Austin Rapp’s return to Wisconsin basketball was ‘not all about the money’

MADISON – Austin Rapp “always in the back of my head” knew where he wanted to be.

“I didn’t really entertain leaving,” Rapp said. “I didn’t really entertain the portal option at all.”

What appeared to be a retention win for Wisconsin men’s basketball now is officially a retention win after Rapp announced his return on social media on April 14. It’s a big win, too, considering he averaged 9.7 points and four rebounds as a sophomore with the Badgers while hitting 36.3% of his 3-point shots.

Wisconsin sophomore Austin Rapp 36.3% of his 3-point shots during the 2025-26 season.

Rapp – with a coveted skill set as a 6-foot-10 forward who can space the floor with his perimeter shooting – acknowledged that he probably could have made more money if he entered the portal. But he “didn’t really want to entertain talks with other schools,” and his father and his agent both agreed.

“I had schools calling with absurd amounts of money, of course, like every athlete has these days,” Rapp said in a phone call with the Journal Sentinel. “But for me, it’s not all about the money. It’s about winning. It’s about culture. And I think I’m coming back to a really good culture, a really culture-driven team.”

The Portland transfer also improved as a basketball player in his first year in Madison, complementing his well-known 3-point shooting with defense that was eventually good enough to be trusted to take on some of the best frontcourt players in the Big Ten such as Purdue’s Trey Kaufman-Renn.

“If we look back at my year, I got better,” Rapp said. “I think it gets lost in the day and age of NIL and stuff, but I feel like the most important thing and the reason why you should be at a school is because they make you a better player for the future of your career in the sport. And I got a lot better this year.”

Rapp has his eye on more improvement ahead of his junior season as he works with Wisconsin’s training staff and his trainer in Australia. (He is in Madison this month before going back to Australia for about a month and a half.)

“I want to be able to have an inside game, go in there, work it, get good touch and play in the post a little bit,” Rapp said. “But I also want to be able to handle the ball better, have the ball in my hands more, do some inverted ball screens and do stuff like that to bring different looks to other teams.”

Wisconsin’s roster is in flux with six open roster spots and some key areas of need. Nick Boyd, Andrew Rohde and Braeden Carrington – all seniors – were three of UW’s seven players with the most minutes in 2025-26. Then the Badgers lost four players to the portal, including starters John Blackwell and Aleksas Bieliauskas.

Rapp is excited about the players who are indeed coming back with him, though. That list could include Nolan Winter, Jack Janicki, Will Garlock, Hayden Jones and Zach Kinziger.

“We bring back a lot of youth,” Rapp said. “The freshmen come back – other than obviously A.B. [Aleksas Bieliauskas] – who I think can keep getting better. … We also bring back Nolan Winter, which is arguably one of the best bigs in the country right now. So to be playing with him will be really cool.”

Winter has not yet announced his return, and UW general manager Marc VandeWettering has been “refraining from commenting until anything’s official.” But VandeWettering has been optimistic about UW’s retention of the players who have not already entered the portal.

Janicki, Rapp said, is a “hustle guy, the guy that’s going to clean up all of our mistakes on the court.” Wisconsin’s three newcomers so far include 6-foot-2 Australian point guard Owen Foxwell, who is anything but new to Rapp.

Foxwell flipped his commitment from LSU after the coaching change there and will arrive with professional experience in Australia’s National Basketball League.

“He’s an electric, quick point guard,” Rapp said. “Pass first. Gets guys involved. Can get a bucket himself. But I think what he’s really underrated for and what he’s actually best at is defensively. … He picks up full courts. He gets steals. He talks on defense. He’s a really good defender.”

Now, Rapp can officially enjoy being teammates with Foxwell – and staying somewhere he knew he wanted to be.

“Obviously there’s a process to how everything goes now, contracts, whatever,” Rapp said. “So we had to get all that done. But ultimately, it’s a weight lifted off my shoulders. I’m glad I’m going to be a Badger again next year playing at the Kohl Center, and I can’t wait to be back on the court with my brothers.”

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Why Austin Rapp stuck with Badgers, 'didn't entertain' transfer portal