An inside look at Wisconsin basketball’s ‘new-school,’ pro-driven game day approach

MADISON, Wis. — It's two hours and 10 minutes before tipoff when the first members of Wisconsin's basketball playing rotation begin to trickle onto the Kohl Center court. Time, as it has come to be known, for vitamins.

That's the term first-year director of player development Greg Stiemsma has given to this staggered, game-specific shooting session with individual coaching that lasts no longer than 15 minutes per player. Much like taking actual vitamins, it's something Stiemsma says players need every day for the health and well-being of their game. Stiemsma implemented the drill — and borrowed the term — upon arrival at Wisconsin after seeing it work for the NBA 's San Antonio Spurs while serving in their player development office.

Over the next hour, in the leadup to Wisconsin coach Greg Gard addressing the team in the locker room, you can find the Badgers here, sweating through a workout as part of a completely overhauled game day routine, of which The Athletic gained an all-access look into last week. It is one of several recent adjustments Gard has made to adapt to a landscape that he says necessitates better shooters and more scoring.

Wisconsin, at the behest of Stiemsma, has eschewed the old-school group shootaround five hours before tipoff that kept players on their feet for too long. Now, no more than two rotational players occupy one side of the floor at a time, with guards at one basket and bigs at the other.

Assistant coach Sharif Chambliss and special assistant to the head coach Kirk Penney drill the guards, while bigs work with Stiemsma, the former Badger who appeared in 203 NBA games over four seasons. Each session is different based on skill set. Some players work on 3-pointers from the wing running toward the pass and fading to the corner, while others break down imaginary defenders off the dribble or post up on the block. In between, they take free throws.

Intentional instruction, even for small pointers, is a critical component. When wing John Tonje misfires a 3-pointer, Chambliss encourages him to "keep the off-hand up." Tonje buries his next two 3s.

The goal is simple: Take as many shots at rapid-fire succession as possible from the areas players can expect to see in-game based on the scouting report. Do so closer to tipoff in short bursts with coaching to develop muscle memory and build confidence. Chambliss says when forward Nolan Winter scored in the season opener on a post move similar to his pregame workout, the bench yelled out: "Vitamins!"

"This new industry is snowballing and it's coming quick," Stiemsma says. "It's more than just our ability to pay people. The money was the big change and the transfer portal and all that. If that's the only thing you're doing now, then I think you're going to get left behind. You've got to find an edge somewhere to have a one-percent advantage."

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Gard's willingness to find that edge with a reworked coaching staff is only part of the program facelift. Players say the proof, so far anyway, is apparent.

Wisconsin averages 83.7 points per game and has scored at least 79 points in each of its first three games for the first time in 17 seasons. The Badgers have done so by making (10) and attempting (27) more 3-pointers per game than at any time for the program since the NCAA adopted the 3-point line in 1986-87. And, though a small sample, they also lead the country in free throw shooting at 92.5 percent (49 for 53).

Gard hopes the changes he and the staff have implemented, which includes a shift toward advanced analytics, will lead to long-term success. The biggest challenge to date comes Friday night at home when Wisconsin (3-0) plays No. 9 Arizona (2-0), which averages 97.5 points per game and beat the Badgers by 25 points last season in Tucson, Ariz.

The pregame routine

During the offseason, Gard talked about moving toward a professional-style model in recruiting, player acquisition and roster building given the NIL and transfer portal system. That's why he changed his staff to include Stiemsma, assistant coach Lance Randall and director of recruiting and scouting Isaac Wodajo. Wisconsin lost three rotational players, including two starters, to the portal and added three transfers, including Tonje, who has emerged as the team's leading scorer. But the pro model also has filtered into day-to-day concepts.

"What we do now on game day and how we approach that makes me feel like I'm so much more prepared," Badgers guard Max Klesmit says. "It just makes you feel like a pro."

Coaches have added a walk-through session called "Shine Time" to make final polishes six hours before tip-off. Last Thursday, ahead of a 7 p.m. game against Montana State , the team met on the Kohl Center court at 1 p.m. Reserves returned later for a series of three-on-three games, and rotation players began taking the floor for vitamins around 4:50 p.m. Penney, who played 15 professional seasons and was inducted this year into the FIBA Hall of Fame, says the routine resembles what he experienced overseas.

During Shine Time, the coach who has the opposing team's scout — it was associate head coach Joe Krabbenhoft for the Montana State game — spends roughly 15 minutes discussing how the opponent will attack offensively. Krabbenhoft, Penney, Stiemsma, forward Markus Ilver and a team manager wore blue jerseys with white tops while running through half-court sets to simulate Montana State. The rest of the session was spent with Gard calling out the offensive sets Wisconsin would run.

"They're reminders on both ends of the floor because we know with the constant shift in rosters that you may not have a guy here for three or four or five years that understands all the concepts of what we want to do," Gard says. "So we continue to try to teach and ingrain those at every opportunity you have."

