The Badgers had a major departure to the transfer portal on Monday.
The Wisconsin Badgers faced some big news on Monday as freshman point guard Daniel Freitag entered the transfer portal after just one season with the program.
Freitag, a four-star recruit in the Class of 2024, was one of the most heralded recruits in program history, and a player that head coach Greg Gard and his staff spent significant time recruiting to Madison.
But, Freitag played sparingly as a freshman, seeing action in just 14 games without any meaningful minutes, leading to questions about his future at Wisconsin.
Heading into the 2025 season, the Minnesota native seemed primed for a bigger role, as point guards Camren Hunter and Kamari McGee were no longer on the roster. So, why did he depart via the transfer portal?
It all comes down to Wisconsin’s plan for the 2025 season. In the transfer portal, teams can no longer afford to look past one year in the future, as every player has the option to depart after one season.
So, it’s on the coaching staff to field the most competitive roster every single year, with the future being an afterthought in that formula because there are ways to immediately improve a team.
Entering the offseason, Wisconsin had quite a few holes to fill, as they were losing six seniors: Max Klesmit, John Tonje, Steven Crowl, Carter Gilmore, McGee, and Markus Illver. Three of those players were starters. Another two were key reserves. So, there was quite a bit of room to grow, which was expected to come in the transfer portal.
One main thing that the Badgers were losing was experience. And that seems to be what the team is coveting in the transfer portal early on.
The expectation of adding one or two transfer guards limited the opportunities for Freitag, who likely wouldn’t be as ready to contribute as the incoming players. Which meant another year like 2024 could be the plan.
The Badgers already showed that they don’t need a true point guard to efficiently run their offense. And if they are to add two more guards, that would fill out their backcourt rotation with the transfers, John Blackwell, and Jack Janicki.
So, coming in with a desire to play, Freitag seemed to be the odd man out once again without a guarantee of a rotation spot in 2025. Unfortunately, that’s the current world of the transfer portal, where the pressure is on to compete every single year.
And that led to one of the most heralded recruits in program history heading out after just one year.