The Wisconsin Badgers have seen their fair share of twists and turns this season, starting the season sluggishly with five losses in the team’s first five Quad 1 games before going on a strong run during conference play.
In that stretch, Wisconsin knocked off the Michigan Wolverines, UCLA Bruins Illinois Fighting Illini, and Michigan State Spartans for a huge slew of Quad 1 wins. Then, they finished things off with a win over the Purdue Boilermakers in the Big Ten finale and over the Illinois Fighting Illini in the Big Ten Tournament.
Wisconsin has seen a couple of slips of inconsistencies, with double-digit road losses to the Ohio State Buckeyes and Oregon Ducks, as well as a bad home loss to the USC Trojans, but they’ve shown some serious resolve over the last two months.
After struggling to close games and bounce back early in the season, the Badgers have recorded six double-digit comebacks, which is tied for the best in the country. And a big part of that is due to the team’s grown leadership.
Last year’s Badgers squad was one of the best in recent years because the team had a lot of strong veteran voices who had been around the program for several years. Max Klesmit and Kamari McGee were key leaders who were from the state of Wisconsin and had been in the program for several years. Steven Crowl was key at the center position. John Tonje immediately bought into the culture and became a star.
That was a ton to overcome, as Wisconsin was losing six seniors, and had to bring in a ton of newcomers. They had an intriguing freshman class coming in with Zach Kinziger, Will Garlock, Hayden Jones, and Aleksas Bieliauskas, but that also increased the need for veteran leadership.
That’s why the Badgers’ top transfer portal target, Nick Boyd, was such a seamless fit. He fit the team’s offensive style perfectly with his ability to get downhill and playmake off ball screens, as well as the ability to get out in transition and increase the team’s tempo.
But, not only did Wisconsin need to bring in veterans that were good fits, but they also needed some of their own key players to step up as leaders. And no one stepped up more than John Blackwell and Nolan Winter, who have been key for the underclassmen.
Boyd and Blackwell have been the team’s leaders all year long, helping them navigate through the lower moments of the season, as well as the highs. But they do it in very different ways.
Boyd’s energy is second to none. Fans see that on a regular basis with his ability to inject that energy into the crowd and his teammates at home games. He brings such a competitive spirit and fire that energizes the rest of the team, which made him an immediate leader from Day 1.
Blackwell, on the other hand, is very calm and composed, never getting too high or too low, regardless of the moment. That helped him get through his shooting slumps earlier in the season, while also being a catalyst for the team’s mentality when facing large deficits in key games this season.
“I’m emotional out there, but I just love his poise in a situation,” Boyd said about Blackwell earlier last weekend. “Like he just stays poised and is very focused, and that rubs off on me. I don’t know, man, it took us some time — now I know where he’s going to be at at all times. As we keep growing together and get more and more games together, God willing, it’s just going to keep being special.”
“I think we were all just encouraging each other,” Blackwell said of Boyd. “He’s more the emotional guy who hypes each other — like we’re telling the guys we’re good, and I’m telling guys to calm down, relax. The game is about runs. They’re going to have their runs and we’re going to have our runs. As long as we weather the storm, that was their punch, and we just keep punching back.”
Badgers coaches praised Boyd highly back in the offseason, with assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft even saying that the guard was a leader of the team from Day 1 because of his energy. Likewise, head coach Greg Gard has regularly praised Blackwell’s mentality all year long, noting how his poise and calmness allows for such trust from the coaching staff and his teammates.
Both stars have really started to elevate their games at the right time, setting career-highs during the Big Ten Tournament on back-to-back days. Boyd has regularly come up in the biggest moments, adding to the clutch factor that this team has, while Blackwell has enjoyed his strongest stretch of the season heading into March Madness.
Over his last five games, Blackwell has averaged 23.4 points and 5.2 rebounds, while shooting 55.4 percent from the field and 44.2 percent from deep. That includes 25 points against Purdue, 34 points against Washington (career-high), and 31 points against Illinois on great efficiency.
If Wisconsin is going to make a run in the tournament, Boyd and Blackwell will be the biggest reasons why. And it won’t only be because of their play on the floor (although that’s a significant part of the picture), but also their leadership that has helped this team grow in a big way this season.