Building relationships with a roster that includes six new scholarship players is an area of emphasis, so players head straight from their walk-through to a mandatory team meal. Klesmit says there are no cell phones to prevent distractions and encourage conversation. In the past, players could come and go as they pleased or eat elsewhere.

Gard has been intentional about evolving the program to reflect changes in the sport. Hall of Fame coach Bo Ryan ran the swing offense, which is how the Badgers came to be known while Gard served as his assistant. Wisconsin no longer operates out of that system and began utilizing a ball-screen continuity offense that Penney helped implement when he arrived last season. It is a motion-based approach that creates advantages through continuous wing and middle ball screens between a guard and the four- or five-man.

Wisconsin went from averaging 65.3 points per game two seasons ago to 74.7 points per game last season. Penney, one of four staffers who played for the Badgers, says that's generally the kind of jump that comes with a head-coaching change and not typically associated with a ninth-year head coach, as Gard was last season.

"It's a huge credit to coach Gard," says Wisconsin forward Carter Gilmore , a fifth-year senior. "He isn't the same as Bo Ryan. To see coach Gard trust himself, know what he wants, where he wants this program to go and what pieces he needs to help him get there I think is a big thing.

"You hear so much, especially since I've been here, of, 'We need to be more new-school. We can't be the old Wisconsin way.' And I think the coaches have done a tremendous job of adapting to that while keeping the core Wisconsin values and principles the same."

The film study

Gard says spacing has changed significantly in the last 10 years due to the trickle-down effect from the NBA, and the new offense emphasizes stretching out opponents vertically and horizontally. He wants as many shots as possible to come on open 3-pointers, shots at the rim or free throws while eliminating mid-range jumpers because points-per-possession statistics have shown them to be less effective. During a film session the morning after Wisconsin dispatched Montana State 79-67, Gard informed players that 75 of their 79 points came on 3-pointers, shots at the rim or free throws, exactly what he wants.

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When players walk into the team meeting room to review film of the previous night's game, they take their seats and see a screen that lists how they performed on their 2024-25 season goals board. It features a list of 10 measures for success Gard and his staff have determined, with offensive marks in gray, defensive marks in red and a motion W logo signaling an achieved goal.

They are: 1. Win the game; 2. Offensive points per possession above one point; 3. Defensive points per possession below one point; 4. Fewer than 10 turnovers committed; 5. Make more free throws than the opponent attempts; 6. Defensive effective field goal percentage below 48 percent; 7. Fewer than 28 opponent points in the paint; 8. Fewer than 8 points allowed in transition defense; 9. Defensive rebound percentage of better than 73 percent; 10. More than 6 kills.

A kill, Gard explains later, is when Wisconsin's defense forces three consecutive stops. The only two marks Wisconsin did not meet in either of its first two games were committing fewer than 10 turnovers and a defensive effective field goal percentage of less than 48 percent. The Badgers excelled in both two days after the film review in an 87-56 victory against Appalachian State .

For 15 minutes, Gard runs through 29 plays from the Montana State game, 20 of which occur during the first half. They feature a wide range of points, including the importance of playing off two feet in the lane rather than playing off-balance and being more prone to commit a turnover or take a bad shot. Gard hasn't abandoned the defensive principles that were a staple of Wisconsin basketball for so long and addresses how to defend ball screens and areas on the court where players need to help. Assistant coaches offer pointers from the back row.

The next four minutes are spent doing something Gard has not done before with his players — evaluating analytics. Players view an advanced shot chart that highlights field-goal percentage on non-transition shots excluding rim put-backs based on location of the court, with those markers in red, yellow or green depending on success rate. The larger the circle around the space, the higher the volume of overall shots taken there.

There are several additional markers for offensive and defensive player analysis, listed by name like a postgame box score: individual points per possession, offensive player efficiency, offensive usage rate, turnover rate, rim shot attempt rate and defensive rebound rate, among others. Gard doesn't want "paralysis by analysis" and picks categories he believes most impact winning. He says he will review lineup data later in the season to determine the most effective ones.

Gard notes it's important for players to see the science behind the rules so they understand, for example, the value of taking more 2-pointers at the rim. At one point, Tonje asks video coordinator AJ Van Handel, who runs the analytics session for the team, to return to a previous screen so he can see a specific defensive player marker. Players say the shift toward more information postgame, much like the game day routine itself, has been beneficial.

"Having those numbers up there, having the green spots, having the red spots and just going over where the shots that we want are has been a huge help," Gilmore says. "We've always heard it, and as a player you kind of know, but when you see the stats to back it up, it's another extra bump in the right direction of, 'This is what we want and this is what works.'"

Before the film session wraps and players put away their notebooks to take the practice floor, Gard reminds them about the future. He says the intention in compiling this schedule was to ramp up the competition as the nonconference season progressed. In that regard, Arizona represents a significant step in testing this team's new approach.

"I think we're definitely moving in the right direction," Stiemsma says. "For me, the draw of this job to come here was to be a part of this big change. The wave has started. I think we're trying to ride it in an efficient way."

(Top photo of John Tonje: Lawrence Iles / Icon Sportswire via )