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Wisconsin forward Nolan Winter (31) gets tangled up with Iowa guard Bennett Stirtz while going up for a shot during the second half on Sunday, Feb. 22 at the Kohl Center in Madison. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
The Wisconsin Badgers had quite a busy offseason this year, adding three players from the transfer portal, one player from overseas, and four freshmen in the 2026 class.
Those eight additions join the six returning players to form Wisconsin’s current 2026 roster, with one roster spot remaining. Once again, the Badgers looked to add some experience to the roster, landing soon-to-be 23-year-old point guard Owen Foxwell, as well as seniors Trey Autry, Eian Elmer, and Victory Onuetu in the transfer portal.
Those four join upperclassmen Nolan Winter, Jack Janicki, and Austin Rapp, as well as Wisconsin’s young core, forming an experienced roster with some promising young talent. Here’s what Wisconsin’s eligibility chart looks like heading into 2026:
5th year players (1): Owen Foxwell
4th year players (5): Nolan Winter, Trey Autry, Eian Elmer, Jack Janicki, Victory Onuetu
3rd year players (1): Austin Rapp
2nd year players (3): Hayden Jones, Zach Kinziger, Will Garlock
Freshmen (4): Jackson Ball, LaTrevion Fenderson, Isaac Riddle, Josh Manchester
With the new 5-for-5 eligibility rule to take place, rosters are now being looked at with these categories, as redshirt years no longer matter. Hence, Jack Janicki fits into the fourth-year pool of players, while it was confirmed earlier this week that Owen Foxwell is expected to have one year of eligibility.
But now, with the new rule, seniors like Winter, Autry, Elmer, Janicki, and Onuetu have the ability to return to college for a potential fifth season, providing the potential for some more continuity with the upperclassmen compared to the past.
What is Wisconsin’s current plan for the future with the new rule change, and how are they preparing differently?
“Yeah, I mean, we’re starting to model those things out now,” general manager Marc VandeWettering shared this week regarding the 5-for-5 rule. “And that’s something that we had heard for the last few years. That could be coming. And now obviously that’s here, we’re modeling out what that looks like, and who that applies to, where that applies, how the impact of high school kids and high school recruiting.
“So it’s part of the modeling process that we’ll do a lot of going forward here this fall to see where it best fits for us going forward. And obviously we’ve got to take the temperature of the guys that have that additional year on the roster. Some may have had plans to go play professionally or move on after their graduations, and we got to make sure we respect where they’re at as well. We may want them to come back, but they may have other plans to go do some things professionally, and we’ll have those conversations here in the fall.”
Winter was a player who evaluators had within their top 100 of the 2026 NBA Draft rankings, and could very well explore professional opportunities after his senior season. Elmer was another player who had tested the NBA Draft waters this offseason, and he could receive some professional chances as well.
But there is more flexibility now, and the new rule may very well drive the market even more for seniors teetering on the edge between the pros and college basketball.
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