Wisconsin

Notes: Pending Rule Changes Could Change Wisconsin's 2025-26 Roster

Published

1 year ago

January 25, 2025

Notes: Pending Rule Changes Could Change Wisconsin’s 2025-26 Roster

MADISON, Wis. – Between preparing for a rugged Big Ten conference schedule and flights across the country, Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard hasn’t put too much thought into new rules and pending legislation.

It’s on the radar though, and could change how Division-1 basketball programs operate from scheduling to roster construction.

“There’s a lot of things that are coming here,” Gard said.

Naturally, the new rules center around Name, Image, and Likeness. The NCAA Division-1 Board of Directors is reportedly considering a rule change that would grant student-athletes five years of eligibility across all sports, a change from the current model of athletes having five years to play four. An injury waiver granted by the NCAA can add an extra eligibility year.

CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein first reported the potential change.

Athletes participating in the winter championship season and the spring season of 2020-21 were given a blanket waiver due to their year being interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In most cases, that blanket waiver ends this year.

The proposed rule change would eliminate the need for redshirts and waivers, not to mention reshape roster construction.

The Board of Directors already made one major change in December by approving a blanket waiver granting an additional year of eligibility to all former junior college players. The waiver only applies to the 2025-26 season for athletes who competed at a non-NCAA school for at least one year and have exhausted their NCAA eligibility.

The change stems from Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia filing a lawsuit against the NCAA, arguing the eligibility rules violate antitrust law. Pavia argued that he couldn’t profit off his name, image, and likeness during his two seasons playing at the junior college level for New Mexico Military Institute.

While the blanket waiver for non-junior college players hasn’t been formally discussed, unlikely to happen before the impending approval of the House antitrust settlement in April that would start athlete revenue sharing, the news of that potential has already filtered down to players who potentially would be interested in that opportunity.

“We don’t know where this is going to go,” Gard said about the fifth year. “Is it going to get voted on? Is it going to get resolved because it impacts the computation and assembly of your future roster. We got to get answers to that. The players need to know, too.”

Of the six seniors set to graduate on Wisconsin’s roster, guard Kamari McGee and reserve forward Markus Ilver would be eligible.

“In the era we’re in right now, where there is such a transient nature and with the objective to obviously win games, how do you win games? You have to stay old and mature,” Gard said. “In years gone by, there was a different way of doing it where you had redshirt, you could incubate and develop. All of a sudden, three years into somebody’s career, they pop up … Now we’re in a different era where staying old comes through other sources.”

One change that has already passed was the Division I Men’s Basketball Oversight Committee approving a proposal to allow teams to play up to two preseason exhibition games against any four-year school, including Division I teams.

The change is effective beginning next season and eliminates the requirement that preseason practice scrimmages be conducted in private and without official scoring, the so-called “secret scrimmages.”

Wisconsin has typically played one closed-door scrimmage and hosted one Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference school since 2011. The Badgers hosted UW-River Falls for their exhibition game and scrimmaged Northern Iowa in Platteville.

Gard said UW- UW-Platteville will be the in-state opponent in the rotation next season and will combine with Gard’s foundation – Garding against Cancer – having events in that area of the state. Gard’s younger brother, Jeff, is in his 16th season coaching the Pioneers.

Analyzing what to do with the second exhibition game won’t be talked about until spring, according to Gard, who would still like to see more exhibition games be added.

“My stance on that is still the same that I think more would be beneficial versus practicing,” Gard said. “We’re practicing for 30 days anyway. What difference does it make if we have a closed scrimmage (or) an open scrimmage? Just the opportunity to learn more against outside competition is valuable.”

Homecoming of Sorts for Tonje

While the return of former Wisconsin guard Connor Essegian will be a sidebar to tomorrow’s home game between the Badgers (15-4, 5-3 Big Ten) and Nebraska (12-7, 2-6), but it will also be John Tonje’s first opportunity to play the Huskers.

