The first six words of his bio on uwbadgers.com — the official athletic site of the Wisconsin Badgers — tell you all you need to know about Wisconsin men’s basketball fifth year senior guard Josh Gasser.
The bio, which is over 1,500 words long, starts with “The undisputed leader of the Badgers”.
Sure, other players have insightful and eye-grabbing starts to their respective bios that usually pull you in with gaudy stats and figures, but only Gasser can lay claim as “the undisputed leader” of the fifth-ranked Badgers who are in the midst of a journey with Final Four aspirations.
And if that title should belong to anyone on this Wisconsin team, it has to be Gasser.
Dubbed “Captain America” by his teammates, Gasser has been a fixture on the men’s basketball team since 2010 when he came to Madison as a freshman from Port Washington, Wisconsin.
As with any Bo Ryan-coached team, playing time as a freshman is hard to come by, but Gasser started in 30 of Wisconsin’s 34 games his freshman season — to even his surprise.
“I knew I would play eventually in my career,” Gasser said. “I was confident in myself that I was going to get minutes to help the team, but it happened so early in my career, which was something I was a little surprised about. But I worked so hard that I felt like I deserved it.”
But how does a 6-foot-4, three-star guard out of high school crack Ryan’s starting lineup in his first few months at Wisconsin?
Because perhaps nobody embodies what Wisconsin basketball is all about more than Gasser.
“I think from day one [Gasser] accepted and bought into the simple philosophies we’ve had in this program: of toughness, working hard, not caring who gets the credit, just trying to do the best thing that you do and help the team win,” associate head coach Greg Gard said.
The toughness in Gasser has always been on display while at Wisconsin. His defense speaks for itself, as he is often tasked with guarding the opposing team’s best scorer night in and night out. All that has done is earned him a spot in the Big Ten All-Defensive Team in 2012 and 2014.
But Gasser’s toughness reached a watermark in October of 2012.
Much like the actual Captain America who was frozen in ice, Gasser was frozen for the 2012-13 season after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament — better known as an ACL — prior to his junior season.
Yet to no one’s surprise, Gasser bounced right back the following season with his tireless work ethic to average a career-high 34.1 minutes per game in addition to 7.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game.
And now, three-and-a-half years after the injury, Gasser sits as the program’s all-time leader in starts with 128, breaking Alando Tucker’s previous record of 126 in the Badgers’ game against Northwestern last Saturday.
“No, not even in my wildest dreams. It’s cool,” Gasser said of imagining he would break the all-time starts record before he came to Wisconsin. “You know, things have worked out pretty well in my career. I’ve been able to stay healthy, in terms of during the season, so things have worked out pretty well for me.”
As a fixture on the floor for the Badgers the last five seasons, Gasser undoubtedly brings a leadership quality — as his bio suggests — to the Wisconsin team. Arguably, that has become most important this season after starting point guard Traevon Jackson went down with a foot injury in late January, forcing sophomore Bronson Koenig to step into the starting role.
Right alongside Koenig in the backcourt has been Gasser, who continues to lead despite Koenig having the play-calling duties. When Koenig brings the ball up the court, he knows exactly what he has to look forward to with Gasser next to him.
“Just a solid leader,” Koenig said. “He’s a fifth year senior leader that is always going to make the right plays, just do what’s best for the team, swing the ball around and not take bad shots and not make mistakes.”
And as Koenig progresses in his second season at Wisconsin, the numbers have come with it. In eight starts this season, Koenig is averaging just under 13 points a game, and that’s in large part thanks to what Gasser has been able to do for the sophomore.
“He’s given me a lot of confidence to just be aggressive and to do my thing,” Koenig said of Gasser.
Koenig’s improvement has been just one more example of Gasser not caring who gets the credit, which has been necessary on a team with so much talent this season.
“I’ve definitely had to step up as a leader,” Gasser said. “I think myself, [Traevon Jackson] and Frank [Kaminsky] are without a doubt the leaders for the team, and I think myself and [Jackson] are the ones who are the vocal leaders. With him out, I’ve definitely been able to step up in that way. And it’s natural for me. I love talking on the floor, I like being a leader that way, so I haven’t had to hold anything back, and I definitely like it.”
So while the Badgers conquer the rest of the Big Ten season and march on into the NCAA Tournament next month, they’ll rely on the generosity, hard work and toughness of Captain America as the “undisputed leader of the Badgers.”
“He’s such a steadying influence,” Gard said. “He doesn’t change, he doesn’t waver in what he’s trying to do. Facial expressions, whether things are going well or not, he just keeps plugging away and keeps coming back for the next possession.”
