After high school graduation, most kids hang out with friends, celebrate with their family and look back on the memories that they will look back on for the rest of their life.

Josh Gasser is not like most kids, though. Instead of looking back on the past, Gasser chose to look forward and focus on his future as a basketball player at Wisconsin. He traveled to Madison on the day of his graduation and got ready for the experience of being a Big Ten athlete.

Fast-forward five months: Gasser scores 21 points and pulls in nine rebounds in his first regular season college game. While the Badgers’ future opponents scrambled to find out more about the freshman they had no tape on, those living in Wisconsin already knew about him. Gasser was a four-year starter for Port Washington High School and as a senior earned the Wisconsin Gatorade Player of the Year award.

He was recruited fairly heavily, but Wisconsin didn’t come into the picture until a bit late in the process.

“Wisconsin came around my junior year,” Gasser said. “They didn’t have any scholarships open so they weren’t recruiting me real heavily.”

However, during his senior year, a scholarship opened up and he knew that UW was the place he wanted to go.

After his explosive first performance, Gasser has been drawing more and more attention from teams the Badgers face.

“Obviously Jordan [Taylor], Jon [Leuer], and Keaton [Nankivil] get most of the attention, so I know I’m going to have my open opportunities and have to take advantage of that,” Gasser said. “But after that game, teams definitely stated to realize me a little more.”

Gasser has had few difficulties picking up head coach Bo Ryan’s famous swing offense, because it was the same offensive system that he had been a part of in high school. In fact, his freshman year he was coached by one of Ryan’s former players.

Despite being one of few freshmen to start for the Badgers since Bo Ryan has been head coach at Wisconsin, Gasser hasn’t let the newfound attention get to his head.

“I’m keeping my confidence up,” Gasser said. “Never being satisfied is a big thing. I’m in the starting rotation and playing pretty good minutes, but I can’t be satisfied with that. I’ve got to keep working hard and getting better and help my team.”

The biggest transition for a freshman in college basketball is often defense. It is no simple task for a freshman to adjust from defending high school players that are generally one-dimensional, to defending against Big Ten stars like Demetri McCamey and Kalin Lucas, which Gasser will have to do later this year.

Gasser pointed out that while high school players often are only good at one or two things offensively, college basketball players have a great all-around game that is much more difficult to defend. He also gave credit to his teammates for preparing him for the onslaught of offensive moves that college basketball players can deliver.

“Covering guys like Jordan, Ben [Brust], Q [Wquinton Smith], and Rob [Wilson] in practice has really helped me out, because they’re great players,” Gasser said. “They can score whenever they want to.”

Josh Gasser has a lot of things going for him. He’s starting at guard for Wisconsin as a true freshman, and he’s successfully managed the juggling act that is being a student-athlete.

“I love it here,” Gasser said. “To have this opportunity to come here and play…you can’t ask for anything better than that.”

So, Gasser could meet expectations by playing well and becoming a key component for the Badgers for the next several years. But that’s not good enough for him. That’s not good enough for the Badgers.

If there is a mental eccentricity to the true athlete, it is their inability to be complacent or content. The best athletes are always focused, always driven, always looking for more.

Gasser is humble, but he is also driven. Fans can see it every time the freshman drives into the paint against forwards and centers that are a half-foot taller and outweigh him by 40 pounds. You can see it in his determination on the free-throw line, a place where he has excelled this year.

So far, Gasser has played well. He has shown that he deserves a starting spot on a talented Big Ten squad. More importantly, however, he has shown the mindset of a great player. This year, the Badgers will need that same mindset and more impressive games from Gasser if they want to have a successful season.