Wednesday was an active day for the University of Wisconsin basketball teams, as both the men's and women's squads shook up their respective rosters.
For the men, Verona Area High School star Brett Valentyn announced he will walk on to the squad this year and is guaranteed a spot on next year's team, while guard Devin Barry will likely not return to the team.
"I'm just real excited about joining the UW program," Valentyn said in a phone interview Thursday. "I just hope I can help the team out and make an impact on the team to aid them in picking up some more wins."
Valentyn, a 6-foot-4 point guard, was a unanimous first-team All-Badger South Conference selection, averaging 11.0 points, 5.8 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 2.0 steals a contest. He will join a recruiting class including guards Trevon Hughes and Brian Bohannon and forward J.P. Gavinski.
Barry, meanwhile, saw limited action as a reserve last season, seeing action in 10 games. He scored his only point of the season on a free throw at home against Penn State.
Meanwhile, UW women's head coach Lisa Stone announced today that sophomore guard Akiya Alexander will not return to the team next season.
Alexander was academically ineligible this past semester. She averaged 4.4 points and 1.6 assists and 17.3 minutes in 13 games this season.
The 5-foot-9 guard from Evanston, Ill., asked for and received her release. She plans to transfer to Southern Indiana, a Division II school in Evansville, Ind.
"We certainly hope Akiya will be able to use her talents in another program," Stone said. "We appreciated her contributions and missed her this past semester. I am sure she will be a major contributor at Southern Indiana."
Alexander is the second member of the team to depart this spring, after sophomore Shari' Welton requested and was granted a transfer in late March.
— UWBadgers.com
contributed to this report.
