2023-24 Big Ten Women's Basketball Preview: Wisconsin

The pressure is on in year three for Marisa Moseley, can the Badgers show real progress?

Last week, I projected the last place team to finish last, which was extremely bold and courageous of me.

To make up for it, I’ll pick a team that avoided the first day of the Big Ten Tournament to fall into the bottom two.

Last Week’s Preview:

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Overview

A year ago, I wouldn't have anticipated Wisconsin being in this spot, but two years ago I certainly would have.

The Badgers, to put it bluntly, have not had a good women’s basketball program in awhile. Lisa Stone got the program to a NCAA Tournament and a handful of WNITs in the 2000s, but the two coaches that followed her never even got the team back to .500 basketball.

It was a difficult job for current head coach Marisa Moseley to walk into, but year one showed some marginal, important strides in the right direction. Year two for Moseley was important to keep that going, and for the most part, she did.

Wins up from eight to 11, Big Ten wins up from five to six, and an offense that looked significantly improved (57.9 PPG in 2021-22). Moseley upped the pace considerably to do so (ranked 333rd nationally in possessions per 40 minutes in 21-22), and while that did hurt the defense (67.2 PPG in 21-22), it was a net positive on the whole.

Wisconsin looked set for a true letdown of a season sitting at 7-18 with five regular season games to go. But the Badgers rallied to win four of those games, with the only loss being to an Iowa team that ultimately went to a national title game. Three of those victories were against Minnesota, Northwestern and Rutgers toward the bottom of the standings, but the other was a senior day victory against Michigan, the marquee win for the Badgers on the season.

They took that momentum into a wire-to-wire battle against Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament, where the Boilermakers had to hit a three in the final seconds to escape with a 57-55 victory.

So, the first two years have seen Moseley’s team inch up, and year two ended with the best basketball Wisconsin has played in years. You may then be asking why the Badgers are landing here at 13th?

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Here's last year’s Wisconsin roster, sorted by Her Hoop Stats win shares:

Departures

Eight players are leaving last year’s Wisconsin, four of which are through the transfer portal. Those are sizable numbers, helped partially by the fact that 17 players saw action for the Badgers in 2022-23.

The losses of Julie Pospisilova and Avery LaBarbera were unavoidable, but important all the same. Pospisilova was never the most efficient shooter on the court, but she was a constant spark plug who was never afraid to take a shot, and those players are important to have, especially when they also give you five rebounds and four assists a night.

LaBarbera’s one year in Madison was a solid one, as she gave Wisconsin the veteran point guard presence that was needed, filling up the box score and shooting respectably from three in the process. Krystyna Ellew may also prove to be a tough loss as a key underclassmen who showed a solid shooting stroke in limited action.

Sydney Hilliard stepped away from basketball in the middle of the season after some middling numbers, but this is a player that once averaged 15.5 PPG for Wisconsin. It’s a loss that shouldn’t go unnoticed, and I hope Hilliard is doing OK since her departure.

I have not talked about the name at the top for a reason: Maty Wilke’s transfer is one of two huge reasons Wisconsin falls to 13th in my list. This is not a departure that should happen to a Big Ten team, especially from a player who went to high school an hour away from your university.

In Wilke’s first year active for Wisconsin, she saw 33.8 minutes per game, started every contest and played very good basketball while showing some true star potential in spurts. Her final shot in a Badger uniform is this ice-cold three that temporarily gave Wisconsin the lead over Purdue.

I had Wilke 38th in my end-of-season Hoopla 40, the only Wisconsin player on the list. She now heads to a very good Utah team with three years of eligibility left to go. It’s a tough, tough blow for the Badgers.

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Serah Williams had a great freshman campaign. With key departures, she will need to be the star for Wisconsin in year two. Credit: Courtesy of Wisconsin Athletics

Returnees and Transfers

Wisconsin had a clear top five last year that amassed all but five of the total team starts. Three of those players are gone, which means it is time for Serah Williams and Brooke Schramek to become the key cogs in keeping the Badger machine afloat.

Williams enjoyed an excellent freshman season, finishing conference play with 13.5 PPG and 2.1 BPG on 55.6-percent shooting. She was a dominant interior scorer that helped the shooters find more space. This year, she will need to be able to take over and own the paint, and do so without getting into foul trouble (2.8 fouls per game).

Schramek is a strong scorer at guard who has seen her shooting numbers go up in each of her three seasons:

• PPG: 2.9 → 8.4 → 10.2

• FG%: 24.3 → 35.9 → 42.9

• 3PT%: 23.3 → 28.6 → 31.3

She has not been a dominant perimeter threat, but the makings are there with the continual growth and excellent free throw shooting (85.2%) Schramek displayed last year.

