Wisconsin Badgers forward Riccardo Greppi to enter the transfer portal
Wisconsin Badgers forward Riccardo Greppi intends to enter the NCAA transfer portal after spending two seasons in the program.
An international player from the Wisconsin men’s basketball team’s frontcourt is set to finish his career elsewhere.
After sophomore wing Jack Robison became the first Badger to enter the NCAA transfer portal, forward Riccardo Greppi has now followed suit, announcing his intention to move on after two seasons in the program, according to Bucky’s Burrow.
The 6-foot-10, 255-pound forward from Italy appeared in 22 career games during his time in Madison, serving primarily as a depth piece in a frontcourt that consistently had established options ahead of him.
This past season, Greppi appeared in 14 games, logging limited minutes while recording five total rebounds and two assists. As a true freshman, he saw action in eight games, finishing with eight points and nine rebounds while showing effort in spot opportunities early in the year.
But like a lot of players at the back end of the rotation, expanding that role next season looked like it was going to be an uphill climb. At the Power Four level, the best teams don’t have the luxury of waiting long on development. And if you don’t show you’re ready to make that jump into someone who can produce, the path to minutes can close quickly.
Heading into next season, there just didn’t appear to be a clear path for Greppi, especially with Wisconsin’s frontcourt likely to remain crowded.
Nolan Winter, predictably, emerged as a centerpiece. Austin Rapp carved out a major role and improved as the season wore on. Aleksas Bieliauskas took on significant minutes as a freshman. And Will Garlock continued to develop into a back-end rotational option with size and mobility. Those are all players that the staff is expected to prioritize retaining, which made the path forward for someone like Greppi increasingly difficult to project.
That’s the reality of the roster right now. And in today’s transfer portal era, those situations tend to resolve themselves quickly.
Greppi’s value internally, though, went beyond what showed up in the box score. He was a physical presence in practice. A willing rebounder. Someone who embraced the work behind the scenes, helping simulate opposing frontcourts and pushing the players ahead of him to be better. Coaches value that. Teammates value that. It matters more than people realize.
But at some point, players want — and need — an opportunity.
With his size and frame, there’s going to be interest. Everyone needs frontcourt depth. Greppi has international experience, a willingness to do the dirty work, and he brings traits that college basketball programs look for when building out depth and frontcourt rotation pieces.
It just never quite came together for him at Wisconsin, but that doesn’t mean it won’t somewhere else. Offensively, Greppi didn’t bring a ton to the table in terms of spacing or 3-point shooting, which is a key part of how Wisconsin wants to play. In a system built around floor spacing and skill, that made it even tougher to carve out a consistent role.
For Greppi, this is a chance to find a better fit — a program where the path to minutes is clearer and where his skill set can be utilized more consistently. He’s shown flashes as a rebounder, and there’s some intriguing feel there as a passer for a player his size. In the right situation, those traits could translate into a more defined role.
And for Wisconsin, it’s another unsurprising step in what’s shaping up to be an active offseason as the staff continues to evaluate, retain, and retool the roster while managing its available scholarship spots.
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