The Wisconsin Badgers entered the 2024 season with a up-to-date role as a talented center, and it wasn’t necessarily what every fan expected.
Steven Crowla successful center for the Wisconsin Badgers, he has been the subject of much criticism on social media recently. Many Badgers fans see a huge 6-foot-7 man and want to make it as straightforward as possible to watch rim-swinging dunks against smaller opponents. However, Crowl is not the type of player to dunk at every opportunity, and this is mainly because the offense doesn’t require Crowl to do so.
Earlier this season, after the Badgers’ narrow victory, Crowl spoke with Big Ten Network court reporter Krissy Birsdall. Crowl was asked about an offense that uses multiple players depending on who will score in a given game. The center said, “We don’t feel comfortable moving the ball and giving it to anyone who’s hot.”
Although Crowl had his own substantial game this season and scored 17 points against App State, the center has largely taken on a up-to-date role on offense. Wisconsin has used a lot of pick-and-fade this season, where the shooter frequently passes back to the cutter guard. This was something the team experimented with, and in many of the experiments the immense man was knocked unconscious.
Changes to the Wisconsin Badgers offense leading to greater scoring success
Crowl and Winter are extremely effective players for the Wisconsin Badgers in this style of offense due to the outside shot threat they both possess.
Crowl has already played in three games this season in which he recorded at least four assists, and he only recorded five such games in all of last season. The center also played eight games and had three assists last season, which should escalate even more this season when more talented shooters appear on the pitch.
Another key factor that led to some changes in Crowl’s play this season was the dominance of John Blackwell, Kamari McGee and Nolan Winter. Blackwell and McGee showed a lot of improvement, especially in attack, which led to the duo’s usage rate increasing by almost 3%. McGee is another great example of someone taking on a up-to-date role, with his overall usage percentage dropping by almost 1%, but his offensive rating improving by almost 40 points.
In Crowl’s situation, the center is actually being used a little more at the start of the 2024 season than he was in 2023. The only real issue for the substantial man this season is his shooting, as his shooting numbers just aren’t dropping at the moment. However, this will likely be resolved over time as Crowl shoots out of it.
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