WBB: Badgers bring another talented guard aboard via the transfer portal
UW's fifth transfer commit, Breauna Ware, starred at Stony Brook last season.
The Wisconsin Badgers women’s basketball team remained scorching hot in the transfer portal on Saturday when they secured the commitment of combo guard Breauna Ware from Stony Brook. The native of Queens, N.Y. (just like fellow transfer Destiny Howell) started her college career at St. Bonaventure before transferring to Stony Brook ahead of the 2023-2024 season.
Ware was the No. 1 option for the Seawolves last year and will bring some scoring punch to Wisconsin’s backcourt. My love of Big City Guards means that I instantly am in love with Ware’s game without seeing any highlights, however, for you dear reader…I’ll press on.
"I'm beyond excited and grateful to be a part of this program," Ware said. "I can't wait to bring that NY grit to UW. Let's work! Go Badgers!"
Breauna Ware Fast Facts
Height: 5-foot-8
Position: combo guard
Eligibility: two years remaining
Previous School(s): Stony Brook/St. Bonaventure
Hometown: Queens, N.Y.
2024-25 Highlights: Third Team All-CAA
Fun Facts: has three siblings, one of whom is named Brooklyn DESPITE being raised in Queens; named to Atlantic 10 Commissioner’s Honor Roll as a freshman
Breauna Ware Fast Stats
Career College Stats (two seasons)
GP/GS: 58/36
MPG: 25.6
PPG: 10.4
RPG: 3.2
APG: 2.0
SPG: 0.9
BPG: 0.1
TOPG: 2.9
FG: 202-of-454 (44.5%)
3P: 31-of-92 (33.7%)
FT: 159-of-223 (71.3%)
Breauna Ware Scouting Report
A 30,000 foot view comparison if you don’t want to read more than one sentence? She reminds me a lot of Makira Cook from Illinois, a shorter guard who attacks aggressively and relentlessly. But you don’t subscribe to a niche women’s basketball newsletter for that! You want to get in the weeds!
So I watched Ware’s highlights from her freshman season (only ones I could find) at St. Bonaventure and, uh, she plays exactly like I had hoped! She is aggressive, flashy, persistent, and has a deep bag of dribble moves and counters to get herself space.
I can’t find out why this happened, but she redshirted her first year at Stony Brook (2023-2024) and then showed a marked improvement in her redshirt sophomore year from her freshman year. Through my intrepid Googling it would appear as though she didn’t sit out the season due to injury but instead due to a logjam of guards on the roster.
Here are some of her numbers from freshman year —> RS sophomore year:
MPG: 17.5 —> 33.6
PPG: 6.0 —> 14.8
RPG: 2.4 —> 3.9
APG: 1.8 —> 2.1
SPG: 0.7 —> 1.1
TOPG: 2.4 —> 3.4
Turnover rate: 28.8% —> 20.3%
Fouls per game: 2.0 —> 1.8
Usage: 25.1% —> 26.0%
eFG%: 46.3% —> 48.7%
TS%: 51.1% —> 55.1%
PPSA: 1.02 —> 1.09
Unfortunately, besides her turnover rate, all of her other rate stats went the wrong way in her second season, although many weren’t too drastic. Ware was the best offensive player for Stony Brook last year and she, quite frankly, didn’t get a ton of help from her teammates.
only two players had a PORPAGATU! above, Ware being one
only three players had a positive box plus/minus, Ware being one
only two players had an ORtg above 95.0, Ware being one
only player on the team with an eFG% above 46% and TS% above 50%
highest assist rate on the team
only player on the team to shoot above 27% from three
The fact that the Seawolves won a dozen games last year is thanks largely to Ware’s offensive efforts as well as the team’s defensive effort in limiting threes (90th nationally in defensive three-point rate and 5th in 3P% defense).
Ware plays the game of basketball at a high speed. She is both fast and quick and looks equally comfortable beating teams down the court on the break or blowing past her defender on her way to the rim. She moves the ball crisply and can complete passes that many wouldn’t even attempt.
Her ability to get in the lane and have defenders collapse around her opened up a lot of layup opportunities for her teammates in the highlight video above. “I’m a playmaker for sure,” Ware said in a The Statesman (Stony Brook newspaper) story ahead of last season. “Getting my teammates involved first, then it opens up the floor for me. Get to the hole, and-one, drop-down passes to my bigs.”
She isn’t a difference-maker on the boards, but I’m not terribly concerned with that. Ronnie Porter is an excellent rebounder for a guard and then there are also the, you know, bigs who are going to get most boards.
I’m not enamored with her shooting motion, but she improved her free throw shooting to 73% from freshman to sophomore year and her three-point percentage skyrocketed to over 35%. If she feels comfortable shooting the ball she should just keep doing what she’s doing, because it is working. Her free throw rate is impressive and she gets a considerable amount of her points from the charity stripe which is great in case she’s having an off night shooting from the field.
Ware’s ball-handling is as slick as you’d hope and while her turnover numbers have been high, she has also been a young, high-usage floor general and turnovers just kinda happen to those players. Can’t speak too much on her defense, but her steal numbers are fine. Her advanced defensive stats aren’t great but, again, her team also wasn't very good last year.
While it looks like Ware profiles as a point guard I do think she can be on the court at the same time as Porter when the Badgers are on offense due to her ball movement and ability to create her own shot. It’s the defensive side of the ball where I’m not as excited about the two of them sharing the backcourt. Ware is on the shorter side and Porter is three (or so) inches shorter than Ware. In the Big Ten…that’ll be a problem.
I like taking a chance on Ware because she has shown improvement throughout her college career. Playing in the Big Ten is obviously more challenging than playing in the Colonial Athletic Association, but I’m willing to bet that a player who worked hard to get better in the CAA will do the same in the B1G.
You may remember that on April 21, I wrote the following:
“Wisconsin has nine players on the roster and, with both 2025 freshmen decommitting, can bring in up to six more for next year. Here is how I would rank the positions UW needs with their current roster construction:
veteran, with starting experience, point guard
stretch big
backup point guard (multiple years of eligibility remaining)
wing (defensive)
wing (shooter)
best player available on UW’s board, regardless of position lol”
Since then, Robin Pingeton’s Badgers have:
brought veteran starting PG Ronnie Porter back from the transfer portal
signed guard Breauna Ware from Stony Brook
There is only one of my requests remaining! A defensive stopper on the wing is all that’s left on the list and Pingeton has led me to believe that she’ll be finding the correct fits sooner rather than later. Hell, it might even happen before this hits your inbox at the rate Pingeton and staff are going!
What do you think about Leena Patibandla in the defensive wing role? By all reports she is an excellent overall athlete with some outlying physical characteristics (jumping ability, 6'6" wingspan). Able to then save that slot for an additional "best available".
Thinking about roster construction... I also wouldn't be surprised if 1 or 2 players may opt to sit out the year in anticipation of transferring now that they see what the depth chart looks like. For instance, Martin-Mesa is now really deep on the chart after Porter, Ware, & Kerstein.