Recent transfers out of Wisconsin men's basketball program and how they fared

With news that Connor Essegian would be entering the transfer portal, the Wisconsin Badgers will bid adieu to a popular player who made the all-freshman team last season in the Big Ten, although he saw a dramatic decrease in playing time this year.

Typically, a player who transfers out of Wisconsin doesn't wind up making a major impact on a power-conference roster, though we've seen at least one exception in the past 15 years.

Here's a sampling of recent players who transferred out of the program and then played at the Division I level, with the year of departure in parentheses.

Jordan Davis, Illinois State (2023)

The twin brother of former Big Ten player of the year Johnny Davis, the La Crosse native played three seasons with Wisconsin. At Illinois State this season, he averaged 3.5 points per game, getting 15.2 minutes per 23 contests.

Ben Carlson, Utah (2022)

Over the past two seasons, Carlson has averaged 5.1 points and 3.3 rebounds per game in 18.4 minutes per game, up from his first two college campaigns in Madison (1.8 points, 1.8 rebounds per game).

Lorne Bowman, Oakland (2022)

The point guard played in 22 games as a freshman for the Badgers in 2021-22 but then transferred to Oakland, where he played in 12 games last year and averaged 2.9 points per game. He wasn't on the roster this season for the team that went to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Matthew Mors, South Dakota State (2022)

He redshirted in 2021-22 with Wisconsin and never suited up, then moved on to South Dakota State. He was more involved on last year's team when he scored 6.5 points per game in 19.2 minutes. This year, he was down to 10.5 minutes, didn't start any games and averaged 3.5 points. He did hit his only shot attempt in SDSU's first-round NCAA Tournament loss to Iowa State.

Joe Hedstrom, Valparaiso (2021)

After three seasons in the UW program, he spent two seasons at Valpo, averaging 2.2 points per game and a little less than six minutes per contest each season.

Trevor Anderson, Valparaiso (2021)

Hedstrom was joined at Valpo by Anderson, who started his career at UW-Green Bay and then spent four years inside the Badgers program, including a redshirt year. He averaged 3.1 points and 1.2 assists in his final year at UW, in 2020-21. The Stevens Point alumnus took a more prominent role at VU, averaging 9.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game, often in a starting role. Injuries, which hounded Anderson during his NCAA career, cut that final season short when he was lost for the year in late January with a back injury.

Kobe King, Valparaiso (2020)

King left the program under acrimonious circumstances and initially pledged to Nebraska but instead tested the NBA Draft process and never suited up for the Cornhuskers. After getting a waiver to return to college, he signed with Valparaiso and made an impact for the Missouri Valley Conference school, scoring 14.0 points per game with 4.7 rebounds in his first year in 2021-22 and 16.2 points with 4.1 rebounds in 2022-23. He started 54 games at VU in 55 appearances. He was named all-newcomer in his first season.

Tai Strickland, Temple, Georgia Southern, Long Island (2019)

As a freshman, he played sparingly in 16 games, then transferred to Temple, where he spent three seasons. He scored 8.2 points per game in his second season, then moved to Georgia Southern in 2022-23 (7.2 points per game in 30 games). As a graduate transfer at Long Island this season, he started 24 games and averaged 14.2 points and 4.0 rebounds per contest, earning third-team all-conference.

Andy Van Vliet, William & Mary (2018)

The native of Belgium spent two seasons with Wisconsin, then wound up at William & Mary in the Colonial Athletic Association, where he started all 32 games and finished with 13.2 points and 8.7 rebounds per contest. That landed him a spot on the all-conference third team.

Jordan Hill, Seattle (2017)

After three years at Wisconsin, he found some playing time at Seattle in the WAC during the 2017-18 season, scoring 13.7 points per game, leading the team in assists and earning a spot on the league's all-newcomer list.

Riley Dearring, Cal State Fullerton (2016)

The recruit out of Minnesota played in 18 games for the Badgers over his first two years, including 15 as a freshman in 2015 when UW went to the national championship game. His final season came at Cal State Fullerton, where he saw action in six games and averaged 1.5 points per contest.

George Marshall, South Dakota State (2013)

Marshall transferred in the infancy of his second season at Wisconsin and landed at South Dakota State, where he started 53 games over two seasons and averaged 14.1 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. He scored 15 points in a narrow loss to Maryland in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 2016.

Jarrod Uthoff, Iowa (2012)

If there's one that truly got away, it's this one, and it also got ugly. Badgers coach Bo Ryan took heat for placing significant restrictions on transfer flexibility, blocking Uthoff from contacting more than 25 programs. Ryan later loosened the restrictions, but Uthoff still had to pay his own way for the 2012-13 season at Iowa as he sat out per transfer regulations. Once he could play, he spent three seasons with the Hawkeyes, averaging 13.0 points and 5.8 rebounds for his career and 18.9 points per game as a senior, when he was named first-team all-Big Ten.

Ian Markolf, Incarnate Word (2010)

The 7-1 center had a wild journey after barely seeing the floor for the Badgers in 2008-09 and 2009-10, when he left the program to focus on his degree. He landed at Incarnate Word in 2011-12 and averaged 7.5 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game, though he then missed the following season with injury. He came back in 2013-14 and averaged 6.9 points per game in 21 contests.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin basketball lost these players to transfer; how they fared