Hailing from North Omaha, Nebraska, and going to Omaha Central High School, Tonje averaged a Nebraska Class A state-best 23.8 points along with 6.1 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.4 assists per game for the Eagles, leading them to a 22-6 overall record, 11-3 in conference and runner-up finish in the state tournament. He shot 50 percent from the field, 38 percent from the three-point arc, with his 73 triples leading Class A, and 82 percent at the free-throw line, also best in Class A

In his college career, Tonje has played against Nebraska college’s Creighton, Doane College, Omaha, and Peru College but never the Huskers, who didn’t recruit him.

“I guess I got this game has a little extra excitement being the hometown kid,” Tonje said. “I wasn’t highly recruited out of high school. They weren’t one of the teams that recruited me. It is what it is. I’m happy to be here.”

Special Sneakers

For Wisconsin’s next three games, Gard and his staff will celebrate the Coaches vs. Cancer event “Suits and Sneakers” by wearing special sneakers painted by children battling cancer at the American Family Children’s Hospital (AFCH).

Visiting the hospital in January before the Iowa game, Gard and the team visited the hospital to spend time with the children and decorate the shoes, including a young patient named Emmett who decorated Gard’s shoes.

“I think that more than anything, it’s going to be really neat to see those and to wear those, knowing that they were individually designed by those kids that are going through really hard time,” Gard said. “Hopefully the visits that we made to the hospital to spend time with them and them getting a chance to see their artwork on display on national TV next week will give them a reprieve, kind of an escape that they have to deal with every day.”

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Wisconsin

Lawmakers propose bell-to-bell cellphone ban in Wisconsin schools

Published

2 hours ago

January 30, 2026

Press Room

Lawmakers propose bell-to-bell cellphone ban in Wisconsin schools

A new bill in Wisconsin seeks to ban student cellphone use for the entire school day, including lunch and recess.
This proposal expands on a recently signed law that already prohibits phone use during instructional time.
Supporters of the “bell-to-bell” ban cite concerns over youth mental health and classroom distractions.

A group of Republican lawmakers is seeking to take Wisconsin’s new school cellphone ban a step further.

A bill co-authored by Rep. Lindee Brill, R-Sheboygan Falls, would require school boards to adopt “bell-to-bell” policies banning students from using their cellphones throughout the entire school day.

The proposal follows a bill Gov. Tony Evers signed into law Oct. 31, which will prohibit students from using phones during instructional time starting next school year. The new bill would expand the ban to include lunch, recess and passing periods.

Policies vary by school, but 90% of school districts already bar phone use during classroom time, according to a state Department of Public Instruction survey for the 2024-25 school year. About 21% reported having a “full ban” in all schools.

Brill said prohibiting phones only during instructional time can unintentionally increase use outside the classroom. Students are no longer talking to each other during lunch and recess, she said, and some children race out of class to check their phones during passing periods.

“It’s a distraction for teachers when kids are heading back into the classroom and having to check students over to see if they have their phones on them,” she said. “This is just one way we can empower teachers to have a distraction-free classroom, for students to talk at lunch, even though it may be tough to start.”

The bill is co-authored by Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara, R-Fox Crossing, and Rep. Joel Kitchens, R-Sturgeon Bay. Kitchens led the initial effort to ban phones during instructional time. Brill, who voted for the original bill, said the proposal has garnered interest from lawmakers across parties and will soon be introduced in the Legislature.

During hearings this fall for the Assembly Speaker’s Task Force on Protecting Kids, academic psychologist Ravi Iyer and educators in the Oostburg School District expressed support for a bell-to-bell ban, testifying on the harmful effects of cellphone and social media use on youth mental health.

“The task force found over and over again this detrimental effect of the internet and online presence in kids’ lives,” said Brill, who chairs the eight-person task force. “Children are hurting in our state and our nation.”

School districts, parents and children “are turning to us as legislators to say, ‘Help us,’” she said. “That was a resounding message we heard.”

School cellphone restrictions growing nationally

The bill comes as cellphone restrictions are gaining traction nationwide. In an October survey from the nonprofit Brookings Institution, 55% of respondents said their schools had bell-to-bell bans, and 76% of teens said they preferred some form of phone restriction during the school day. Even so, most teens in schools with bans reported the policies had no effect on their happiness, academics, attention or ability to make friends.

