2025 Wisconsin Basketball Transfer Portal

[Samurai Bucky]

Blackwell checking out the NBA:

 

 

[CheezWizHed]

Feels like he is a bit early to me.  He certainly grew a lot this year, but I don't feel like he is a 1st round pick.

[homer]

The fact that the portal opens in March is really dumb. Why not wait until mid April?

[RedStickBrew]

4 hours ago, CheezWizHed said:

Feels like he is a bit early to me.  He certainly grew a lot this year, but I don't feel like he is a 1st round pick.

I don’t think he is a top 100 prospect yet but it’s a good experience for him to go through the workouts and evaluation process 

[areacodes]

2 hours ago, homer said:

The fact that the portal opens in March is really dumb. Why not wait until mid April?

Same reason the football one opens in December? In this day and age, you can’t restrict players from entering the portal when their season is done - I’m sure it would get challenged  in court if it was pushed later and the NCAA would lose again.

[homer]

8 minutes ago, areacodes said:

Same reason the football one opens in December? In this day and age, you can’t restrict players from entering the portal when their season is done - I’m sure it would get challenged  in court if it was pushed later and the NCAA would lose again.

At least football can claim that in Dec the semester is over with. That doesn't fly w basketball.

[Oxy]

It would be nice if the portal were later and everybody abided by the rules to keep attention focused on the games still going on on the court.  But that just wouldn't happen...instead of guys entering the portal and committing, there would be endless speculation and behind the scenes commits and portal entrances and rumor-mongering and blah blah blah.  Might as well open it up and make it official and keep the speculative blather to a minimum.

[RedStickBrew]

I'm feeling better now about next year...

 

[areacodes]

Looks like Boyd has committed to UW as well.

ETA: Welp, looks like that account isn’t legit but there is more smoke to Boyd committing - hopefully soon. 

Edited April 4, 2025 by areacodes

[areacodes]

4 hours ago, homer said:

At least football can claim that in Dec the semester is over with. That doesn't fly w basketball.

Fair point regarding the semester for football and I understand wanting it to be after the tourney but mid-April wouldn’t be at the end of a semester either.

With the season being done for a majority of players by mid-March, I really don’t see how we can get a different date for the portal until there are some enforceable rules (legislation? players union? players as employees of the university?) as you know the players will win over the NCAA on pretty much anything.

[Jim French Stepstool]

As @areacodesalluded to, nothing drop-the-mic certain yet regarding Boyd. But there's enough smoke out there from various sources to cure a twenty-pound ham, so hopefully it's just a matter of time. One thing I like about the potential starting backcourt next year is we'll have multiple people w/PG-type skills if Boyd comes. That would include Zack Kinziger, who I think easily fits the characteristics of a combo.

If both Boyd & Rohde are in the fold that would shift attention to the post & Austin Rapp. There's stiff competition for him to be sure. If he isn't lured, I'd imagine someone's name that we hadn't heard yet would emerge, but Ognacevic of Lipscomb would also be a possibility. I mentioned a few other post players earlier, but the only one left is Noah Williamson of Bucknell, and there are a lot of heavyweights going after him.

[RedStickBrew]

Austin Rapp has committed to UW. I love this...

 

[Jim French Stepstool]

4 hours ago, RedStickBrew said:

Austin Rapp has committed to UW. I love this...

 

That (and Tyler Alexander) makes my night!! He really fits the profile of A UW big. Trying not to get overly giddy since he hasn't played a game for Bucky yet; but really the only fly in the ointment I see is that he's jumping from the WCC to the B10. And even then, you're talking Gonzaga, St Mary's, Oregon St, Wazzou, Santa Clara--he's been tested...........a wonderful addition.

It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if this is the only big added, especially if Amos returns & Greppi sticks around to do battle with Garlock for minutes. Certainly wouldn't mind a Chris Vogt-type addition for depth. But those thoughts are for later. Nice additions (if we can believe the Boyd talk) capped off in terrific fashion.

Kudos to Kirk Penney, the point man on this.

[homer]

We haven't seen anything official about Boyd yet right?

 

 

 

[Oxy]

26 minutes ago, homer said:

We haven't seen anything official about Boyd yet right?

 

 

 

Correct....the delay makes me think that one of the Final Four teams is in contact with him (his former FAU teammate Aalijah Martin is on Florida afterall...although Boyd is a NE kid).  Obviously, the FF teams don't know what their roster will look like next week let alone next year, so they aren't making any firm offers but perhaps told him they were interested and he has secured UW as his "safety school".

Yes, I railed against speculative blather a few posts up and I am blathering pure speculation with this take, but it would make sense.

[RedStickBrew]

2 hours ago, homer said:

We haven't seen anything official about Boyd yet right?

 

 

 

Sean Wright doesn’t have the best history with Breaking news. I believe he was the guy that posted that Bobby Portis was also traded this year. 
Clearly there was some smoke with this player but I haven’t seen anything from Badger beat writers on him yet

[RedStickBrew]

9 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

That (and Tyler Alexander) makes my night!! He really fits the profile of A UW big. Trying not to get overly giddy since he hasn't played a game for Bucky yet; but really the only fly in the ointment I see is that he's jumping from the WCC to the B10. And even then, you're talking Gonzaga, St Mary's, Oregon St, Wazzou, Santa Clara--he's been tested...........a wonderful addition.

