Greg Gard reveals the one question that recruits asked in the transfer portal

Wisconsin Badgers head coach Greg Gard looks at John Blackwell #25 of the Wisconsin Badgers before playing the Minnesota Golden Gophers at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin, on January 28, 2026. (Photo by Ross Harried/NurPhoto via Getty Images) | NurPhoto via Getty Images

The Wisconsin Badgers had quite an eventful transfer portal cycle this offseason, starting off with Australian point guard Owen Foxwell before landing George Washington guard Trey Autry, Miami (OH) wing Eian Elmer, and Hofstra center Victory Onuetu to round out their roster.

It was a slower start for Wisconsin, which had a quieter first week in the transfer portal as it evaluated the market for its top targets. That, paired with the departures of John Blackwell and Aleksas Bieliauskas, raised some questions as to how strong a roster the Badgers could build.

But, those questions were quickly answered as Wisconsin got three transfer portal commitments in the next week, filling their top holes as they looked to intentionally build a compatible roster once again.

Interestingly enough, though, there was one big question that recruits had for the Badgers’ staff as conversations were happening: Will Austin Rapp and Nolan Winter be back?

“Well, as we went through the recruiting process of Owen [Foxwell], Eian [Elmer], Victory [Onuetu], and Trey [Autry], they asked about if Rapp and Winter were coming back in the retention because they wanted to play with them,” Gard shared.

“I don’t remember which one it was, one of the perimeter players said, you guys have the best shooting front line coming back in the country in terms of how they can stretch the floor. And when you’re a player, you like to play with other really good players that can stretch the floor. I think Nick Boyd found that out, right? He had a lot of driving lines to the rim that were— there was a lot of space. That’s because you have shooting around it and you have great spacing, you have unselfish players. So good players complement other good players and they want to play with each other.”