Was it an injury or was it some sort of illness he was dealing with? I thought there was some kind of mention about that at the time.....if so, I hope the kid is doing well. I don't remember him ever even being on the bench.....
Sickness not injury is what has been spoken of but never announced.
Weird that they've never announced it.
It is every bit as weird as the mystery illness/injury he had that ruled him out for the season before it even began. I remember seeing him on the bench in the first 10 games or so, then not after that.
Perhaps he was a Badger spy and was eliminated....
They did announce Willis had a broken foot after the Stanford game.
I feel like they would have taken him off the roster if he really left. Teams are usually pretty quick to update the rosters.
I was at an early (pre)season practice and ran into one of the walk-ons after, and he mentioned we'd be hearing chants of "play NEMO" just like "play JOSEA" back in Niko's student manager days. Turner never had a chance
Not sure Frietag a good enough shooter but he is so athletic and good at getting downhill, perhaps he could be a Langston Reynolds type depending on his defense, certainly athletic enough, honestly dude should have picked football he had NFL DB potential
Niko loves Willis he said the night he got hurt that he would apply for a medical red shirt, same with Vaihola once that injury announced. I feel good about those two being back based on passed conversations, but I guess you can never to say never. I doubt Stephens is back, don't know the illness but I imagine it was quite serious, Omot no clue, tough to hold a spot for a dude who hasn't played in two years, but hey we get 15 of them and if he's healthy he gives this team something we dont otherwise have on the roster.--MN has garnered enough positive attention to get a look of some decent portal additions.
--I hope that the ZONE defense is something MN throws into the regular defensive mix, even when full strength '26/'27. MN zone is every bit as good as Syracuse years, which was unexpected.
--Core players Asuma, JCJ, Durkin and hopefully Grove as a role player off bench.
--Incoming freshmen Mpoyi***/Tomes***/Anderson**** fit system and get minutes
--Hopeful Vaihola, Shinholster stay, and Omot, Stephens get healthy. Not sure if Omot (Both Gach) is Big Ten ready, but Stephens is a shooter and we need shooters.
--Willis unknown. Seems all in at MN, but had a lot of early turnovers and isn't a great shooter.
--Will the portal produce anything not shocking? Kyan Evans (NC), or Nolen Groves (TT)? I would take 6'10" James Brown over Evans if there is a pipeline from NC.
--I would like to see MN have the flexibility to go "small" (Vaihola/JCJ/Grove) or "tall" (Mpoyi/7'xfer).
--It has been very impressive to see MN get really good shot selection despite their lack of big bodies. A tribute to Niko's system.
--Personally, my season was made by MN style of play, and early wins over Indiana, and Sparty, UCLA that really set the future tone. Want to now beat Rutgers AND UCLA again just to see Cronin's post game presser after loss
Don't want him, don't want his attitude, don't want him as a teammate
Doubts on Stephens? He's been gone for months, .0001% chance he's back. I'm thinking 2% chance on Omot, significantly higher than Stephens but unlikely. Basically the guys who never saw the court this year for whatever reason will not be back. I fully expect Vaihola, JCJ, and Willis to return, assuming Willis/Vaihola do not have issues with getting a medical waiver granted. And yes, I would take Omot as the 14th/15th guy on next year's team.
I’m going to amend this statement
If his attitude isn’t better than when he was a junior in high school, he has bigger problems than sports.
As a HS sophomore I thought he was a must get, I saw him play a lot. His junior year, the team suffered injuries, and the season started going south, and so did his attitude, again, I saw him play a lot. I didn’t pay much attention to him at Breck, he was originally going to transfer to a school in California, and he didn’t look like he belonged, or wanted to be at wisconsin even with the scant minutes he played there
Who has said we we should go after him if he's NOT a good fit?
People can change and mature