Ugly end to what was a reasonably successful season. If Hayes comes back, and he very well may, they'll benefit from the experience and return everyone. Add in a 6'11" Belgium deep 3 pointer who sat out this year and they could be a factor in the B1G. No recruits for '16 but the team is loaded w young talent. Maybe they can snipe an athletic 7' and a point G.host.madison.com/wsj/sports/college/basketball/men/badgers-men-s-basketball-return-of-practically-entire-roster-makes/article_c19d22f7-8562-5628-bf5d-68d4ff8d216d.htmlBadgers men's basketball: Return of practically entire roster makes for promising 2016-17 outlook PHILADELPHIA — While the future looks bright for the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball program, redshirt freshman forward Ethan Happ did his best to put things in perspective late Friday night in a solemn locker room at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
“It depends,” Happ said after a disastrous finish for the Badgers led to a 61-56 loss to Notre Dame in an NCAA tournament East region semifinal. “Obviously, we have almost everyone back. But if we don’t take what happened this game and learn from it, then it will be the same thing next year. We definitely have to take steps forward as a team. We can’t just rely on this year.”
The only guaranteed departure from a team that went 22-13 and advanced to the Sweet 16 — UW’s fifth trip to the second weekend of the tournament in the past six seasons — is former walk-on Jordan Smith. The fifth-year senior guard finished with four points and two rebounds in nine games, meaning the Badgers could return 99.8 percent of their scoring and rebounding in 2016-17.
That all depends, of course, on what junior forward Nigel Hayes decides about his future.
Hayes, who led the Badgers with 15.7 points and 3.0 assists per game, was non-committal after the loss to Notre Dame about whether or not he will enter the NBA draft.
A change in the entry process this year gives potential early enrollees more time to make an informed decision. Hayes could declare for the draft and attend the combine in Chicago in mid-May to gather feedback and give himself a chance to improve his stock.
Hayes has until the May 25 deadline to make his decision. He could enter the draft and later choose to return to UW, provided he doesn’t sign with an agent.
Badgers junior guard Zak Showalter was asked if he has a gut feeling about what Hayes will decide.
“I have no idea,” Showalter said. “I’d love to play with him for another year. He’s a great leader. He’s really grown to be even better. He’s really gotten to be a better leader every day. I just hope I get more games with him.”
Even if Hayes leaves, UW would return four starters next season. That includes Happ, who averaged 12.4 points and 7.9 rebounds and was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year; junior guard Bronson Koenig, who was second on the team with 13.1 points per game; junior forward Vitto Brown, who developed into a consistent scoring threat over the last half of the season; and Showalter, whose toughness and moxie personifies a program built around those traits.
Sophomore guard Jordan Hill received the first extended action of his career and was an eager contributor as a reserve. As inexperienced as he was, Hill was the elder statesman on a bench filled with rookies.
Khalil Iverson, Charlie Thomas and Alex Illikainen flashed glimpses of their potential as true freshmen and only will get better with time. The UW coaching staff also is eager to see what two other players from that 2015 recruiting class — Andy Van Vliet and Brevin Pritzl — can add to the mix after sitting out this season.
Van Vliet, a 6-foot-11 forward from Belgium, was ruled ineligible by the NCAA because he didn’t enroll in college within one year of graduating from high school. He will be a sophomore next season.
Pritzl, a 6-3 guard from De Pere, was limited to four minutes this season because of a broken foot. He should be able to receive a medical redshirt, meaning he’ll have four seasons of eligibility remaining, beginning in 2016-17.
Both Van Vliet and Pritzl are good shooters from the perimeter, an area UW desperately needs to improve in order to prevent opponents from clogging the paint.
“It’s unfortunate with their situations; they could have helped us even this year,” Koenig said. “But next year, I’m sure they’ll come back that much stronger. They’re both really good players that will be ready to contribute from the start.”
UW doesn’t have any commitments in the 2016 recruiting class at this point but has two scholarships to give. The Badgers would like to add a point guard to help take some of the pressure off Koenig and be in line to replace him in 2017-18.
The Badgers went 15-8 after Greg Gard took over the program on an interim basis on Dec. 15 following the sudden retirement of his longtime mentor, Bo Ryan.
Gard brought back the swing offense, and the Badgers came a long way on that end of the court over the final three months of the season. Still, Gard, who was rewarded with a five-year contract earlier this month, is excited to have a full offseason to expand and teach his players the intricacies of an offense that was brand new to a significant chunk of the team back in December.
“I definitely think that’s going to help,” Showalter said. “We put it in and just started running with it on the fly. Anytime you’re going to put a new offense in, it takes time.
“We got a lot better with it this year, but obviously the summer is going to help.”
One area of emphasis in the offseason will be cutting down on turnovers.
The Badgers were sloppy with the ball at times Friday night, and it proved to be their downfall in their final game of the season. UW finished with 17 turnovers in 65 possessions vs. Notre Dame, including costly miscues by Hayes and Koenig in the final half-minute that contributed to the Fighting Irish’s 8-0 run over the final 19.3 seconds.
“I thought we never quite got to where we needed to get taking care of the ball all year,” Gard said. “And part of it is our youth. Part of it is things we’ve still got to mature through and grow. Part of it is decision-making that we need to become even smarter basketball players.”
If Hayes stays, UW could enter the 2016-17 season as one of the favorites in the Big Ten Conference title race and, perhaps, a preseason top-10 team nationally.
But those are just words on paper for the Badgers, who know they have a lot of work to do between now and the start of next season.
“We’ve got a lot of pieces that are coming back, there’s no doubt,” UW assistant coach Lamont Paris said. “We have some pieces that haven’t played yet for us that will be thrown in the mix. We like that; we’re excited about that.
“But when we start practicing we’ll tell them the same thing. That team will not have accomplished one thing, even though there will be a lot of guys that have a lot of experience, guys that have played in big games. But we’ll have to forge our own way.”
If you google it you'll get any number of hits and a name, which'll give you a pic. A 50 yr difference would be cause for me to rent a billboard but that's just me. 
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