Wisconsin
Where Wisconsin men’s basketball 2026-27 roster stands before transfer portal
Why Wisconsin’s Greg Gard doesn’t take March Madness berth for granted
Wisconsin coach Greg Gard explained how he does not take Wisconsin’s NCAA Tournament berth for granted despite it being ‘commonplace’ in Madison.
With eight newcomers (or nine until one preseason dismissal), the Wisconsin men’s basketball roster for 2025-26 looked much different from its 2024-25 roster.
Now with the 2025-26 season in the rearview mirror, early indications point toward the 2026-27 roster again looking much different from this season’s.
Wisconsin is losing four seniors and two players who intend to transfer and already had one open roster spot. With more than a week before the transfer portal opens April 7, that means the Badgers could have at least seven newcomers on a 2026-27 roster that is capped at 15 players.
Here is a look at where the roster stands at this point in the reconstruction process:
Wisconsin’s guards
Exhausted eligibility: Nick Boyd, Andrew Rohde, Braeden Carrington, Isaac Gard
Intending to transfer: No announcements yet
Has ability to return: John Blackwell, Jack Janicki, Zach Kinziger, Hayden Jones
Incoming freshmen: LaTrevion Fenderson, Jackson Ball
The Badgers will have a much different backcourt as they replace starting guards Boyd and Rohde and key reserve Carrington. The big question is whether they can retain Blackwell, who said he did not know his plans in the immediate aftermath of the March Madness loss.
Boyd, Rohde and Carrington’s departures already account for a loss of about 41% of the team’s scoring and 51% of the team’s assists from the 2025-26 season. Losing Blackwell too would swell those numbers to 64% of the team’s scoring lost and 65% of the team’s assists lost.
Janicki removed any doubt about his status when he said after the loss to High Point that he plans to return to the Badgers. Aside from Blackwell, he is the only other UW guard with the ability to come back who averaged at least 10 minutes per game this season.
Wisconsin’s forwards
Exhausted eligibility: None
Intending to transfer: Jack Robison, Riccardo Greppi
Has ability to return: Nolan Winter, Austin Rapp, Aleksas Bieliauskas, Will Garlock
For as much change as Wisconsin’s backcourt is experiencing, the frontcourt has the potential to have a similar composition in 2026-27.
Winter, Rapp, Bieliauskas and Garlock were the four players who each played in at least 30 of UW’s 35 games, and each player has the option to return. Rapp indicated after the High Point loss that he “100%” plans on returning, and Winter wanted to “live minute-by-minute and soak this all in” when he faced questions about his future.
Robison and Greppi, the first two UW players to signal their intention to enter the transfer portal, were on the floor for 31 and 19 minutes in 2025-26, respectively. Those were the two lowest minute totals among scholarship players. With Daniel Freitag transferring last year and Robison and Greppi transferring this year, UW’s entire 2024 high school recruiting class will be playing elsewhere.
When could Wisconsin’s transfer portal activity pick up?
The men’s college basketball transfer portal window will open April 7 and last through April 21. As already evident with Robison and Greppi, though, it is often in athletes’ best interests to announce their intention to transfer before the portal officially opens.
The 15-day window dictates when a player can enter the portal (with a few exceptions), but players do not necessarily need to commit to their new school during that time.
UW appears to have five open roster spots when taking into account players intending to depart and recruits joining the program as freshmen. General manager Marc VandeWettering has long strategized UW’s roster reconstruction efforts for the 2026 offseason, and athletes’ agents may have been thinking ahead as well.
“We’d be naive to think that agents aren’t trying to figure out the markets for people,” VandeWettering told the Journal Sentinel in a late-February conversation, “whether that means they’re actually shopping somebody or just trying to figure out what numbers should look like.”
Wisconsin
Wisconsin authorities put total arrests from clashes at beagle breeding facility at about 25
MADISON (AP) — Around 25 protesters were arrested as around 1,000 animal welfare activists tried to gain entry to a beagle breeding and research facility in Wisconsin and were met by officers firing pepper spray and rubber bullets, authorities said Sunday.
Saturday’s protest was the second attempt in as many months by demonstrators to take beagles from Ridglan Farms in Blue Mounds, about 25 miles (about 40 kilometers) southwest of the capital, Madison. They were turned back by officers who arrested the group’s leader.
Owen Ziliak/Wisconsin State Journal via AP
The Dane County Sheriff’s Office said the situation was “significantly calmer and more peaceful” on Sunday, when around 200 people assembled outside the farm. They dispersed after around two hours, it said.
