Wisconsin Basketball held Summer workouts on Tuesday, which was open to the media. Following the session, head coach Greg Gard spoke with the media in attendance.
On how he has seen the team come together so far
“Well, I think the main thing always is how they’re coming together off the court and the time they get. I think what I’ve watched is that that they’ve accepted one another, whether that’s the returners, older guys, vets that are back, they understand the landscape we’re in, right? And they understand that there’s always going to be new faces every year. And the faster we can get on track and get everybody on the same page, the likelihood for early success.
So how they’ve received one another, and really through the portal, we’ve had great people come in here. You know, obviously we’ve had really good players, but I think just them understanding what this place is about and buying into that has been exceptional.
This group seems to be no different. There’s a lot of kinks we’re working out, introductory things you saw today, some of the drills. It’s the first time they’ve ever heard some of this, maybe in their lives, but they are all eager to learn and try to get better. So far, so good through 11 days.”
On length of this year’s team, how they can compete defensively
“Yeah, we have to be better. I mean, this year’s team’s so much different than last year’s team, but we have to raise the bar defensively. We just were not as good last year for a variety of reasons, and they understand that for us to to be in the elite category nationally, we’re going to have to be really good defensively. Obviously, it helps you get your seven-one guys at the rim. You know, they can correct a lot of mistakes, but collectively we have to be better.
And I think obviously the drills we’ve done more this summer than previous summers, just because I felt I wanted to make sure that was emphasized early and they understood it. So it’s going to be: I don’t want to depend on you know two or three seven footers sitting at the rim and blocking shots. We have to be good out front too, but they understand. You know they understand the importance of that into the floor, even though we, you know, have really raised the bar scoring-wise. And finding that right balance, I think, is always the key.”
On Jack Janicki and his Summer so far
“Yeah, I think he’s had a really good summer. I mean, just to this point, we’re about at halfway through it, but just his experience-you can tell, you know-he’s right place, right time. He’s correct in grabbing other guys. So you always want your older players, specifically if they’ve been here and they understand what’s going on, to be able to you know drag guys along with them and push them into the right spots. And he’s done a good job of that. I mean, he’s now as he’s crossed that halftime or halfway mark, so to speak, of his career, and he knows he’s in a leadership role.
Quite frankly, we missed him a little bit when he got hurt last year. Just the intangible things that he gave us certain times never was in large quantities, but it was an important piece that we had gone, you know, three quarters of the way through the season with, and then you have to adapt on the back end of the season without him. But he’s taken a step forward physically, much better. I think just confidently, and he’ll find his way onto the floor.
I’m positive to to this point, just because he does so many more of those intangible things, and even in a more impactful way, so much like a lot of the older guys we’ve had over the years, they help cover up. You know, while the younger guys are less experienced guys, I can’t use younger guys because some of these guys aren’t young, but less experienced in our system, he helps bridge that gap for them, and obviously he’s done a good job at this point.”
On how they may use the last roster spot
“Yeah, we’re in Europe right now. Lance is in Europe watching U-20s in Slovenia and in Croatia, and Joe’s going at the end of the week to part of the U-20s, and then also to some U-18s, and they can choose going to Slovenia and then Italy. So, and then we’re evaluating, you know, with the injunction that just how that all impacts and who’s going to be attached to that.
Does the injunction stay? You know, does the NCAA push back on it immediately, or do they wait? I think there’s some unanswered questions there. But in terms of positionally, you know, I think trying to have some more front line help is where we thought initially, and then after seeing them in person, I think just just some more help for us even in practice, bigger body.
Obviously, we got two sitting on the sidelines that are really impactful players. So it’s a little bit of a distorted view of what we have. I keep turning around behind me and seeing two guys that have played a lot of good basketball for us. So that’ll add to what our value is up front, so to speak, and the depth.
But I think most likely it’s going to be somebody of large size. I don’t know where he’s at in terms of attaching to the engine and how that all is.
I mean that that thing is changing by the hour and what his intentions are if he’s going to get involved in that and be a part of that. It’s kind of still up in the air. He hasn’t moved one way or the other on it. I think he’s kind of taken a wait and see approach, as we all are. We don’t know where he’s going to lead, whether it’s going to get completely pushed back on, or I think we’ll know more here by the end of the month. I think there’s going to have to be some movement one way or the other because you’ve got there’s a lot of schools that reconvened in August, right?
On team bonding well, and how important that is
“Yeah, it has to happen organically. You can’t force feed it. You know, as part of doing things together through the summer, just hanging out more. So that’s something that’s always a work in progress. We’re always trying to maybe provide opportunities where they can do that a little bit more intentionally. But they’ve done dinners.
They’ve been really good with the you know the recruiting that we’ve done this summer and the younger guys we brought in it’s a very unselfish group in terms of giving of themselves to the betterment of the program so that your chemistry is always in progress right, it’s never static it’s constantly moving so so far, it’s moving in a good direction, but right now everybody’s playing, right?
