WHY THE BADGERS WENT FOR CAMREN HUNTER, JOHN TONJE, AND XAVIER AMOS IN THE TRANSFER PORTAL

The Wisconsin Badgers made a big splash last week, landing three targets in the transfer portal: guard Camren Hunter, wing John Tonje, and forward Xavier Amos.

In adding the three players, the Badgers addressed several needs, filling the spots left by Tyler Wahl, A.J. Storr, and Chucky Hepburn.

What did the Badgers see in each of the three players that led the team to not only target, but land them in the transfer portal?

Tonje, the team’s most recent transfer addition, stood out to Wisconsin with his experience, as well as film at Colorado State.

“John’s experience, you don’t look like really this past year, because he was [hurt] early. But I went back and watched, as did our staff a lot with Colorado State. And that really showed me what you can do at a high level,” head coach Greg Gard shared at his Garding Against Cancer event last Friday. “So that was convincing for me there.”

Hunter was in a similar situation to Tonje, having sat out last year due to injury, but playing well enough for the Badgers to recruit him out of the portal.

“Obviously with Camren, same thing that was out this past year. He came back in January, decided to sit on a medical record for the year. But you go back to watch his [past] film and [see] how good a player he was early,” Gard said.

“We got [with] the coaches in that league, too, and asked them what they thought. So we got all very close. And then with Xavier, obviously, he’s got that far away. So we knew he was putting up numbers.”

As for Xavier Amos, the Badgers had a connection since the forward’s stepfather went to school in Wisconsin, where he was there with Howard Moore.

“His stepdad got his undergraduate, so there was a fast track,” Gard said about Amos. “When his dad or stepdad was here going to school, he was here [with] Howard Moore. So there was a quick connection there where we were able to, you know, a lot of names that connected and gave everybody a lot of comfort.”

What excites the Badgers about the forward, however, is also the ability for Amos to continue growing into his frame as he settles into the four.

“I think he’s probably more comfortable at the four right now,” Gard said. “I think he’s still young, too. He was here last week and you see him up close and talk to him. I think he’s still maturity-wise, he’s young in terms of his body.”

The best thing for him is going to be our new weight room upstairs when he gets here in mid-June to really attack that. He’s got. Both him and John [Tonje] have terrific frames on them. You’ll see him in their little photo shoot that we do get a chance to see jersey on and they fill it out, look the part. So, I think [Xavier] has a tremendous upside. I think we talk about that a lot.”

“He’s got a lot of raw ability at that size and that length, that much athleticism that’s exciting. And the ball comes out of his hands really like you teach it. I mean, he really shoots it.”

Did the Badgers feel the need to replace the departing players?

“We felt we needed to add depth in those areas,” Gard said. “I mean, obviously, when Chucky is the one that, you know, the latest one to leave, but obviously, we felt we needed to add some experience at the four with Xavier and then obviously with John, we wanted to add another wing to help with the replacement of AJ, which I anticipated he would probably either test the waters, or find somewhere else to go to. And I understand. As I said a few weeks ago here for our event, you know, there’s financial decisions that come into play here, too, that we add, that they add on those decisions.”

“And then obviously with Cam, we wanted to bring somebody in to help our backcourt, to help Kam (Kamari McGee), to help Daniel Freitag, to help Kles (Max Klesmit), and those guys are going to be coming back.”

Gard even compared Hunter’s frame to former Villanova and current New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson.

“To get a guy like that’s different, too, he’s big, and I haven’t seen a body like that,” Gard said. “I recruited Jalen Brunson several years ago, you know, that obviously now is playing with the Knicks. But he reminds me [of him].”

“I hope he can become as good a player. I mean, we’ll talk about jackpot. That will be, that will be the jackpot. But, you know, big, left-handed, big body, really strong. His base and his legs are really strong. So what he does in the paint and a lot like what we see Brunson, what he did at Villanova, we actually played against him in the NCAA tournament, so we had a pretty good reference to his type of game. And Cam has similar attributes.

“I’m not saying he’s Jalen Brunson. Don’t run off and create some narrative,” Gard joked. “I’m not saying it, but in terms of you look at him physically, he reminds you of that. And obviously, he’s left-handed and a point guard a little bit both.”

With the three players, the Badgers have created a roster that could compete with last year’s, and they may not even be done yet, as Gard shared that the team is still looking to add another player from the transfer portal.

2024-05-07T18:37:13Z dg43tfdfdgfd