Other national surveys have found students are less supportive of full-day cellphone bans. About 73% of teens said they opposed such policies in a Pew Research Center survey this fall.

Brill said the bill mirrors states that have already adopted bell-to-bell laws. North Dakota and Rhode Island have among the most restrictive statewide bans, requiring phones be kept in inaccessible storage, according to an analysis by the Institute for Families and Technology, a nonprofit that promotes digital safety for children. The organization advocates for bell-to-bell bans that require phones to be stored out of reach, saying stricter rules can improve student and teacher satisfaction.

Seventeen states and the District of Columbia ban phones throughout the school day but allow students to keep them in accessible storage, such as lockers or backpacks, according to the report.

Brill said she’s exploring the possibility of helping districts pay for equipment to collect and store phones, such as locked pouches.

Like the current state law, the bill would allow school boards to grant exceptions in emergencies, for educational purposes with a teacher’s permission and for students who need phones to manage health conditions or disabilities. School district-issued electronic devices would also still be allowed.

At Milwaukee Public Schools, the current policy allows students to possess electronic devices during the school day but prohibits their use unless approved for educational purposes. Some schools in the district enforce stricter policies. At Rufus King International Middle School, students must store their phones in a vault each morning and retrieve them at dismissal.

Kayla Huynh covers K-12 education, teachers and solutions for the Journal Sentinel. Contact: khuynh@gannett.com. Follow her on X: @_kaylahuynh.

Kayla’s reporting is supported by Herb Kohl Philanthropies and reader contributions to the Journal Sentinel Community-Funded Journalism Project. Journal Sentinel editors maintain full editorial control over all content. To support this work, visit jsonline.com/support. Checks can be addressed to Local Media Foundation (memo: “JS Community Journalism”) and mailed to P.O. Box 85015, Chicago, IL 60689.

The JS Community-Funded Journalism Project is administered by Local Media Foundation, tax ID #36-4427750, a Section 501(c)(3) charitable trust affiliated with Local Media Association.

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Wisconsin

Wisconsin woman airlifted with life-threatening injuries in crash with semi

Published

14 hours ago

January 29, 2026

Press Room

Wisconsin woman airlifted with life-threatening injuries in crash with semi

OAK GROVE, Wis. (WFRV) – A 46-year-old Wisconsin woman was hospitalized shortly before 1 p.m. Thursday with life-threatening injuries sustained in a crash with a semi-truck. According to the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded at 12:50 p.m. for a reported sedan and tractor-trailer crash at the County Highway S and Main Street Road intersection […]

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Wisconsin

How Wisconsin Badgers pulled off historic comeback win over Minnesota

Published

1 day ago

January 29, 2026

Press Room

How Wisconsin Badgers pulled off historic comeback win over Minnesota

Wisconsin overcame an 18-point halftime deficit to defeat Minnesota, 67-63. It was tied for the largest second-half comeback in the program’s history.
Guards John Blackwell and Nick Boyd scored 37 of Wisconsin’s 50 second-half points.
Improved shooting, defense and physicality were key to the Badgers’ second-half turnaround.

MADISON – Minnesota’s Niko Medved called it.

“We know [John] Blackwell and [Nick] Boyd – they’re going to really force the action here in the second half,” Medved recalled telling his team at halftime.

Blackwell and Boyd did exactly that as Wisconsin’s talented backcourt duo helped the Badgers overcome an 18-point halftime deficit en route to an improbable 67-63 win over Minnesota on Jan. 28 at the Kohl Center.

It was tied for the largest second-half comeback in program history, matching wins against Indiana in 2021, Ohio State in 1976 and Marquette in 1948.

The Badgers outscored Minnesota in the second half, 50-28, en route to the historic comeback. Blackwell and Boyd combined to score 37 of those 50 second-half points, including 15 of Wisconsin’s last 18 points of the game.

Box score | UW schedule

“We couldn’t put our heads down,” Blackwell said, “or we were going to lose that game. … Coach just challenged our leaders to be better. I think we did that in the second half. I think guys stepped up like BC [Braeden Carrington] and Jack [Janicki], and then we strung a great second half together.”

