Badgers basketball coaches believe Chris Hodges and Matthew Mors will benefit in the long run from redshirting this season
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MADISON – Transferring has never been easier for or more attractive to college athletes than it is today.
The transfer portal is full of hundreds if not thousands of names of NCAA basketball and football players.
That environment made last month's news that Wisconsin freshmen forwards Matthew Mors and Chris Hodges had decided to redshirt this season a bit curious.
Although it's not guaranteed Mors and Hodges will each stay at UW for five years, both players were thinking long-term when they made their decisions.
“One thing is that you listen to them and their reasoning and logic behind it and what they envisioned for the future,” said UW coach Greg Gard, whose team was scheduled to face Georgia Tech on Wednesday night in Atlanta. “Both those guys are very mature for their age in terms of how they look at their college careers.
“I’ve been fortunate to coach unselfish guys who aren’t caught up in instant gratification. And both of those guys talked about how they could improve over the course of time and looked at in the long-game sense.”
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According to Gard and assistant Joe Krabbenhoft, academics played a role for both players.
“School is a big thing,” Krabbenhoft said. “Both those guys are great students. They have goals, academic aspirations they want to accomplish. Now you add another year and you have to rethink some things, how you are going to attack those things, not just basketball.”
Hodges, 6-foot-9 and 239 pounds, is strong, has long arms and strong hands and appears to have the potential to be a force near the basket.
He averaged 15.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game as a junior but did not play his senior season at Schaumburg High School because of concerns over COVID-19.
“For him, it was very logical,” Gard said of the decision to redshirt, “just to try to catch up on some of the experience component.”
Mors, 6-7 and 241, was the South Dakota Gatorade Player of the Year three times. He set the all-time Class AA boys scoring record, amassing more than 2,000 points. He averaged 24.2 points, 8.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 2.5 steals and 1.9 blocks per game as a senior.
Mors appears to have the skills to play inside or outside. He can score, rebound and pass but needs time in the weight room.
“I think that Matthew saw that how he could continue to improve and grow his game and his body," Gard said. "Both of them I thought were very logical in their reasoning and questions.”
Not every player benefits from taking a redshirt year and develops into a better all-around player in their fifth year.
UW’s staff is betting Hodges and Mors will gain from the extra year.
“You weigh what this year could be against what potentially could happen,” Krabbenhoft said. “And potential is always a scary thing because potential is something that hasn’t been accomplished yet.
“But both of those guys, with their work ethic, the kind of people they are, the background they come from, I think that potential will be reached.
“So, when you look at what a fifth year could be vs. what this year could be, that fifth year sounds real nice. Not only for them as players, but for us as coaches.”
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Badgers see benefit in Matthew Mors, Chris Hodges redshirting
