UWGB coach Will Ryan: 'No animosity' after losing potential star Kamari McGee to UW

GREEN BAY – University of Wisconsin-Green Bay men’s basketball coach Will Ryan was at the airport heading to the Final Four in New Orleans a few weeks ago when he received a text message from point guard Kamari McGee.

McGee asked his coach if they could set up a meeting. Ryan instead placed a call to him, not wanting whatever it was about to linger during the weekend.

Turns out, McGee just wanted to check in and see who the staff was zeroing in on and who might be coming in for a visit.

Ryan viewed McGee as an important piece for the future after the former Racine St. Catherine’s star made the Horizon League’s all-freshman team this season.

He wanted to keep him in the loop. McGee even had been the host for a couple of potential recruits who had visited campus this offseason.

“He was back home,” Ryan said. “It was good to check in with him. We talked a little bit about recruiting and that we could talk more in depth about it the following Monday.”

That Monday meeting did not go as planned. McGee instead informed Ryan that he had decided to enter the NCAA transfer portal.

Ryan was a bit surprised. He also was disappointed.

But he wasn’t exactly blindsided. After all, this is college basketball in 2022. There are stories and tweets every day about players leaving their school to look for another one.

More than 1,000 have entered the portal since the end of the season and that number could end up close to 2,000. There were more than 1,700 last year.

“It’s a surprise to people on the outside looking in that don’t quite understand how big of a difference this is as compared to years past,” Ryan said. “When you are transferring, there are reasons why you would transfer. But it was kind of one of those where you’d think long and hard about your reasons. Now, you don’t have to talk to the head coach. You can go straight to compliance and say, ‘I want to enter the portal.’

“But the young men that we have brought into the program, they are great kids. They have been open and honest with us.”

McGee committed to play for Wisconsin and coach Greg Gard eight days after leaving UWGB.

He helps fill a void left by backup guard Lorne Bowman, who entered the portal four days after McGee and will play the Phoenix twice a year after signing with Oakland.

The Badgers’ coaching staff has a hometown link to McGee, with assistant Sharif Chambliss also a former Racine St. Catherine’s standout.

Ryan was asked if he thought there were any intermediaries between the Badgers and McGee.

“In all honesty, I don’t know,” Ryan said. “I’m not going to lose sleep over that, worrying if there was some backchanneling going on. Coach Gard is a mentor of mine. I was on staff when Sharif was playing for my dad at Wisconsin. I know all those guys really well.

“I’m not going to accuse them of anything. That’s not in my nature. I don’t believe that was the case. I think Kamari was like, ‘Hey, I can play at that level.’ He wanted to test and see what was out there, and Wisconsin just happened to have a scholarship that opened up. The timing worked out well for him.”

Ryan is attempting to rebuild the UWGB program after the Phoenix went 5-25 last season, but it doesn’t help to lose a potential foundational piece.

Does it sting a bit more that somebody close to him and his family was the one who took it?

“There is no animosity or ill feelings toward him,” Ryan said of Gard. “I don’t think that way. When Kamari entered the portal, Coach Gard reached out to me and asked about him and my thoughts on Kamari as a player, as a person. All those things.

“I spoke very highly of him, and then things just happened really quickly for Kamari. Timing is everything. It just worked out in his favor that they have a backup who is leaving. He’s able to slide in there.”

Like many teams, UWGB might have to get used to this way of life. It doesn’t appear it’s going to change any time soon.

It was not that long ago when rosters mostly were set by this time of year. Now, coaches are working to fill holes left by portal departures.

UWGB has close to 40% of its roster to complete after seven players either entered the portal this offseason or retired from basketball.

Ryan wasn’t joking when he said that if a team has its roster complete by now, the coach should have fun taking a vacation.

There aren’t many in such an enviable position. Ryan and his staff constantly are scouting players in the portal, hosting potential recruits and paying attention to junior college transfers.

No leaf goes unturned to find the best fits for the program.

There is a chance building with true freshmen isn’t going to work, that having most players stay all four years isn’t possible. McGee wasn’t even close to a finished product — he shot 38.8% and had a negative assist/turnover ratio — and he lasted just one.

Ryan believes there should be some incentive for those who do stick around. If a player stays all four years, earns a degree and exhausts his or her eligibility, they should be rewarded in some fashion.

It also has crossed his mind that because many of the good teams in the country are the oldest ones, that he should just get all seniors and grad transfers.

Yes, he knows that’s not realistic.

“There is no exact science to it,” Ryan said. “Maybe as the years wear on, some coach will figure out some sort of formula. It’s in my blood to get four-year guys and develop them. But the landscape of college basketball has changed so drastically with the portal that in order to really be competitive year in and year out, you have to have a blend of old and young. You just, I don’t know if I can say hope, but you work diligently to try and keep your young guys for those four years.

“It’s tough, because when you think a kid is loyal and committed to a program, you have got them a year or two or three and then they move on. That’s a lot of time and energy in developing kids.”

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: UWGB coach Will Ryan: 'No animosity' after losing Kamari McGee to UW