This past year was an...interesting one for the Wisconsin Badgers basketball team.

They put together an extremely promising start but finished in an embarrassing fashion.

Let’s provide a season report card for the team:

Basketball: D

The Badgers jumped off to an 11-2 start and were ranked 14th in the country. It seemed as if they were proving doubters wrong.

After being voted to finish at the bottom of the Big Ten standings, the Badgers found themselves sitting at the top.

They picked up major wins against an exciting Marquette team and a gritty Maryland squad.

And they almost managed to defeat Kansas in the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament.

However, everything collapsed from there.

The Badgers battled injuries for a month-long stretch and they failed to win close games against numerous Big Ten opponents including Michigan State, Michigan, Northwestern, Nebraska, Rutgers, and Purdue.

Chucky Hepburn seemed to have hit a slump after an impressive freshman campaign.

Tyler Wahl wasn’t necessarily proving to be the star he was predicted to be.

And Jordan Davis had completely failed to live up to the preseason expectations.

But at least freshman guard Connor Essegian proved to be one of the few positives in the second half of the season.

The Badgers finished the regular season going 6-11 for a final record of 17-13 before losing to Ohio State in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament.

This meant the Badgers were missing the NCAA Tournament for just the second time since the 90s.

The only reason this season wasn’t an F is that they managed to go on a mini-run in the NIT and were minutes away from making an appearance in the championship game.

But they managed to score just 13 points in the second half against North Texas, leading to a 56-54 semifinal loss.

It most definitely was not a season to remember for this program.

However, a strong incoming recruiting class for the basketball team provides a sense of hope for the 2023-24 season.

Hopefully, the Badgers will be able to turn it around and regain their position as one of the better programs in college basketball.

But until then, at least Wisconsin fans have the Milwaukee Bucks to turn their frowns upside down.