Wisconsin men’s basketball’s newcomer-loaded 2025-26 team shows some encouraging signs

Wisconsin men’s basketball had some obvious reminders of just how new its 2025-26 group is during Thursday’s practice.

There were just as many numberless newcomers on the Kohl Center court as there were returners (who already have numbers on their practice jerseys). That’s before a couple more newcomers arrive on campus, too.

After the team went through a passing/layup drill, Wisconsin coach Greg Gard emphasized the many important “little things” and had the team do the drill again.

“You guys saw today we kind of struggled at a drill,” Wisconsin forward Nolan Winter said. “We’re trying to kind of lead them and kind of show them how to do it.”

Gard once referred to “all the old guys” between drills before changing that to “the experienced guys.” After all, Jack Janicki is one of three returning players who appeared in 30-plus games last year, and he’s not even 21 years old yet.

But for as new as this year’s Wisconsin team is — with nine newcomers and six returning players — the Badgers have shown plenty of encouraging signs as summer workouts continue.

John Blackwell, Wisconsin’s most notable returning player, was a vocal leader on both ends of the floor and demonstrated his ability to drive and distribute during Thursday’s practice, which was open to the media.

Andrew Rohde — a Brookfield native who spent two seasons at Virginia and one at St. Thomas before that — showcased his sharpshooting ability. Winter described former FAU and San Diego State point guard Nick Boyd as a “very speedy, quick guard with a high IQ” and a “competitor,” and Boyd showed exactly that during the practice.

"The experience of the transfers has been pretty obvious,” Gard said after the practice. “They've picked up on stuff really quick.”

To Gard’s point, Boyd arrived at Wisconsin after three NCAA tournament appearances with two different teams, including Florida Atlantic during its improbable 2023 Final Four run. Rohde has appeared in 92 career games, and former Fordham/Temple forward Elijah Gray appeared in 85 games. Former Tulsa/Minnesota guard Braeden Carrington is not far behind with 78 career games.

The only incoming transfer who does not already have three years of experience is former Portland forward Austin Rapp, and he started 30 games as a freshman while averaging 13.8 points per game.

The summer also serves as an important developmental window, though, especially considering that four of the five transfers did not most recently come from high-major conferences.

“I think the weight room has been really good for them,” Gard said. “I think it’s been something that they haven’t been accustomed to at the other places they’ve been at, so that’s been a little bit of a transition and a good experience for them. Their bodies are changing and getting challenged in ways that they haven't in the past."

Winter, now a leader as he approaches his third season in a Badger uniform, has focused on off-the-court bonding with the many newcomers who have arrived on campus. (Incoming freshmen Hayden Jones and Aleksas Bieliauskas’ arrivals have been delayed as they compete internationally this summer.)

“Getting to know everyone — I think that brings a lot of success on the court,” Winter said. “So we’re trying to hang out as much as we can off the court and doing stuff together.” 

That took the form of water recreation on Lake Waubesa last weekend.

“Got on some jet skis, got on a surf boat, just building that chemistry,” Winter said.

Winter’s offseason team-bonding efforts have coincided with some heavy nutritional efforts this summer.

Winter said he is up to 237 pounds — an increase of 11 or 12 pounds since the start of the summer. He would “love to play at 245” and is confident in accomplishing that goal with strength coach Jim Snider.

“There’s really not an hour in the day where I’m not eating something,” Winter said. “ … So I know that if I can get that up to speed and where I need to be, that’ll bring a lot of success to me on the court.”

As for other returning players, Gard has noticed an elevated level of confidence from Blackwell ahead of his third season, among other improvements. That comes ahead of a season in which he is the only returning player to be used on more than 20% of possessions last year, as tracked by the analytics site KenPom.

“He’s bigger physically,” Gard said. “He’s leaner. He’s really trimmed up. He’s cut. … And he’s come with a more dominant mentality.”

As Gard talked about Janicki, who arrived as a walk-on and earned a spot in the rotation last year, Gard grouped him with past standouts such as Josh Gasser and Zak Showalter “that have done little things that impact winning that are really, really important.”

“I can’t go and say that anybody hasn’t taken a jump and isn’t further ahead of where they were when we left here in March,” Gard said.

Of course, however, offseason wins in an empty Kohl Center on a July afternoon only mean so much ahead of actual wins and losses with more than just staff and media present in November and beyond.

“There’s a lot to like, but obviously it’s July, so I try to keep things in perspective,” Gard said.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin's newcomer-loaded 2025-26 team shows some encouraging signs