The Wisconsin men’s basketball program has an impressive academic record. Many have even earned graduate degrees.

By Peter Cameron, BADGER STRIPES

The UW concluded the school year last weekend with graduation ceremonies, and like most years, a men’s basketball player earned a degree. And not just his bachelor’s either.

Five-year player Tyler Wahl finished his bachelor’s degree in personal finance last year. He took master’s courses during his fifth, COVID year and completed his master’s degree in sports leadership, said Brandon Harrison, a spokesman for Wisconsin Athletics.

Seniors Steven Crowl and Isaac Lindsay also graduated this past weekend, both with bachelor’s degrees in personal finance, Harrison noted.

Wahl is one of many UW men’s basketball players to have completed both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree.

The Wisconsin men’s basketball program has a reputation for producing true student-athletes, a term that can be an oxymoron at other schools. During the first of back-to-back Final Four appearances in 2014, The New York Times published a story about the amount of studying the players did in between games.

Brevin Pritzl played for the program for five years, earning a share of the Big Ten title as a key reserve in his fifth year in 2019-2020.

Now playing basketball professionally in Belgium, he earned a bachelor’s and a master’s degree during his time in Madison.

“Once you kind of understand how much work it takes for school, you can budget your time better and still remain focused on school and basketball,” he told Badger Stripes.

Pritzl said he took summer credits in order to complete his master’s degree in time.

Earning the master’s “is really a huge benefit to get it done and sets you up well for the future,” Pritzl said.

The program has also seen several stars who departed UW early for the NBA return to finish their degrees in recent years.

Michael Finley, a first-round draft pick in 1995, left school after three years as the program’s all-time leading scorer. He came back and completed his bachelor’s degree in agricultural and applied economics in 2014.

A quarter century after he left for the NBA draft and a successful professional career abroad, Rashard Griffith, now a team manager with the program, earned his bachelor’s degree in Community Non-Profit Leadership in 2020.

Perhaps the best to ever play in Madison, Devin Harris returned nearly twenty years later to earn his bachelor’s in history in December.

But just because student-athletes are graduating doesn’t mean the degrees are legitimate, said David Ridpath, a sports business professor at Ohio University.

He noted how the University of North Carolina had graduated athletes fraudulently for years.

To see if players are actually earning legitimate degrees, look at their majors, Ridpath said.

Scholarship players in the Wisconsin men’s basketball program have completed degrees in international relations, business and kinesiology.

The fact that several Badger men’s basketball players have earned master’s degrees is a sign that the academics are “very healthy,” Ridpath said.

UW basketball players who earned degrees recently

MASTER’S DEGREES

Brevin Pritzl – Education Leadership and Policy Analysis in 2020

Nate Reuvers – MBA in 2022

Chris Vogt – MBA: real estate and urban land economics in 2022

Brad Davison – Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis in 2023

Tyler Wahl – Sports Leadership in 2024

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BACHELOR’S DEGREES

2014

Duje Dukan — International studies

2015

Frank Kaminsky — Life Science Communications

2017

Vitto Brown —  Life Science Communications

Nigel Hayes — Business: finance

Bronson Koenig — Life Science Communications

Zak Showalter — Business: Finance and Risk Management & Insurance

2018

Brevin Pritzl – Kinesiology

2019

Charles Thomas IV – Sociology

2020

Nate Reuvers — Business: finance, investing and banking

D’Mitrik Trice — Communication Arts

Micah Potter — Bachelor of Science

Ethan Happ — Bachelor of Science

Trevor Anderson — Life Science Communications

2021

Aleem Ford — Communication Arts

Brad Davison — Business: management and human resources

2023

Tyler Wahl – Personal Finance

2024

Isaac Lindsay – personal finance

Steven Crowl – Personal Finance

Badger Stripes is an online sports news organization that provides in-depth coverage of Wisconsin athletics. Follow us on Facebook or X.