Badger Basketball 2026-27 Season.

[Jim French Stepstool]

I have to admit, I miss the days of old when anticipation for college hoops started in November & culminated with the first games just before Thanksgiving. Now, I haven't even carved a pumpkin yet. And it's eighty degrees to boot.

But the exhibition season has started, so what the hey. 

To start, the end of the bench is a little thinner than anticipated. Freshman LaTrevion Fenderson of Racine won't be suiting up this year; the official word is that he's going to concentrate on academics. He's still on the roster & I assume he'll be practicing with the team. Sounds like a good ol' fashioned redshirt. And fellow freshman Josh Manchester, a walkon from Mt Horeb, will miss the entire season after having shoulder surgery.

One difference I've noticed in putting this squad together is that in past years Greg Gard subscribed to the attitude of finding scorers & being confident that he could teach them to defend. I thought this worked to some extent----Austin Rapp was someone who improved immensely on that end of the floor as the season unfolded---but that led to the defense typically taking quite some time to jell & there was always the question of how good they could actually be on that end. It looks like this team was constructed with a willingness & ability to guard being more of an initial consideration. Victory Onuetu is strictly an around-the-hoop guy offensively, but carries the label of rim protector. Trey Autry might need time for the help & recover aspect but is regarded as a good on-ball defender. Eian Elmer seemed to guard at a more than acceptable level last year with Miami(O). When you add that to the aforementioned Rapp, Nolan Winter developing into a better defender than I thought he could, Will Garlock (mostly) being in the right place at the right time last year (no small feat for a FR big), and Carrington & Janicki being proven on that end, I'm hoping the learning curve won't need to be nearly as sharp. And in limited minutes, I thought Hayden Jones & Zack Kinziger showed some defensive chops, too.

Offensively, I'm sure they'll still look to run when the break is available. But the opportunities might be fewer just because of Boyd being gone. He was a one-man break who forced the issue. No complaints; he was good at it. I just think the open floor stuff will look more conventional as filling the lanes takes on added importance. Getting the boards & kicking the outlet pass obviously needs to happen, and Garlock has the tools to be pretty good at that I think. They've also talked about utilizing the screen & roll and lob game to get the bigs scoring opportunities. I'll hold the phone on that one; Onuetu seems pretty raw offensively & Rapp did most of his damage outside. But Winter has added to his game since he's been here, and Garlock is being lauded as much improved. So we'll see.

As for the Parkside exhibition, it sounded like Garlock & Winter got whatever they wanted inside, which wasn't a surprise. Looking at the box, I liked Foxwell collecting 6 assists, and Garlock with 6 boards & 3 assists. They each had 4 TOs; teaching points I'd imagine. And it was nice to see that Janicki knocked down a couple of shots. With the many options at the 2 & 3 spots I assume that---just like with Carter Gilmore---there will be people expecting him to get buried. As long as he keeps making good decisions in the half-court & defends like he can, no way. He'll see the floor.

Rapp didn't play vs Parkside. They're being really cautious with him after the hand surgery. I'd guess there's at least a 50-50 chance he can go in the next exhibition & certainly before the regular season starts.

[Jim French Stepstool]

Jack Thelen, the 7-footer from Minnesota has decommitted. I suspect what happened is this: there wasn't much NIL money involved in his commitment to UW since he wasn't considered a high-level recruit, his stock soared over the summer & he's now seeing much more opportunity out there. It sucks in the sense that both Winter & Onuetu are SRs, but better now than further down the road.

[Jim French Stepstool]

The injunction has been granted for the players who were looking at getting the extra season of eligibility, which includes Braeden Carrington. Many expect the NCAA to appeal, but it's another hurdle cleared for Carrington & it looks pretty likely he'll be suiting up this year.

It's a huge plus, but at the same time I feel for the part of the roster that is suddenly competing for minutes with someone who they didn't expect to be there---particularly Hayden Jones, Trey Autry & Jackson Ball. I'm guessing Carrington at this point has the inside track on Autry as the starting 2-guard.

[Jim French Stepstool]

So after 3 exhibitions the season starts for real on Monday with a game vs the University of Denver. Thoughts so far:

I think Rapp should settle into his spot in the starting five eventually, maybe by Monday. Victory Onuetu appears to have the inside track on Will Garlock for bench minutes but I think that's still somewhat up in the air. Garlock is nursing an injury that isn't considered serious. Onuetu looks athletic enough & should help out on the boards, but his hands aren't the best from what I've seen & he so far has had an issue of defending w/o fouling.

Jack Janicki has been starting in the exhibitions. That surprises me, but it really comes down to minutes played & I think that number will be similar to what he receives if he were coming off the bench. It might be simply a case of going with a dependable, known quantity while the others sort themselves out. Braeden Carrington has been productive & shall we say very unbashful about shooting. I think Trey Autry, Hayden Jones, Jackson Ball & Zack Kinziger are all sort of in a race to see who can do what Greg Gard wants on both ends, and show the most consistency doing it. Right now It might be Kinziger, who is earmarked as the backup PG but can easily play off the ball. He's done so at times in the exhibitions, playing along with Owen Foxwell. I still feel someone among the wings is going to be very disappointed with his minutes once things shake out.

As for Foxwell, He appears to have a good handle on the offense & feel for distribution. His shot looked OK to me. He has shown a real ability to get into the lane, and I think he'll be able to do that vs B10 opponents as well. My only concern is finishing around the rim once the competition heats up.

Denver is moving to the WCC, which is a step up for them even with Gonzaga leaving that league. They have quite a bit of size that's mostly unproven. In games like this, it's nice to have an opposing player who can put the ball in the hoop to test the man-to-man defense & Denver has that in Carson Johnson, a guard who was around 20PPG last season.