed and Big Ten titles coinciding with coach of the year awards for Gard in 2020 and 2022. Over the next four seasons, the Badgers lost to No. 12 Oregon in 2019, No. 1 Baylor in 2021 and No. 11 Iowa State in 2022, all within the first two rounds of the tournament, followed by missing the tournament again in 2023.
A common theme in these losses was the Badgers shooting poorly. The Badgers shot just 33% from the field against Oregon and under 30% against Iowa State. The Badgers shot a respectable 45% against Baylor but were outmatched by the eventual champion.
The Badgers, through Ryan’s and Gard’s tenure to this point, were known for playing a suffocating defense and a slow-developing, boring offense that was dependent on making timely shots and not turning the ball over.
The Badgers’ highest finish in points per game in the Gard era to this point was 199th out of 350+ teams. This became their downfall in a lot of their NCAA tournament exits. They could stop the other team’s offense but couldn’t score enough to win consistently in March.
This style of play also possibly drove away big-name prospects from Wisconsin. Tyrese Haliburton, Tyler Herro, Jalen Johnson and Jordan Poole are some names that grew up in Wisconsin but decided to play out of state at big schools and ended up as successful NBA players. The biggest loss was Herro, who committed to Wisconsin only to change to Kentucky, saying he always wanted to play for “a blue blood” program. The Badgers’ only draft pick in the Gard era was Johnny Davis in 2022.
Heading into the 2023 season, the Badgers picked up transfer student AJ Storr. Storr immediately changed what Wisconsin basketball looked like, dunking over other players and catching alley-oops that you would rarely see out of the usual Wisconsin basketball player. Storr, as well as a veteran Chucky Hepburn, got the Badgers off to a hot start. A win against a good Marquette team helped the Badgers reach as high as sixth on the AP Poll.
A similar story came after a 13-3 start. The Badgers finished the regular season 19-12, but an impressive run in the Big Ten tournament got them a five seed in the NCAA tournament. This wasn’t the Badgers’ year, however, as 12-seed James Madison University was too much and defeated the Badgers 72-61 in the first round of the tournament. The Badgers shot just 37% from the field and turned the ball over an uncharacteristic 19 times in the loss.
On a positive note, the Badgers finished 147th in points per game in the country, much higher than the previous high of 199th by a Gard team. This wasn’t enough for Badger fans — fans were sick of just making the tournament and not going far.
Previous reporting by The Badger Herald voiced frustration with the Badger’s decision to keep Gard for the previous season and the announcement he will be the coach for the next season. Storr, Hepburn and Connor Essegian all entered the transfer portal looking for a change of scenery.
Things were looking bleak for the Badgers in 2024. Media outlets voted them to finish 12th in the Big Ten, but a big matchup against No. 9 Arizona early in the season would set the tone for the rest of the season. Not only did the Badgers win, they were in control the entire game. Transfer student John Tonje scored 41 points, just two shy of the Wisconsin single-game record.
Tonje has continued the change in tone for Wisconsin basketball. The team played fast paced, they shot threes, they got to the free throw line. The team finished the season 36th in the nation in scoring, their highest ranking since the 1970-1971 season.
Despite these big changes, some old tendencies have poked their head this season in some of the Badgers’ losses. Gard tends to over-rely on his veterans in late-game situations, causing offense to take bad shots at the end of games, leading to losses against Michigan, Oregon and BYU in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
All of these games were in reach and in all of these games a veteran player took a poor shot at the end of the game while barely looking to move the ball. A small switch in the end-of-game philosophy could be the last step towards success for the Badgers.
Despite the fact that this season ended the same, Gard has bought himself a few more seasons as the Badgers head coach. Even with a few key players, including Tonje, leaving this offseason, success should be expected from the Badgers in the 2025-26 season with their new playstyle.
