The Wisconsin Badgers have made some moves in the transfer portal this week, landing commitments from George Washington guard Trey Autry, Miami (OH) wing Eian Elmer, and Hofstra center Victory Onetu.<\/p>\n
Those three should fill key spots in the rotation for the upcoming season, as Wisconsin waited to find its top targets in the transfer portal. The Badgers entered the offseason with some major needs in the rotation after losing John Blackwell, Aleksas Bieliauskas, Nick Boyd, Andrew Rohde, and Braeden Carrington. Now, with their recent additions and players stepping up, they\u2019ve seemed to have plugged some of those holes.<\/p>\n
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With Autry, Elmer, and Onetu in the fold, what does the rotation look like currently for the 2026-27 season?<\/p>\n
Projected starting five<\/p>\n
G Owen Foxwell<\/p>\n
G Trey Autry<\/p>\n
G Eian Elmer<\/p>\n
F Austin Rapp<\/p>\n
F Nolan Winter<\/p>\n
The Badgers\u2019 big addition of the offseason actually came prior to the start of the transfer portal, as they landed 22-year-old Australian point guard Owen Foxwell. Foxwell is coming over from the NBL, and fills the Nick Boyd role at point guard.<\/p>\n
Autry and Elmer project to slide into the starting lineup as quality scoring wings who should improve the team\u2019s defense, along with Foxwell. Both have a ton of experience, can shoot the three well, and it\u2019ll now be in Greg Gard\u2019s hands to put all the pieces together.<\/p>\n
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In the frontcourt, it\u2019ll be on Austin Rapp and Nolan Winter to take their next respective steps. Rapp was a priority for the staff this offseason, and we saw the potential all year long. He\u2019s got the chance to become a more focal point of the offense as his confidence grows. For Winter, it\u2019s continuing to be a more physical force down low, but he\u2019ll be the star of the team next year.<\/p>\n
Of this group, the only spot that might be a question is Autry\u2019s, as he could also be a sparkplug off the bench in the Braeden Carrington role from last year. But, seeing what the team currently looks like, I\u2019d pencil him in as a starter.<\/p>\n
Projected reserves<\/p>\n
G Jack Janicki<\/p>\n
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G Zach Kinziger<\/p>\n
G Hayden Jones<\/p>\n
C Victory Onetu<\/p>\n
C Will Garlock<\/p>\n
Wisconsin\u2019s got its three rising sophomores who should be fighting for bigger roles next season. In the backcourt, Jack Janicki should have a similar role to last year as a wing off the bench that is more of a three-and-D type. But he\u2019ll have good competition. His defensive connectivity is huge, and the team needs to improve on that side of the court, so the role is certainly there for him.<\/p>\n
But Janicki\u2019s three-point percentage has to improve from 27.7 percent, where it\u2019s been both as a freshman and a sophomore. That might dictate whether he jumps into that 20-minute range or hovers in the 10-15 minute range.<\/p>\n
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Hayden Jones is the true wild card of the group to me. He saw great growth in spot minutes as the season went along and we saw his confidence grow as an aggressive playmaker. He figures to be the team\u2019s backup point guard this season and should continue to grow defensively. I wouldn\u2019t be surprised at all if he becomes the \u201cfirst guy off the bench\u201d type of player this season.<\/p>\n
Zach Kinziger got the trust of the coaching staff as the season went along, and he\u2019ll fight for a back-of-the-rotation role. His scoring ability is potentially the best of any bench player. This offseason is about getting stronger and better on the defensive side of the ball.<\/p>\n
Onetu and Garlock are interesting players and ones that are far different than the guys in front of them. They\u2019re more rim-protecting, physical centers, with Onetu also being a quality shot blocker at 6\u201910, 235 pounds. They should see good minutes next year backing up Winter and Rapp, and I\u2019d think Gard will stagger the two alongside the starters.<\/p>\n
Adding more athleticism and rim protection down low will be key, as size and physicality are becoming more and more important in college basketball.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Wisconsin Badgers have made some moves in the transfer portal this week, landing commitments from George Washington…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":714429,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[29905,7,217,83826,89050,89049,3073,18909,231,772,1544,29906,40266,88868,4163,88867,5987,3471],"class_list":{"0":"post-714428","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-austin-rapp","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-college-basketball","11":"tag-eian-elmer","12":"tag-g-eian-elmer","13":"tag-g-trey-autry","14":"tag-greg-gard","15":"tag-high-point-panthers","16":"tag-ncaa","17":"tag-ncaa-basketball","18":"tag-ncaab","19":"tag-nick-boyd","20":"tag-nolan-winter","21":"tag-owen-foxwell","22":"tag-point-guard","23":"tag-trey-autry","24":"tag-upcoming-season","25":"tag-wisconsin-badgers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116435525237121223","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714428","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=714428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/714429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=714428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=714428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=714428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}