University of Wisconsin men’s basketball junior guard Chucky Hepburn has entered the transfer portal, he announced on Instagram, after a bounce-back third season in which he emerged as one of the nation’s most controlled distributors while displaying top-end offensive flashes.
The shocking move (on the same day fellow former Wisconsin star guard AJ Storr reportedly chose Kansas as his next transfer destination, according to The Athletic) is perhaps more indicative of the current transfer portal climate than Hepburn’s individual situation. The guard had the potential to enter next season as the Badgers’ most important all-around player after three seasons in which he spent more than 3,300 minutes on the floor (32.1 per game).
“As I embark on this new chapter and enter the transfer portal, please know that my decision is not a reflection of anything lacking at Wisconsin," Hepburn said in a statement posted to Instagram. "Rather, it is an opportunity for me to explore new opportunities and continue my journey in pursuit of my dreams. Thank you, Wisconsin, for everything you have given me. I will carry the lessons and memories from my time here wherever I go, and I will always be proud to have been a Badger."
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"We have a lot of love for Chucky," Badgers coach Greg Gard said in a statement provided by Wisconsin athletics. "He’s been a big part of our program. In today’s college basketball, players are making transactional decisions all over the country at every level. There’s no time to complain about the system in place. We’re dedicating all of our energy right now into finding the next fits for our program. In fact, minutes after talking to Chucky about this, I was already pursuing another talented point guard who is in the portal. This is the reality of college basketball today."
Hepburn, the 127th-ranked player in the 2021 class and No. 2 player in Nebraska per 247Sports, was starting to realize the potential that made him such a coveted recruit by averaging 15 points and 5.3 assists in the final four games of Wisconsin’s season. That included a Big Ten Tournament semifinal performance against Purdue (a 76-75 overtime win) when he scored 20 points and a 22-point outing in the Badgers’ loss to Illinois in the title game.
He had displayed some elite moments early in his time with the Badgers, most notably by banking in the go-ahead 3-pointer against Purdue late in the 2021-22 regular season to help Wisconsin secure its share of the Big Ten regular-season title.
Despite leading the Badgers in scoring, Hepburn didn’t take as much of an offensive jump after he was named to the Big Ten’s all-freshman team in his first season after averaging 7.9 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. The Omaha, Nebraska, native averaged 12.2 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game and was all-conference honorable mention in his second season.
Hepburn didn’t fit seamlessly into the role of a go-to scorer at the end of games for a Badgers team that lacked off-the-dribble creators despite being Wisconsin’s best perimeter defender and making strides as a standstill 3-point shooter. He raised his 3-point shooting average from 34.8% to 40.5% but dipped a half-percentage point overall.
Hepburn told BadgerExtra it was because he lacked confidence when he shot throughout the season, and he also was nursing a sore knee that was the result of him carrying extra weight. But Hepburn dropped 10 pounds while maintaining the muscle that allowed him to become one of the premier perimeter defenders in the Big Ten. And he entered the past season determined not to force anything, despite some early showings like a run in the final 4 minutes, 36 seconds against SMU at the Fort Myers Tip-Off when Hepburn scored all 10 of his points to lead Wisconsin to the early season tournament win.
His scoring and shooting took a while to reach a consistent level, but Hepburn remained a vital part of a Badgers team that quickly ascended as high as the No. 6 team in the Associated Press men’s college basketball rankings. His 3.19 assist-to-turnover ratio ranked No. 16 in the country, and his 2.1 steals per contest were second in the Big Ten last season. But Hepburn always felt there was room to grow with his offensive game, and he realized that in the final few games of the season. The junior was more aggressive hunting his shot and looked to be the Badgers’ best offensive player entering the NCAA Tournament.
But he had eight points on 3-of-8 shooting with three turnovers (just the second time this season he’d tallied more than two in a game) against James Madison in a game when all the Badgers struggled. That likely will be the last game of his Wisconsin career.
Hepburn played 30-plus minutes per game in each of his first three seasons at Wisconsin and led the Badgers in minutes per game this season (33.2), so replacing the floor general will be a difficult challenge. Wisconsin has two 2024 additions incoming: forward Jack Robison and point guard Daniel Freitag, who previously was thought to be the backup to Hepburn as he waited his chance to be the Badgers’ point guard of the future.
Kamari McGee, Max Klesmit and John Blackwell all the ability to run the Badgers offense if they need to take a greater role doing so next season. But the individual importance of Klesmit and Blackwell as scorers for Wisconsin likely will require it to look for a point guard option to replace Hepburn next season in the transfer portal.
Hepburn is the seventh outgoing transfer for the Badgers this offseason, joining Connor Essegian, AJ Storr, Ross Candelino, Luke Haertle, Gus Yalden and Isaac Lindsey. Hepburn's departure opens a third scholarship for the Badgers in an effort to recruit his replacement via the transfer portal.
BadgerExtra columnist Jim Polzin contributed reporting to this story