MADISON – Ronnie Porter says she and her teammates are going to wake up a lot people this year.
“Clean slate, a lot of new people, a lot of new buckets, new coaching staff. Everything is just new,” the senior point guard for the Wisconsin women’s basketball team said. “And we’re waking up a lot of people in the country, not just the state of Wisconsin, but the country.”
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If you’re looking for the Badgers’ mind state as they prepare for the upcoming season, that might be it. Optimism is high as coach Robin Pingeton begins her first season as coach with a roster filled with eight newcomers, including six transfers.
How is the team shaping up? We gained some insight during women’s basketball media day at the Kohl Center on Monday, Oct. 13.
Here is what we learned.
Depth could be a team strength
In addition to Porter, who ranked second in the Big Ten last season with 5.1 assists per game, the team includes four newcomers who were lead players at their previous schools and two others who were one-time sought-after recruits now seeking fresh starts.
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Who is standing out? Pingeton said it’s too early to single out anyone.
“They’re still learning our system, they’re learning each other,” Pingeton said. “I’m excited about the potential depth that I think we’ll have and how deep we can go into our bench, which I think to play the way we want to play is gonna be really important.”
The public’s first look at the team will be Monday, Oct. 27 when the Badgers scrimmage UW-River Falls at the Kohl Center.
The Badgers are getting up and down the court
One noticeable difference in the team this year could be its pace of play. Expect it to be much faster.
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When asked to identify the team’s strength, Porter and Missouri State transfer Kyrah Daniels pointed to the team’s transition offense.
“I think we want to play fast, and so (it’s) getting either layups or threes from that,” said Daniels, a 6-foot junior guard. “I think we’re a really good shooting team and so being able to play to our strengths (will be key).”
The Badgers ranked 16th out of 18 Big Ten teams in shots taken last season and averaged 56.8 per game. They ranked 17th in scoring (65.5 points per game). Both numbers could improve if the Badgers increase their tempo.
“Our transition flow, we’ve focus on that since Day 1,” Porter said. “I feel like we’ve gotten so much better at it. If you saw us in June compared to now, you’d be like, ‘Wow’. I feel like that would be our biggest strength this year.”
UW senior point guard Ronnie Porter, left, will lead a Badgers team that has eight newcomers this season under new coach Robin Pingeton.
The players have a lot to prove. Pingeton likes that.
There are a lot of players on the roster with something to prove.
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Daniels, guards Breuana Ware and Destiny Howell and forward Gift Uchenna Okeke are making the jump to the Big Ten. Guard Shay Bollin is coming back from an injury-marred 2024-25 season at Illinois. Guard Laci Steele hopes for a bigger role after serving as a reserve at North Carolina State. And Porter hopes to regain her scoring touch after a down year in that regard last season.
It has shown in practice.
“They’ve really bought into what we’re doing,” Pingeton said. “But I think everyone’s got a little bit of a chip on their shoulder. I think it’s a really connected group.
“I think it’s a group that’s really so far done an incredible job of just locking arms and just, you know, having an attack mentality.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 3 things we learned at Wisconsin women’s basketball media day