John Blackwell comes up big again in final minute

The double-digit comeback win – Wisconsin’s third in the month of January and second this season against Minnesota – was anything but a sure thing in the final stretch of a game that had a total of eight lead changes and three ties.

With 90 seconds remaining, Minnesota had a one-point lead and possession. Then Janicki came up with a crucial steal, and Blackwell gave the Badgers everything they could ask for from their star player in the last minute.

He drew a foul and hit a pair of free throws with one minute remaining to take the lead, came up with the rebound after Janicki got his fingertips on a potential go-ahead 3-pointer and hit a 3-pointer on the other end to give the Badgers a two-possession lead with 19 seconds remaining.

It’s nothing new for Blackwell, who had 27 points and a game-winning buzzer-beater against Minnesota 15 days earlier. The standout guard finished with a team-high 23 points and seven rebounds, marking his seventh consecutive game with a double-digit point total.

Blackwell and Boyd, Medved said, are “relentlessly aggressive.”

“You got to be able to take them on, and you got to be able to take them on without fouling,” Medved said. “We weren’t able to do that.”

Wisconsin’s improved shooting stood out, but comeback was due to much more than that

Wisconsin’s improved shooting was an obvious factor in the Badgers’ big comeback. After all, Wisconsin hit 70% of its shots in the second half after hitting only 17.9% of its shots in the first half.

But for as much as those numbers stand out, Wisconsin’s ability to do everything else – from defense to drawing contact – was a difference-maker as well in the comeback.

Wisconsin made more free throws in the second half (13) than it even attempted in the first half (four). Blackwell alone drew four fouls in the second half, and Boyd drew another four after halftime. That helped put the Badgers in the bonus for most of the second half.

“We initiated things better,” Gard said. “We were on attack mode better. We got to the free-throw line. … We were just tougher in all aspects of the game.”

Perhaps even more importantly, the Badgers showed improvement on the defensive end in the second half.

Yes, Minnesota technically shot a higher percentage in the second half (50%) than in the first (43%). But the Gophers turned the ball over on 29.6% of possessions in the second half rather than 9.7% in the first half and averaged fewer points per possession after intermission.

“Defensively, I thought we had more bite to us than what we did in the first half,” Gard said.

Wisconsin also made some defensive plays at critical moments that had an impact bigger than a glance at the box score might suggest. Janicki’s steal while UW trailed by one point is near the top of that list, as is the redshirt sophomore’s block with 45 seconds remaining.

“It was good for us to respond specifically from the defensive end,” Gard said. “Shots are going to come and go. They’ll fall eventually. But that other end is what got us back on track.”

That improved physicality was against a short-handed Minnesota team that was without leading scorer Cade Tyson, among others. The Gophers used only seven players, and three of their starters were on the floor for at least 38 minutes.

“Could you say that that’s a factor? Yeah,” Medved said. “But that’s not – everyone’s tired. I think we lose our focus sometimes in the second half. … If we’re going to say we’re tired, we’re just making excuses.”

Wisconsin’s rough first half starts with lack of shooting success, but also lack of physicality

Wisconsin’s rough first half was a continuation of the shooting woes that saddled the Badgers in the 73-71 loss to USC three days earlier.

After shooting 34.3% from the field and 24.3% from 3-point range against the Trojans, Wisconsin made only 17.9% of shots from the field and 25% from 3-point range in the first half against Minnesota.

It’s been quite the harbinger of the Badgers’ 2025-26 success, as they went into the Jan. 28 rivalry game with a 12-0 record when shooting at least 45% from the field versus a 2-6 record when falling short of that mark.

Of all the issues that Wisconsin experienced in the first half, though, the quality of shot attempts might be the last thing that comes to mind for Gard.

“It was how hard we were playing, how physical we were,” Gard said. “And then when you don’t play hard and you don’t play physical, you end up getting crappy looks. It’s amazing how that works when the ball doesn’t go in. You play hard, you play physical – man, it makes the ball go in. It’s magic.”

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