Theft Fallout = Roster Shakeup

Speculation became reality this afternoon for the Wisconsin men's basketball team, which officially has two fewer players as a result of the recent burglary scandal.

Wisconsin announced today that Jeremy Glover was kicked off the team, while Diamond Taylor opted to withdraw from the university entirely. Seeing as Glover was dismissed, you can be sure Taylor would have been booted too if he and his family had not opted to leave the school. Hopefully both players can start fresh elsewhere.

It's a terrible situation overall, but now everyone is looking forward to the immediate effect it has on the team's roster. More specifically, who will man the backcourt in a few years with Hughes and Bohannon entering their final seasons?

To be honest, this sets up nicely for Wisconsin, even though it will hurt in the short run and came at a terrible cost. As the news started to unfold, word trickled out that Port Washington senior guard Josh Gasser was cancelling one of his official visits, and sure enough, Bo Ryan immediately offered him the standard full ride as soon as Taylor vacated it. The Badgers are in good position among Gasser's final four school choices; getting a commitment from Gasser would also lessen the "must-have" need to sign a point guard in 2011.

Wisconsin could conceivably land the consensus top three state players in the Class of 2010 if Vander Blue recommits. If this unfortunate news brings a side effect of landing Blue, most Badger fans would probably accept the situation with open arms. Taylor and Glover were redshirt candidates this season anyway.

Playing time will be immediately available for a guy like Blue to make an impact as a freshman behind Jordan Taylor and Rob Wilson. Gasser is much needed because only two walk-ons project to back up Taylor starting next year. At this point it would be risky to count on getting a great replacement player in that class if the Badgers miss on either Blue or Gasser.

Luckily, the front court appears to be in good shape. Redshirt freshmen Jared Berggren and Ryan Evans are developing at a promising rate. Junior forwards Tim Jarmusz, Jon Leuer and Keaton Nankivil all figure enter 2010 with one or two years of starting experience already.

The frontcourt vs. backcourt depth shakes out pretty evenly by class in this way:
Guard class ('06) > big man class ('07) > guards ('08) > big men ('09)