Greg Gard and the Wisconsin basketball program have had a disappointing start to the transfer portal season, to say the least.
Monday brought more disappointment for the Badgers as they received the news that one of their prime transfer portal targets, Brandon Angel from Stanford, whom they hosted on a visit, had opted to join Oregon for his last collegiate season.
Angel had a notable four-season run with the Stanford Cardinals. In 112 career games, the California native averaged 8.8 points and 3.6 rebounds per game while shooting at an impressive 38% clip from beyond the arc.
However, Angel took his game to another level last season. The 6-foot-8 forward averaged 13.0 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game while hitting 44.7% of his shots from three.
On paper, Angel would have been the perfect fit in Gard’s system as a stretch four for the Wisconsin basketball team in 2024-25. With Chucky Hepburn and A.J. Storr no longer in the fold, he would have also had a chance to take on a more prominent scoring role in Madison.
Much like Billy Beane did with the Oakland Athletics back in the day, coach Gard must ‘Moneyball’ this thing and piece his depleted Badgers roster back together with a handful of impact transfers from the portal.
Frontcourt depth remains the biggest need for the Wisconsin basketball team, who no longer have Tyler Wahl to lean on or former four-star recruit Gus Yalden because he went portaling. Returning options Carter Gilmore and Markus Ilver will provide depth for the Badgers but can’t be counted on at this point to fill a starting role.
As I write this, plenty of options are available in the transfer portal, and more impact players will still enter, but there’s no way to sugarcoat Gard and his staff missing on one of their top off-season targets. Now, it’s time to pivot.
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