“We’re pleased with the group’s cooperation today, and their willingness to remain peaceful, while still sending their message of concern for the dogs at Ridglan Farms,” Sheriff Kalvin Barrett said in a statement. “We are happy to support anyone who wants to exercise the right to protest, as long as they do so lawfully.”
Owen Ziliak/The Wisconsin State Journal via AP
The sheriff had said in a video statement Saturday that 300 to 400 protesters were “violently trying to break into the property.” They tried to overcome barricades that included a manure-filled trench, hay bales and a barbed-wire fence.
Owen Ziliak/Wisconsin State Journal via AP
Some got through the fence but were unable to enter the facility, where an estimated 2,000 beagles are kept, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.
Amber Arnold/Wisconsin State Journal via AP
Those arrested included the leader of the Coalition to Save the Ridglan Dogs, Wayne Hsiung, 44, of New York, who was being held on a tentative felony charge of conspiracy to commit burglary. But most arrestees were just booked and released, the sheriff’s office said Sunday.
“No one should be assaulted for giving aid to a dog, even if damage to property is part of that rescue effort,” Hsuing said in a statement from jail Sunday that also accused authorities of using excessive force. “The animals of this Earth are not “things.” They’re sentient beings. And we have the right to rescue them from abuse,” he concluded.
Protesters took 30 dogs when they broke into the facility in March, when authorities arrested 27 people.
Ridglan denies mistreating animals but agreed in October to give up its state breeding license as of July 1 in a deal to avoid prosecution on animal mistreatment charges.
On its website, the company says “no credible evidence of animal abuse, cruelty, mistreatment or neglect at Ridglan Farms has ever been presented or substantiated.”
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About 1,000 animal welfare activists who tried to gain entry on Saturday to a beagle breeding and research facility in Wisconsin were turned back by police who fired rubber bullets and pepper spray into the crowd and arrested the group’s leader.
It was the second attempt in as many months by protesters to take beagles from the Ridglan Farms facility in Blue Mounds, a small town about 25 miles (about 40 kilometres) southwest of Wisconsin’s capital, Madison.
Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett said in a video statement that 300 to 400 protesters were “violently trying to break into the property” and assault officers. He said protesters have ignored designated areas for peaceful protest and blocked roads to prevent emergency vehicles from entering.
“This is not a peaceful protest,” Barrett said.
The sheriff’s department said a “significant” number of people were arrested out of about 1,000 protesters at the site but did not give an exact total as they were still being processed as of the afternoon.
Protesters tried to overcome barricades that included a manure-filled trench, hay bales and a barbed-wire fence. Some protesters did get through the fence but were unable to enter the facility, where an estimated 2,000 beagles are kept, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.
Wisconsin guard Andrew Rohde reflects on early March Madness exit
Wisconsin guard Andrew Rohde said the Badgers ‘thought we could do so many things’ in the NCAA Tournament before it ended abrupty with an upset loss.
Wisconsin men’s basketball has added a sharpshooting wing via the transfer portal.
Miami (Ohio) transfer Eian Elmer has signed with the Badgers, the team announced April 18. The 6-foot-7 wing will join UW with one year of eligibility remaining.
Elmer averaged a career-high 12.7 points and 5.9 rebounds while shooting 49.8% from the field and 42.9% from 3-point range in 2025-26. His production helped the RedHawks go 32-2 and earn an at-large NCAA Tournament bid.
“We are really excited to add another excellent addition to our spring signees,” UW coach Greg Gard said in a release. “Eian brings a wealth of experience and scoring punch as a 6-7 wing. … A terrific shooter, his skillset and production fit excellently into our plan as we build out next year’s team. Throughout our evaluation process, our staff loved his size, power and skill and truly believe he will thrive in our system.”
Elmer is Wisconsin’s third transfer portal addition since the end of the 2025-26 season, joining former George Washington guard Trey Autry and former Hofstra forward Victory Onuetu. UW also added Australian guard Owen Foxwell.
The additions of Autry, Onuetu and now Elmer leave Gard’s staff with three more roster spots to fill ahead of the 2026-27 season.
The Badgers are looking to replace much of their production from a 2025-26 team that went 24-11. Nolan Winter is expected to be the team’s only returning starter after John Blackwell and Aleksas Bieliauskas entered the transfer portal and Nick Boyd and Andrew Rohde exhausted their eligibility.
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