Wisconsin’s 2015 chemistry is unparalleled and irreplaceable in today’s college era

MADISON, Wis. – Josh Gasser usually knows what to expect when he sees an enthusiastic fan in Wisconsin gear approaching him.

Since playing his last game against the Badgers nearly a decade ago, the Port Washington, Wis., native has received many thanks for the way he represented the program or for questions about his career. Some fans even tell him that the current team needs him at that moment, which makes him chuckle as he thinks about how he traded basketball for a career and raising a growing family.

But one thing seems to emerge with regularity: a magical 40 minutes from April 4, 2015, etched in time.

“The Kentucky game probably stands out the most,” Gasser said.

A 71-64 victory over previously undefeated Kentucky in the national semifinals was an ultimate team triumph. The Badgers had NBA stars in their home Sam Dekker And Frank Kaminskyold veterans like Gasser, Duje DukanAnd Traevon Jacksonyoung newcomers like Nigel Hayes and Bronson Koenig, and important reserves who tied up the loose ends.

All of these players experienced last year’s Final Four, losing to Kentucky by one point at the same stage of the tournament, only to return with unfinished business.

Many of these players will be on hand tonight when the Badgers host No. 9 Arizona this year (8 p.m./Peacock) and will be part of multiple celebrations marking the 10-year anniversary of their historic run and honoring Hall- of-Fame coach Bo Ryan with a banner in the rafters of the building.

Both the 2014 and 2015 Final Four teams will be honored, which is convenient because the teams are practically the same and partly sad because you’re unlikely to see this group again in this era of college athletics.

“Everyone had a little chip on their shoulder that was hard to come by,” Gasser said. “Nowadays it would have been a bunch of guys who wouldn’t have been on that team. They would have switched, gotten more money and something would have happened.”

It didn’t take long Gary Close to turn his disappointment into excitement. The former Wisconsin assistant coach can’t remember how long he lamented the Badgers’ heartbreaking one-point loss to Kentucky in April 2014 (“we win that game, we win the national title,” he says), but he vividly remembers watching

They also had a burning desire to win after being left heartbroken by the one-point loss to Kentucky a season earlier.

“We appreciated what we accomplished because it’s a challenge to get as far as we could, but I thought we had a chance to get back to being pretty good,” said Close, who coached at UW from 2003 to 2016. around and do it all again.

Guard Ben Brust was the only player who did not return due to ineligibility. Players could still transfer to other schools at the time, but in most cases with the penalty of having to sit out an entire season.

There were no rumors of a departure, leaving UW with a deep frontcourt. Kaminsky was on the shortlist of candidates for preseason National Player of the Year (an award he would eventually win), Dekker was starting to see his talent blossom, Hayes was ready to take a leap forward after a solid freshman season and Dukan returned for his redshirt senior year.

UW’s backcourt was just as good. Jackson returned as the team’s starting point guard with a four-star recruit in Koenig ready as his backup. Gasser also returned for a fifth season after a torn ACL forced him to redshirt two seasons earlier.

The puzzle fit well with the tune of 36 wins and capturing Big Ten regular season and tournament titles as it was cultivated over several seasons and off-seasons. While the coaching staff continued to add parts to the recruitment, the core of the team had already been learning from each other for several seasons to build good chemistry off the field and a dynamic relationship on the field.

“The team and the confidence they had, all those guys back, (a national title) was the intention,” Gard said. “We didn’t talk about it much as a staff, but when you have a player-led team with so many seniors and so many good players, they steered the ship themselves.”

UW won 36 games in 2015, 27 of which were by double digits. The Badgers won eight tournament games by an average score of 10.5 points and returned to the Final Four behind Kaminsky (29 points) and Dekker (27) in an 85-78 victory over the Wildcats in Los Angeles.

“Arizona could have won both years we beat them; they were so good,” Close said. “We took the next step, and they didn’t because they lost difficult games to us. We had a good team. We had positives. We had a lot of talent and guys who knew how to play the game played hard. We knew we were as good as anyone else.”

More than 1,900 college basketball players entered the transfer portal in 2024, a number that is seemingly growing every year and a statistic that makes it difficult for a coaching staff to build and develop homegrown rosters. The Badgers have seen firsthand how quickly young depth can be erased. A year after UW’s 2022 Big Ten title season, the frontcourt was crippled when forwards Ben Carlson and Matthew Mors transferred.

This offseason, UW’s leading scorer (AJ Storr) and a three-year starter (Chucky Hepburn) both left for big NIL deals. The Badgers brought in three new signings to replace them, and Gard has said part of the goal during the non-conference schedule was largely about getting to know his roster.

“Chemistry comes with time and dedication,” said the graduate transfer Johannes Tonjewho leads the team in scoring at 17.7 ppg. “It is very important to take the time to get to know each other on and off the field. It takes time. We did well… We will learn as a team and continue to improve.”

When asked if his 2015 team would be intact if the current rules were in place a decade ago, Gasser isn’t so sure.

Would Dekker, pushed and punished by Ryan for not living up to his potential early in his career, have left for a better environment? Would Kaminsky have stayed after averaging just 1.8 and 4.2 points per game in his first two seasons? Could Hayes, who spoke openly and loudly about NIL compensation, have left the program in search of a big payday? Would Dukan have explored the transfer market in search of a starting role rather than playing as a sixth man?

They’re all possibilities, and any of these decisions would have changed Wisconsin’s championship DNA.

“There were so many guys that were crucial to our team that didn’t get a lot of minutes,” Gasser said. “Vitto (brown) was crucial to our chemistry and camaraderie. Boys have different motives. Winning is important to everyone, but some guys really want to make it to the NBA and make as much money as possible. Some guys really want to get an education. There are so many different things people want and it’s hard to meet them.”

That’s part of the reason why Gasser is looking forward to getting together with so many of his teammates, a group of players whose chemistry over several years on and off the court has led to one of the program’s most extraordinary seasons.

“We had 16 guys who stayed there together for four years,” Gasser said. “There may be a team that wins the national championship in Wisconsin one day, but I don’t think they’re going to have what that team had in terms of chemistry, competing together and relationship.”

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