Ranking Wisconsin basketball’s 2025-26 roster by retention priority
Breaking down Wisconsin’s 2025–26 roster by retention priority, from must-keep players and key returners to developmental pieces and roster flexibility decisions.
The Wisconsin men’s basketball team (24-11) saw its 2025–26 season come to an end in the NCAA Tournament, falling to 12th-seeded High Point 83–82 in the first round.
And just like that, the focus shifts.
From game plans and matchups to roster construction. From what this team was to what the next version of Wisconsin needs to become. That’s the reality of the sport now. Seasons end, and the offseason begins almost immediately. Decisions have to be made. Priorities have to be set.
For Greg Gard and his coaching staff, that process starts the same way it always has — by evaluating the roster from top to bottom, especially with four seniors in Nick Boyd, Andrew Rohde, Braeden Carrington, and walk-on Isaac Gard set to move on. That evaluation comes after a season where Wisconsin averaged 83 points per game — the highest mark of the Gard era and the program’s best in more than five decades — but also allowed 76.1 points per game, the most in the Bo Ryan–Gard era, underscoring the balance they’ll be looking to strike moving forward.
Who are the players you build around?
Who are the ones you prioritize retaining?
And where do you look to supplement through the portal?
That’s where this exercise comes in.
Breaking the roster into tiers isn’t about labeling players as expendable or untouchable. It’s about understanding value. Fit. Projection. And how each piece factors into both the short-term and long-term direction of the program. Because in this era, building a roster isn’t just about adding talent. It’s about knowing what you have — and what’s worth keeping.
Must retain
John Blackwell
Nolan Winter
Greg Gard has been pretty clear about how he wants to build a roster in this era. You start at the top and work your way down.
Not just in terms of talent, but in terms of identity. Who are the guys you trust? Who are the ones that embody what you want your program to look like? Who can you build around without having to rethink everything else?
For Wisconsin, that conversation starts with two names.
John Blackwell and Nolan Winter.
In a time where roster continuity in college basketball is more of a luxury than an expectation, both have done it the old-school way. They’ve stayed. They’ve developed. They’ve gotten better every year. And along the way, they’ve become tone-setters inside the locker room — the kind of players who don’t just fit the culture, but actively reinforce it.
Blackwell is coming off a season that puts him squarely in the national conversation. He averaged 19.1 points (career-best), 5.1 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game while shooting 38.9% from beyond the arc, earning Third-team All-Big Ten honors. Blackwell was one of the best guards in the conference. A player who has improved his game, particularly as a shooter, and still feels like there’s another layer there as a playmaker.
He’s going to have options. That’s just the reality of it. Power Four programs will try to make a push for Blackwell. He’ll likely go through the NBA Draft process and get feedback, as he should. But if there’s a path back to college for his final year, this is one where Wisconsin has to do just about everything in its power to make sure that return happens here.
Because players like Blackwell don’t just raise your ceiling, they stabilize your floor. You know exactly what you’re building around.
And for a lot of the same reasons, the same applies to Nolan Winter.
Winter is the definition of a program guy. A 7-footer who plays hard, rebounds, runs the floor, and fits seamlessly into what Wisconsin wants to do offensively. The Minnesota native averaged 13.1 points and 8.5 rebounds per game while recording 12 double-doubles on the season.
He’s efficient around the basket, capable of stretching the floor, and his production — especially on the glass — has been consistently impactful.
But beyond the numbers, it’s how he plays. The effort. The toughness. The way he competes. Those are traits that translate no matter what the roster looks like around him. And just like Blackwell, his skill set isn’t going unnoticed. Players with that combination of size, motor, and production are always in demand.
Which is why this tier is what it is.
These are the players you don’t replace. You retain.
Because if you can bring Blackwell and Winter back, everything else becomes a lot clearer. You’re not searching for an identity — you already have one. Now it’s about finding the right complementary pieces, allocating your portal resources wisely, and building around a foundation you already trust.
