![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775486001_716_borzello_jeff.png&h=80&w=80&scale=crop.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Jeff BorzelloApr 7, 2026, 12:20 AM<\/p>\n
Close<\/a> Basketball recruiting insider. Multiple Authors<\/p>\n Wisconsin<\/a> star guard John Blackwell<\/a> plans to enter the transfer portal while going through the NBA draft process, he told ESPN on Monday.<\/p>\n Blackwell, who earned third-team All-Big Ten honors, immediately becomes the best guard to announce his portal intentions.<\/p>\n “It’s a tough decision,” Blackwell said. “I’m looking for a place where I can enhance my skills for the NBA and a place where I can compete for a national championship. A place where that’s the standard and what we’re striving for.”<\/p>\n A 6-foot-4 guard, Blackwell enjoyed his best college season for the Badgers in 2025-26. He averaged a career-high 19.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists, while shooting nearly 39% from 3-point range.<\/p>\n Blackwell was outstanding in the postseason. He had 34 points and 10 rebounds in the third round of the Big Ten tournament against Washington<\/a>, following it with 31 points on 9-for-17 shooting in an overtime win over Illinois<\/a>. While Wisconsin was upset by 12-seed High Point<\/a> in the first round of the NCAA tournament, Blackwell finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds against the Panthers.<\/p>\n “I improved my mental focus. And off-the-dribble shooting, I think I got better in that aspect,” he said. “Steps I need to take moving forward, being a better defender, being able to handle the ball more at the point guard position.”<\/p>\n Blackwell, who said he wants to go to a school where he will be able to show more on-ball responsibility, hopes to take visits and make a decision within the next three-to-four weeks.<\/p>\n The men’s college basketball transfer portal officially opens on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jeff BorzelloApr 7, 2026, 12:20 AM Close Basketball recruiting insider. Joined ESPN in 2014. Graduate of University of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":701432,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,6,12],"class_list":{"0":"post-701431","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-draft","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-nba-draft"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=701431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n Joined ESPN in 2014.
\n Graduate of University of Delaware.<\/p>\n