Nolan Winter is officially coming back to the Wisconsin Badgers in 2026-27.
The standout forward signed with Wisconsin for his senior season, his agency said to the Journal Sentinel on April 21. Winter later announced his return on social media as well.
“At the end of the day, I couldn’t picture myself anywhere other than with the Wisconsin Badgers,” Winter said in posts on X and Instagram. “From the moment I stepped on campus, this program has pushed me to grow not only as a player, but as a person. The coaching staff believes in me, my teammates have become family, and the fans show up every night.”
Winter averaged 13.1 points and 8.5 rebounds per game and recorded 12 double-doubles in 2025-26. The only other UW players to have more than 10 double-doubles in a single season since 2000 were Frank Kaminsky and Ethan Happ.
He also shot 70.1% from 2-point range, per KenPom, which ranked 20th nationally and fourth in the Big Ten.
Winter will be UW’s top returning scorer after Nick Boyd exhausted his eligibility and John Blackwell entered the transfer portal. (Blackwell committed to Duke on April 21.) He also will be UW’s only returning starter after Andrew Rohde exhausted his eligibility and Aleksas Bieliauskas transferred.
The seven-foot forward will begin his final season of college basketball with an enviable level of experience – 106 games played and 69 starts. The only games he has missed in his UW career were after his ankle injury late in the 2025-26 season.
Winter will be the only member of UW’s three-player 2023 recruiting class to stick with the Badgers for all four years of their college career. Along with Blackwell’s aforementioned portal departure to go to Duke, Gus Yalden transferred to Seton Hall in 2024 and then Vermont in 2025.
Retaining Winter, while crucial for UW’s 2026-27 success, was not necessarily a surprise.
UW general manager Marc VandeWettering previously told the Journal Sentinel that the Badgers “feel really good about being able to retain everybody else” after losing four players to the portal. VandeWettering refrained from commenting specifically on retaining Winter, though.
“I will say we’re in a really good spot,” VandeWettering said of UW’s retention efforts on April 10. “We’re having really good conversations. We’ve got things that are within our strategy of what we’re trying to build.”
Other frontcourt players who are expected to return include Austin Rapp and Will Garlock. UW added Hofstra forward Victory Onuetu via the transfer portal as well. Key backcourt additions include international guard Owen Foxwell, George Washington transfer Trey Autry and Miami (Ohio) transfer Eian Elmer.
The Badgers still have another three open roster spots to fill ahead of the 2026-27 season. The last day of the transfer portal window was April 21, but players did not need to commit to a new school during that timeframe.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin forward Nolan Winter officially set to return to Badgers in 2026-27
Reporting by John Steppe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
