Former Wisconsin Badgers star PG Chucky Hepburn announced his new destination Thursday.
Wisconsin has lost seven players to the transfer portal. Two starters Hepburn, and AJ Storr, went to Kansas. Others include Connor Essegian (Nebraska), Luke Haertle, Ross Candelino, Gus Yalden, and Isaac Lindsey (South Dakota State).
Former Wisconsin Badgers star PG Chucky Hepburn announced transferring to this ACC school.
Chucky Hepburn announced on Thursday he is transferring to Louisville.
Since Hepburn announced his intention to enter the transfer portal on April 18. The transfer portal crystal ball predictions on 247Sports projected Hepburn to be a Louisville Cardinal.
In his career at Wisconsin, Hepburn started 103 games, averaging 9.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 3.8 assists.
Why did Hepburn transfer to Louisville?
Since NIL came into the picture in 2021, players have used the transfer portal to go from one big payday to another.
That’s what happened here. Chucky Hepburn left Wisconsin because Louisville’s NIL collective was deeper than Wisconsin’s. Despite Greg Gard saying in recent weeks, “Wisconsin had tripled its NIL collective,” the program is handicapped by not having pockets equal to an SEC or ACC school.
The other secondary reason could be Wisconsin’s offense handicaps players to never reach their full potential.
Wisconsin had an efficient offense most of the year. The loss in the first round against James Madison proved the issues plaguing this team and that it is easier to beat up on Maryland, Ohio State, and Northwestern, but going up against stiffer competition is where your offense has to prove it.
Wisconsin losing its best player to an ACC bottomfeeder isn’t a good look for the program. Not to question Greg Gard’s coaching acumen because he’s accomplished a lot at UW, but the direction this program is going is something that will need to be looked at.
The future at Wisconsin without Chucky Hepburn?
Wisconsin does have 3-star PG Daniel Freitag coming in, and he will see significant action for the 2024-25 season.
Jack Robison from Lakeville, Minn. will likely see significant action next year due to the graduation of Tyler Wahl.
Without Hepburn and Storr, Wisconsin will have a potential starting five of Kamari McGee, Max Klesmitt, Steven Crowl, Carter Gilmore, and John Blackwell.
Not a bad lineup, but do they have enough scoring to offset a defense that took a step back last season?
Another option could be Wisconsin adding a point guard from the transfer portal. AJ Hoggard from Michigan State entered the portal Friday. Elijah Hawkins from Minnesota, Aidan Mahaney from Saint Mary’s, or Bowen Born from Northern Iowa could be options for Wisconsin.
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