So I haven’t had to determine minutes yet. So sometimes that has an impact when guys maybe aren’t playing as much as they think they should be or wanted to be. But we’ve tried to continue to reemphasize the ‘we’ approach, right? It’s going to take all of us at some point in time. So understanding that and approaching that with, we have to all get better.”
On Isaac Gard winning Big Ten Sportsmanship Award
“Yeah, I mean, obviously he’s off into the real world now with a full-time job and working 40 hours a week. So, his appreciation for the weekends has increased dramatically. Saturdays and Sundays have great value to him now, and he has a full-time job. So yeah, but it was it was cool to see you know him get into that.
Obviously, you miss those. When I walk in here, it’s a little surreal that he’s not here because it’s been here for so long. But he’s doing good things, and it’s the time for him to to move forward with life. It’s a cool last recognition.”
On a strong day from Will Garlock, his growth
“Just confidence. He’s 19 now instead of 17 or 18 when he got here.
You know, so he’s got more of the experience. And I’ve always said that you can’t, you can’t replicate, you can’t duplicate what experience can do, and some of that may have been not pleasant last year, right?
And for him to understand how important the spring was going to be, you know how he’s attacked the weight room this summer, but I think the experience he got last year from a playing standpoint set the platform or set the foundation for him to take this type of step, and obviously him and Victory have great battles. You know, it’s it’s competitive every single day, and that’s what you want. You want competition that’ll help raise everybody far.”
On Nolan Winter and Austin Rapp getting back from injury
“Yeah, they’re good. I mean, everything’s… both those guys are right on track for where our medical team wanted them to be. So, and it’s been good for our other guys too because these reps they aren’t, those two aren’t getting that somebody’s got to get.
So I think it’s helped, you know, expedite maybe some of the development of some of those other guys that normally would be watching here.”
On if it is certain they will add a 15th player, who that may be
“We’re watching both. We’re watching both. I mean, I gotta go check my phone because I’m getting by the hour updates on stuff that’s going on in Europe, how guys are playing.
So there’s a lot of things that go to that, right? It’s not just oh he plays well. Is he available? Here’s his agent. You know, what’s his price tag? Can he get out of his contract? You know, there’s a lot of things that go into it more than just oh he’s a nice player.”
On biggest differences from the team last year
“Size and physicality we’re bigger and more physical, and that’s with two guys that are seven feet or 6-10 and on the sideline, so I think that’s the one thing. The front line is an area we wanted to address. Some of it was just through improvement of who was returning, but then adding, you know, adding Victory, a guy of that size and that learning abilities helps raise the bar up front.”
On Shawn Eichorst being announced, being around the team early
“It’s great to have him back. I mean, I thought just knowing candidates and monitoring that from the sideline, it was a home run hire. I thought it was exactly who we needed at this point in time. The experience he has, the places he’s been, what he’s been exposed to, what he’s seen, what he’s had success with, and the fact that he’s been here, I think that still is such a huge player, such an advantage having been here.
And I thought all along he’d be 10 miles down the road before anybody else would here go, and he already is. He’s been at donor events for us. He’s been here at practice. He’s met with a ton of people. He’s just attacked at full steam ahead, which has been, you know, a breath of fresh air, and immediately from day one, put wind in our sails. So I couldn’t be more excited, more happy.
You know, you know, you got a guy that’s really got your back and understands what this is all about, and and wants to attack him head-on, so I’m fired up. I know he’s got the rest. I’ve talked about every other head coach. Everybody’s through the roof on having him here, and Badger Nation should be too, because he’s fricking good. And being from Wisconsin, having been here before, coming with a playbook full of things from other places that have had success. Like I said, I couldn’t be happier.”
On Owen Foxwell, expectations for his eligibility
“Until this changes, everybody’s on a one-year thing, whatever that thing makes. Yeah, I think we all have accepted that that’s where we’re at, and until there’s something that shows us that’s going to be different, we are constantly, you can hypothetically daydream about you know more years, but I think we operate really in a one-year window of this current team, and then we’ll forecast of how we envision the future. You know, we’ve done that with three high school players committed to us in the 27 class, and being really intentional with that.
But the pieces that are here now, and the people that are here now. I mean, if the fifth year, you know, the five for five goes through, we’ll have a group of seniors that have another year, potential have another year. So that comes with obviously opportunity. It also comes with there’s a cost associated with that too. That hasn’t a blue light special hasn’t gone on in terms of college athletics, and it’s not.
And quite frankly, you run it more like a professional organization than you ever have because there’s a lot of business decisions that have to be made all the time. So it’s a long-winded answer to your question of everybody’s on a one-year contract right now. I hope I can get them for more years, and Foxy’s in that boat as well.”
Payne Blazevich of Badger247 contributed to this story.
