Wisconsin Basketball: Micah Potter has Provided a Much Needed Boost

Since making his debut with the Wisconsin Basketball program against Milwaukee, this is a much better Badgers team with Micah Potter available.

I’m sure by now most Wisconsin Basketball fans are familiar with Micah Potter’s journey. After transferring to Madison from Ohio State, unlike many others who have made similar moves, the NCAA required that Potter sit out. And while many agree that wasn’t necessarily fair, since making his long-awaited debut with Wisconsin in a game against UW-Milwaukee, there is no doubt that this is a much better team.

Prior to Potter’s debut, it was really an up and down season up to that point for the Wisconsin Basketball team. While there were five games that they scored over 77 points, there were four where they put up less than 55. And despite some nice wins at home against Marquette and Indiana, away from the Kohl Center they were 0-5 and 5-5 overall.

Of course, when a team struggles there a multiple reasons why, but two big reasons in the Badgers’ case were inconsistent scoring options and being one of the worst rebounding teams in the Big Ten.

During Potter’s limited playing time at Ohio State, as expected, he didn’t put up a ton of numbers. So there were some unknown in terms of what he would bring to this Badgers team offensively when he took the court. However, one area that he could provide some help was with his size.

As I mentioned, the Badgers have really struggled when it comes to rebounding. Once Nate Reuvers leaves the floor, often times it was the 6’7″ Tyler Wahl or 6’8″ Aleem Ford who had to be the big men for this team. But since the physical, 6’10” Potter became active, not only has Wisconsin seen an improvement in rebounding, but he’s been effective on the offensive end as well.

In his six games as a Badger, Potter is shooting 48.6 percent overall from the floor, including an impressive 45.5 percent from deep. He’s also tallied 9.5 points per game, with 6.5 rebounds and 1.3 blocks as well. Not to mention that his presence inside has been a welcomed sight for the Badgers and their fans.

This also includes an impressive performance on the road against 20th ranked Penn State where Potter put up 24 points on 4-6 from three, with 13 rebounds, 10 of which were on the defensive end. In a game where both teams had issues putting up points early on, he was the offensive catalyst that the Badgers needed to pull-off another road upset.

Since Potter’s return, the Badgers are averaging more rebounds per game than they did without him and they are 4-1 with road wins against Tennessee, No. 5 Ohio State – which had to feel sweet for Potter – and No. 20 Penn State.

Coincidence? I certainly think not. And for a team that was really struggling to find consistency in their first 10 games, all of sudden there is a lot of confidence and promise moving forward.