{"id":30644,"date":"2025-03-22T00:55:37","date_gmt":"2025-03-22T00:55:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=30644"},"modified":"2025-03-22T00:55:37","modified_gmt":"2025-03-22T00:55:37","slug":"breaking-news-wisconsin-badgers-basketball-head-coach-greg-gard-confirms-three-top-experienced-star-players-just-announced-shocking-departure-due-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=30644","title":{"rendered":"Breaking News: Wisconsin Badgers Basketball Head Coach Greg Gard Confirms Three Top Experienced Star Players Just Announced Shocking Departure Due To&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"d79db4796efc26332eabfc3f5dafbc76\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<div class=\"hb-ad-inarticle\">\r\n    <div class=\"hb-ad-inner\"> \r\n    <div class=\"hbagency_cls\"  id=\"hbagency_space_111930\"><\/div><\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Breaking News: Wisconsin Badgers Basketball Head Coach Greg Gard Confirms Three Top Experienced Star Players Just Announced Shocking Departure Due To&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In a surprising turn of events, Wisconsin Badgers head coach Greg Gard has confirmed the departure of three pivotal players from the men&#8217;s basketball team. Senior point guard Chucky Hepburn, a three-year starter and defensive stalwart, has entered the transfer portal, seeking new opportunities for his final year of eligibility. Hepburn&#8217;s decision follows a season where he averaged 9.2 points, 3.9 assists, and 2.1 steals per game, earning him a spot on the All-Defensive Team.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-30646\" src=\"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/images-40-2-300x169.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/images-40-2-300x169.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/images-40-2.jpeg 660w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Joining Hepburn in departure is sophomore guard A.J. Storr, who has declared for the NBA Draft while also entering the transfer portal as a contingency. Storr led the Badgers in scoring this past season, averaging 16.8 points per game and showcasing his prowess with standout performances in the Big Ten tournament, including a 30-point game against Northwestern.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The third significant loss is sophomore guard Connor Essegian, who has also chosen to transfer. Essegian, recognized for his sharpshooting abilities, was instrumental in spacing the floor and contributing to the team&#8217;s offensive strategies.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>These unexpected departures pose a considerable challenge for Coach Gard and his staff as they look to rebuild and maintain competitiveness in the upcoming season. The Badgers will need to rely on returning players and potential new recruits to fill the void left by these key contributors.<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Breaking News: Wisconsin Badgers Basketball Head Coach Greg Gard Confirms Three Top Experienced Star Players Just Announced Shocking Departure Due To&#8230; &nbsp; In a surprising turn of events, Wisconsin Badgers head coach Greg Gard has confirmed the departure of three pivotal players from the men&#8217;s basketball team. Senior point guard Chucky Hepburn, a three-year starter [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":30645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[138],"class_list":["post-30644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-wisconsin-badgers"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Breaking News: Wisconsin Badgers Basketball Head...<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Breaking News: Wisconsin Badgers Basketball Head Coach Greg Gard Confirms Three Top Experienced Star Players Just Announced...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=30644\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Breaking News: Wisconsin Badgers Basketball Head...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Breaking News: Wisconsin Badgers Basketball Head Coach Greg Gard Confirms Three Top Experienced Star Players Just Announced...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=30644\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"letsportsrock\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-22T00:55:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/images-39-3.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"623\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"492\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Paul Hembaor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Paul Hembaor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?p=30644#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?p=30644\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Paul Hembaor\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/97aa0f336f5a3ca15a8ec7d78846f045\"},\"headline\":\"Breaking News: Wisconsin Badgers Basketball Head Coach Greg Gard Confirms Three Top Experienced Star Players Just Announced Shocking Departure Due To&#8230;\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-22T00:55:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?p=30644\"},\"wordCount\":258,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?p=30644#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/images-39-3.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"Wisconsin Badgers\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?p=30644#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?p=30644\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?p=30644\",\"name\":\"Breaking News: Wisconsin Badgers Basketball Head...\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?p=30644#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?p=30644#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/images-39-3.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-22T00:55:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/97aa0f336f5a3ca15a8ec7d78846f045\"},\"description\":\"Breaking News: Wisconsin Badgers Basketball Head Coach Greg Gard Confirms Three Top Experienced Star Players Just Announced...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?p=30644#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?p=30644\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?p=30644#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/images-39-3.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/images-39-3.jpeg\",\"width\":623,\"height\":492},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?p=30644#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Breaking News: Wisconsin Badgers Basketball Head Coach Greg Gard Confirms Three Top Experienced Star Players Just Announced Shocking Departure Due To&#8230;\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"letsportsrock\",\"description\":\"Sport News and Updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/97aa0f336f5a3ca15a8ec7d78846f045\",\"name\":\"Paul Hembaor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0574929a03c152e8ea7939c31311f9ea2fe2e06139cd71e2d6e698c217219d60?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0574929a03c152e8ea7939c31311f9ea2fe2e06139cd71e2d6e698c217219d60?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0574929a03c152e8ea7939c31311f9ea2fe2e06139cd71e2d6e698c217219d60?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Paul Hembaor\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/wp-admin\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?author=9\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Breaking News: Wisconsin Badgers Basketball Head...","description":"Breaking News: Wisconsin Badgers Basketball Head Coach Greg Gard Confirms Three Top Experienced Star Players Just Announced...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=30644","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Breaking News: Wisconsin Badgers Basketball Head...","og_description":"Breaking News: Wisconsin Badgers Basketball Head Coach Greg Gard Confirms Three Top Experienced Star Players Just Announced...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=30644","og_site_name":"letsportsrock","article_published_time":"2025-03-22T00:55:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":623,"height":492,"url":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/images-39-3.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Paul Hembaor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Paul Hembaor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=30644#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=30644"},"author":{"name":"Paul Hembaor","@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/#\/schema\/person\/97aa0f336f5a3ca15a8ec7d78846f045"},"headline":"Breaking News: Wisconsin Badgers Basketball Head Coach Greg Gard Confirms Three Top Experienced Star Players Just Announced Shocking Departure Due To&#8230;","datePublished":"2025-03-22T00:55:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=30644"},"wordCount":258,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=30644#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/images-39-3.jpeg","keywords":["Wisconsin Badgers"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=30644#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=30644","url":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=30644","name":"Breaking News: Wisconsin Badgers Basketball Head...","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=30644#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=30644#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/images-39-3.jpeg","datePublished":"2025-03-22T00:55:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/#\/schema\/person\/97aa0f336f5a3ca15a8ec7d78846f045"},"description":"Breaking News: Wisconsin Badgers Basketball Head Coach Greg Gard Confirms Three Top Experienced Star Players Just Announced...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=30644#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=30644"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=30644#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/images-39-3.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/images-39-3.jpeg","width":623,"height":492},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=30644#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Breaking News: Wisconsin Badgers Basketball Head Coach Greg Gard Confirms Three Top Experienced Star Players Just Announced Shocking Departure Due To&#8230;"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/","name":"letsportsrock","description":"Sport News and Updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/#\/schema\/person\/97aa0f336f5a3ca15a8ec7d78846f045","name":"Paul Hembaor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0574929a03c152e8ea7939c31311f9ea2fe2e06139cd71e2d6e698c217219d60?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0574929a03c152e8ea7939c31311f9ea2fe2e06139cd71e2d6e698c217219d60?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0574929a03c152e8ea7939c31311f9ea2fe2e06139cd71e2d6e698c217219d60?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Paul Hembaor"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/wp-admin\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?author=9"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/images-39-3.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30644"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30647,"href":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30644\/revisions\/30647"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}