MADISON – Wisconsin men’s basketball still has one open roster spot ahead of the 2026-27 season, and the Badgers seem to have a good idea of how they want to fill it.
“I think most likely it’s going to be somebody of large size,” Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said, noting the team’s need in the frontcourt.
As for how the Badgers go about filling that spot, a couple possible avenues have emerged.
One route is to add another international player. UW assistant coach Lance Randall is in Europe to watch FIBA U20 EuroBasket games, Gard said, and associate head coach Joe Krabbenhoft will later travel there to see U20 and U18 games.
Wisconsin – already with six international players on its 2026-27 roster – has obviously found success recruiting overseas, whether that be in Europe, Australia or New Zealand. But there are some potential hurdles to adding another international player.
“There’s a lot of things that go to that,” Gard said. “It’s not just, ‘Oh, he plays well.’ Is he available? Who’s his agent? What’s his price tag? Can he get out of his country?”
The other route depends on what happens in the legal system. The NCAA’s new five-in-five eligibility model has faced legal challenges from players who were in the 2022 recruiting class and exhausted their eligibility in 2025-26.
An injunction in Ohio cleared the way, at least for now, for some of those athletes to play a fifth season. Time will tell whether that injunction stands and whether that precedes more successful legal challenges.
The legal situation, Gard said, is “changing by the hour.” But if the door indeed opens for recently-graduated seniors to get one more year of eligibility, that could be another talent pool for the Badgers to pull from as they fill their final roster spot.
“Does the injunction stay?” Gard said. “Does the NCAA push back on it immediately, or do they wait? I think there’s some unanswered questions there.”
UW players who exhausted their eligibility in 2025-26 – but could get a fifth year if the courts force the NCAA to change course – include Andrew Rohde and Braeden Carrington. Both players had productive senior seasons at UW after playing elsewhere for their first three years of college basketball.
Carrington’s situation could be especially worth watching, as the 6-foot-4 guard has continued practicing with the current UW team. Gard indicated that Carrington’s intentions are “still up in the air.”
“He hasn’t moved one way or the other on it,” Gard said. “I think he’s kind of taking a wait-and-see approach, as we all are. We don’t know where this is going to lead. … I think we’ll know more here by the end of the month.”
That is partly by necessity. UW still has plenty of time before its Sept. 3 start to the fall semester, but basketball programs at other universities might not be as fortunate in that regard. Penn State, for example, has an Aug. 24 start to the fall semester.
Being one player short of a full roster is nothing new for Wisconsin. The Badgers initially had a full 15-player roster ahead of the 2025-26 season, but then Temple transfer Elijah Gray was dismissed from the team on Oct. 28. His name later surfaced in federal court documents amid allegations of point-shaving when he was at Fordham.
Gray’s dismissal left UW with six forwards on the 2025-26 roster although only four of those players received meaningful minutes. The 2026-27 team, meanwhile, has five forwards at this point in the offseason.
Nolan Winter most notably is returning after posting the second-most double-doubles in the Big Ten in 2025-26. Austin Rapp is another key returner after averaging 9.6 points per game and shooting 36.4% from 3-point range.
Will Garlock showed some signs of improvement in a summer practice after averaging 6.8 minutes per game as a freshman. Hofstra transfer Victory Onuetu and freshman Isaac Riddle round out the side of the court where UW would like to have one more player.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Greg Gard explains Wisconsin basketball’s plan to fill 15th roster spot
Reporting by John Steppe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By John Steppe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
