Even amidst the offseason departures of four scholarship players to the transfer portal, including starters AJ Storr and Chucky Hepburn, I did my best to hold off on making any overarching conclusions about the state of the Wisconsin basketball program until I saw what Greg Gard reeled in.
The modern-day transfer portal has become a pay-for-play model. The school with the most up-front resources often has its pick of the litter, so to speak, leaving everyone else in scramble mode. It’s evolved to the point where coaches now view roster construction as a year-to-year endeavor rather than recruiting and developing for long-term stability.