The Wisconsin Badgers came into the offseason hoping to retain a majority of their returning players as they looked to make a push next season.
Unfortunately, that proved to be an unrealistic task, as the Badgers saw John Blackwell announce he’ll enter the transfer portal on Monday, while Aleksas Bieliauskas followed suit on Tuesday, per a report.
While Blackwell’s decision was hardly a surprise, Bieliauskas’s move is certainly intriguing as he becomes the fourth Badger to head to the portal, alongside
Riccardo Greppi and Jack Robison.
Those four departures have now created a number of open roster spots, six to be exact. Here’s what Wisconsin’s current projected roster for 2026 looks like:
Senior(s)
Nolan Winter
Juniors
Owen Foxwell
Jack Janicki
Austin Rapp
Sophomores
Zach Kinziger
Hayden Jones
Will Garlock
Freshmen
Jackson Ball
LaTrevion Fenderson
With only nine current scholarship players, the Badgers have six more spots to fill, including a couple in the starting lineup. Safe to say they have work to do.
As we’ve reported, the big need with Blackwell gone is a scoring combo guard alongside Owen Foxwell in the backcourt. While Blackwell is certainly a huge loss, there should be more funds available now to go after a proven player in the transfer portal.
Adding a three-and-D wing like Andrew Rohde should be a priority as well to fill that other starting spot on the wing. Perhaps a player with good versatility would be a fit here.
There are a lot of underclassmen entering the fold next year with the three 2025 recruits and the two 2026 signees. Wisconsin is also looking into adding a freshman or two, but I’d expect those discussions to be put on hold until resources in the transfer portal are used.
The Badgers are expected to get another big man in the transfer portal, which may have tied into the Bieliauskas decision. The amount of resources for all the pieces of the puzzle will be key, so it’s on Greg Gard and his staff to figure out all the transfer portal pieces to field a strong roster for 2026.
At the moment, though, it’s looking like the Badgers will take a bigger portal class than initially expected, and they’ve got some work to do.
