John Tonje - Flash in the Pan or All-American?

The departure of AJ Storr combined with a lack of notable additions led many people (including myself) to disregard Wisconsin. Yet, the Badgers are 8-0 and rated inside the top 30 on Kenpom. The biggest reason is? John Tonje, a career 9.1 scorer suddenly averaging 23 points.

The breakout began with an absurd 41-point outburst to upset Arizona inside the Kohl's center. Tonje has built his game on physicality and drawing fouls. He took 22 free throws against Arizona and averaged 9 free throws overall.

The jump in free throw attempts will be hard to maintain throughout the season. For comparison, Terrence Shannon Jr. averaged 8.6 free throws for Illinois during his senior season by pressuring defenses in transition. Looking at other great Wisconsin wings under Greg Gard Tonje's start stands out.

This advancement in free throw attempts and percentage boosts his efficiency to an incredible 71.7% true shooting (includes free throw and three-point shooting). Tonje's career-high before this season was 61.2%.

Enough with the numbers already! Let's dive into why Tonje is having success this season.

It starts with his ability to get downhill and force straight-line drives. He refuses to allow defenders space to recover, attacking angles to beat his matchup at the beginning of his drive. With that physicality, his defender is forced to concede a drive or try to recover, which usually leads to a foul with Tonje.

Now, to create these advantages, Tonje is the poster child of the "playing off two feet" movement. He loves quick changes of direction and has great footwork (Stretching the definitions of eurosteps and jumpstops to the very extreme).

It's clear that John Tonje is a great driver of basketball. His passing and shooting are two areas that he will be forced to prove over and over during Big Ten play. His passing has yet to be tested. He misses his teammates for layups and often is just trying to pass to whatever teammate he sees first.

On the perimeter, he is mainly a cutter where he cuts like a linebacker blitzing. But he has hit some big-time threes through the first eight games. The more his shooting is a threat, the more it sets up his shot fake into a dribble drive.

I am officially rambling about Tonje's game. Still, I wanted to mention some negatives from how physically he attacks the basket. Despite the 41 points versus Arizona, Tonje was forced into 4 turnovers compared to only 1 assist. He draws fouls, but if defenses don't foul, I think Tonje can be turned over.

His ball placement is interesting. He uses his off arm so much, that it forces him to tuck the ball on almost every drive. That gives off-ball defenders a consistent target to swipe at and potentially force turnovers.

Overall, I think John Tonje's start is a bit of fool's gold. The 23 points on absurd efficiency are bound to come closer to reality. Yet, his refusal to be stopped will force defenses to be disciplined and he is skilled enough to convince that he is a First-Team-All-Conference lock.