Wisconsin men’s basketball: transfer portal rumblings IX

We threw out a bunch of names that the Badgers might be interested in from the transfer portal over the last few weeks and since then more names have only been added to the portal. Wisconsin has added backup point guard Kamari McGee from Green Bay and shooting guard Max Klesmit from Wofford but has missed out on other top targets. Let’s take a look at a couple of other new players that Wisconsin has shown interest in.

New interest in two players

• Grad transfer wing Donald Carey (Upper Marlboro, Md.), most recently of Georgetown but also of Siena and Mount St. Mary’s, is in the portal and Wisconsin has reached out to him according to Jake Weingarten. The 6-foot-5 and 187 pound wing averaged 10.9 ppg, 3.8 rpg and 2.3 apg in two years with the Hoyas while shooting 40.9% from deep on 254 attempts. He has never shot below 35% in his four years of college and he is an 85.7% career free throw shooter as well, so you know the stroke is smooth. While the Badgers are in no position to turn down anyone who shoots this well, he may not be on the top of their list after they secured the transfer of Klesmit. Carey would have one year of eligibility remaining.

• Seldom used big man Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk (Lommel, Belgium) out of Illinois is also in the portal and, as UW is probably more familiar with him than some other players, the Badgers have talked to him about transferring. Standing at 6-foot-8 and weighing 235 pounds, Bosmans-Verdonk is not a threat from beyond the arc. In his three years with the Illini, he attempted two three pointers, missing them both. He has also been a poor free throw shooter, albeit in a tiny sample size, so there probably isn’t a ton potential there for him, but his high school stats show that he shot 38% from deep and 78% at the charity stripe soooo maybe? He definitely has potential, however, as an active rebounder and post defender. He started two games for Illinois and averaged 1.6 points and 2.1 rebounds per game, recording a career-high 10 boards, half of them on the offensive glass, against Jackson State in their season opener. If my math is correct, and he chooses to use his COVID year, he has three years of eligibility remaining.

Players Wisconsin was mentioned in the same breath as

• Neither of these two players every seriously considered Wisconsin, but the Badgers did reach out to them. Former Northwestern big man Ryan Young (Stewartsville, N.J.) is headed to Duke which, quite frankly, is a shocking turn of events for a player who, you know, wasn’t even that good at Northwestern. Guess Jon Scheyer has to fill out the roster somehow?

• One of the most sought after transfers in the portal, former South Dakota State wing Baylor Scheierman (Aurora, Neb.), is also heading closer to home. He’ll suit up with a Creighton team next year that will probably be a preseason top-10 (top-five???) team with him on board. The 6-foot-6 rising junior is one of the best shooters in the country and the Bluejays will be a dangerous, deep group next year.