It’s a bit of a mystery box past this duo, but there are plenty of options that have shown the potential to step up. Halle Douglass might be the next safest bet despite playing just five games last season before falling to injury. Those five-game numbers were pretty stellar everywhere except with scoring, and that all-around game should be helpful from one of the few vets on the roster.

I’m very curious what comes in year two from guards Sania Copeland, Lily Krahn and Ronnie Porter. Krahn showed the most shooting touch, Copeland saw the most overall action and Porter saw the lone start between the three of them, so it’s safe to say not much has separated them thus far.

It’s hard to not root for the 5-4 Porter to win the job, but Copeland put together the most complete stat line of the trio and may be the slight favorite to earn the most playing time. Regardless, we will likely be seeing more of all three of them in what appears to be a very guard-heavy rotation.

Outside of Williams, only Sacia Vanderpool and Tessa Towers return at the forward position, and those two combined for 17 total minutes last season. Surely, a transfer is needed to help the front court?

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Welcome to reason No. 2 for Wisconsin’s placement at 13th. The Badgers have not brought in a transfer this offseason as of me writing this. They are bringing in five freshmen, three of which are forwards, but have not added anyone through the portal after losing four players in it, including a potential star in Wilke.

These freshmen may end up paying out the old fashioned way, but that’s a tough look for a program looking to rise up out of the ashes.

Freshmen

Moseley is seemingly banking on this five-player class to be enough without any transfers (for now), and there is clear potential within this group. Will also note, I couldn’t find the ESPN rankings myself and am choosing to trust the bios that Wisconsin put on their own page for the players, so take them with a grain of salt if you'd like.

The Badgers picked a pair of Ohio prospects in Tessa Grady and Leena Patibandla, and Ohio has proven to be full of women’s basketball talent over the years. Grady is set to make the faster impact, both on positional need and as the more accomplished of the duo, but Patibandla has an expansive athletic background that could make her a late bloomer.

Wisconsin also went across the country to get D’Yanis Jimenez from Florida and Imbie Jones out of Washington. Jimenez is the highest rated of the class and should see action as Wisconsin looks for new primary options, but faces a logjam at guard. Jones, on the other hand, could battle Grady for significant minutes, and potentially even a starting role.

Ana Guillen comes to Madison from Spain, and international players often have a leg up on high school talent thanks to the increased talent levels overseas. She seems to have some shooting ability and versatility at forward, which should be of use for a team in need of it at forward.

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Outlook

Projected Starters

• G - Halle Douglass

• G - Sania Copeland

• G - Brooke Schramek

• F - Tessa Grady

• F - Serah Williams

Projected Big Ten Finish: 13th

I hope I’m wrong and we see Moseley’s build continue forward another notch, but it feels like this roster is set to regress in its current state.

Serah Williams is the star that can prove me wrong, and she had multiple big-time performances against tough competition within the conference that showed she can lead this team when called upon. I think Douglass could be great if those five games last year were a taste of what’s to come. Schramek keeps getting better and should do so again as a senior.

But, if I haven’t made it clear yet, I can’t get over the Wilke loss. She was the best player from her home state team as a redshirt freshman, and she left. That’s usually not a good sign.

The bright side is that Wisconsin should get plenty of opportunity to put this freshman class on the floor, and I have Grady as a day one starter because of this roster’s lack of depth at forward. I went Grady over Jones and Guillen because I liked Moseley’s quote about her in the bio:

“Tessa is a quick and versatile perimeter threat, who is deadly from beyond the arc. Tessa has an incredible feel for the game and will quietly fill up a stat sheet. Her length and athleticism afford her the opportunity to take opponents off the bounce or post them in the lane. She has fantastic court vision and will make the other four players on the floor better.”

That skillset would match up well with Williams, who works at her best inside, but this is not a prediction from a man with any real behind-the-scenes insight.

When looking at Moseley’s tenure at Wisconsin, it’s hard not to look at what happened to a very similar program in Illinois. Shauna Green, in one season, turned a perennial bottom feeder program into a NCAA Tournament team, showing it is absolutely possible to make that leap and make it quickly.

That might not be a fair comparison to Wisconsin, and Green is likely an anomaly, but watching the rapid rise in Champaign makes it seem like the Badgers need to find answers faster before they’re left alone at the bottom.

Despite that, we have seen the sparks. Wins in 4 of the last 5 to get into 10th place in the Big Ten was massive for Wisconsin, and it proves that Moseley can get this team to compete in the conference. That is still possible, and beating the 11 wins last season should be the goal this year. I just don’t quite see that happening currently with the talent level increasing across the rest of the Big Ten.

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Photo Credit: Courtesy of Wisconsin Athletics

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