It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if this is the only big added, especially if Amos returns & Greppi sticks around to do battle with Garlock for minutes. Certainly wouldn't mind a Chris Vogt-type addition for depth. But those thoughts are for later. Nice additions (if we can believe the Boyd talk) capped off in terrific fashion.

Kudos to Kirk Penney, the point man on this.

Couldn’t agree more on Rapp. He’s a perfect fit for what Kirk Penney wants to do with this offense. It is probably greedy but a physical rim protector would still be nice

I saw we are in on another guard so I’m a bit more skeptical on Boyd right now. I do think we need one more perimeter player that can get in the lane and make things happen off the dribble 

[OldHeidelberg]

22 minutes ago, RedStickBrew said:

Couldn’t agree more on Rapp. He’s a perfect fit for what Kirk Penney wants to do with this offense. It is probably greedy but a physical rim protector would still be nice

I saw we are in on another guard so I’m a bit more skeptical on Boyd right now. I do think we need one more perimeter player that can get in the lane and make things happen off the dribble 

Who is the other guard we are in on? I am not sure who was on scholarship but I am counting 8 departures including 5 guards so it would seem we still have room for another even with Boyd. 

[RedStickBrew]

22 minutes ago, OldHeidelberg said:

Who is the other guard we are in on? I am not sure who was on scholarship but I am counting 8 departures including 5 guards so it would seem we still have room for another even with Boyd. 

Kendall Blue from St Thomas was reported to be a heavy favorite to land with the Badgers by a national CBB writer. Boyd is still supposedly favored to land at UW as well. Pretty sure both would be takes as you said they have roster spots to fill. I think Blue would be more of a rotation guy though

[areacodes]

2 hours ago, homer said:

We haven't seen anything official about Boyd yet right?

 

 

 

 

46 minutes ago, RedStickBrew said:

Sean Wright doesn’t have the best history with Breaking news. I believe he was the guy that posted that Bobby Portis was also traded this year. 
Clearly there was some smoke with this player but I haven’t seen anything from Badger beat writers on him yet

According to Buckyville and twitter, this guy isn’t legit.

[Jim French Stepstool]

35 minutes ago, RedStickBrew said:

Kendall Blue from St Thomas was reported to be a heavy favorite to land with the Badgers by a national CBB writer. Boyd is still supposedly favored to land at UW as well. Pretty sure both would be takes as you said they have roster spots to fill. I think Blue would be more of a rotation guy though

As far as I can tell, Bubu Benjamin & Keonte Jones, two wings that were rumored to be on their 'short list' are still uncommitted as well.

Off the bench, Jack Janicki is going to play. How far Gard goes AFA adding two more wings besides Rohde may depend on how they feel about Kinzigers' readiness to give them minutes as a freshman (and what's left in the checkbook, of course).

[Jim French Stepstool]

55 minutes ago, OldHeidelberg said:

Who is the other guard we are in on? I am not sure who was on scholarship but I am counting 8 departures including 5 guards so it would seem we still have room for another even with Boyd. 

We'd have room for sure. But in the current world of college hoops it also comes down to how much money you have left after signing A, B, & C. 

@Oxy's theory about Boyd waiting on one of the FF squads makes sense.

[RedStickBrew]

7 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

As far as I can tell, Bubu Benjamin & Keonte Jones, two wings that were rumored to be on their 'short list' are still uncommitted as well.

Off the bench, Jack Janicki is going to play. How far Gard goes AFA adding two more wings besides Rohde may depend on how they feel about Kinzigers' readiness to give them minutes as a freshman.

I’m sure it’s tricky for the staff this time of year. They need to build a team and still keep an eye on developing some players. Robison is another holdover that could be looking to break into the rotation also

I have not heard anything about Benjamin in a while. Jones I believe had several teams interested and may be in a bidding war situation right now

[RedStickBrew]

This account is usually pretty accurate.  I've read about him from a couple different sources.  Probably a rotational player, but not really sure.

 

[Jim French Stepstool]

3 hours ago, RedStickBrew said:

This account is usually pretty accurate.  I've read about him from a couple different sources.  Probably a rotational player, but not really sure.

 

I'm also mostly unfamiliar with Blue. What the measurables & numbers suggest:

He fits the profile they've been looking for AFA being a bigger guard.

Very solid shooting % overall. His 3pt% jumped to an impressive 41% after being much more pedestrian his first two seasons. Not the type of FT% we saw the team turn in last season, but decent.

His size (6'6", 190), thirty-seven blocks in his career & about 1 SPG as a JR suggest someone that could be a disruptive defender.

Unlike some of the others they've looked at I don't expect him to be someone they'd slide to the point.

Is this a sign they're thinking Boyd is leaning elsewhere? Maybe. I do know that Boyd added to the other three would be terrific beyond expectations.