The latest College Football Rankings gave Wisconsin a case worth arguing, even if most Badgers fans probably aren’t rushing to demand a spot. The surprise is less about Wisconsin itself and more about who landed ahead of it.
Once you stack the resumes side by side, the Badgers start looking better than LSU and Missouri, and the gap with Oregon is closer than it first appears. If anyone should really be upset, it’s 8-1 New Mexico.
On the basketball side, Nolan Winter’s early-season numbers tell the story of a player still trying to find his footing. He’s averaging 6.3 points, eight rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.3 blocks per game, production that would be fine for a reserve but falls short for someone expected to be one of the team’s stars. Owen Jury laid out a path for fixing Winter’s slow start and pointed to the non-conference schedule as a chance to help him get there.
Wisconsin’s National Signing Day for basketball came and went without any signatures on the first day, even though the class still has two committed players. Jalen Brown and Baboucarr Ann are still expected to sign, and both are set to do it the day after National Signing Day, November 12. Greg Gard is expected to announce his two 4-star commitments tonight, Thursday, November 12, and there doesn’t appear to be much drama around the delay.
There was also movement on a former Wisconsin target. Jack Thelen, the 7-1 ex-Badger commit, said he is signing with UCONN and will make it official on November 12, closing the book on his Wisconsin recruitment.
Volleyball followed a quieter path. Wisconsin and Kelly Sheffield had an uneventful signing day, which fits the plan. Sheffield wasn’t targeting the 2027 class and has no plans to add anyone from it, even after signing a wave of top high school players last year.
And with all of that on the table, the attention now shifts to Wisconsin vs. Maryland.
In Other News...
Wisconsin Recruiting Loss Just Got More Painful For Badgers Fans
Wisconsins 2027 basketball class took a hit when Jack Thelen, the 7-foot-1 center who had previously pledged to the Badgers, backed off that commitment and landed at UConn instead. Thelen, ranked No. 88 nationally in the class by Rivals, had given Wisconsin a promising frontcourt piece for the future, and his departure changes the look of an early group that had already started to take shape.
The Badgers still have two four-star guards committed in the class, so the foundation is not gone, but losing a big man of Thelens size and profile stings. It also adds another layer to the challenge of holding off blueblood-level competition, with UConn continuing to build one of the nations strongest classes and sitting No. 2 nationally on 247Sports. [Read more 🡒]
Racine Case Just Ended A Drought Wisconsin Fans Will Appreciate
Racine Case gave Wisconsin high school football fans a familiar kind of thrill with a finish that came down to the final kick. Senior kicker Colin Gardner drilled a 28-yard field goal as time expired to lift Case past Muskego 6-3 in the WIAA Division 1 state quarterfinals, sending the team on to the state semifinals against West De Pere.
For a program with a long history but a long wait, the moment carried extra weight. Racine Case is headed to the state semifinals for the first time since 1980, ending a 46-year drought and giving its supporters a milestone they had waited generations to see. [Read more 🡒]
Wisconsin Has A Nolan Winter Problem Fans Cant Ignore
Nolan Winters start to the 2026-27 season has been quieter than Wisconsin fans are used to seeing from the senior big man. His numbers are down across the board, and his shooting has not matched the efficiency he typically brings, even though he is still helping the Badgers with rebounding, passing and rim protection.
The bigger question for Wisconsin is what comes next, because Winters value has not disappeared, it has just been uneven so far. If the Badgers can get him more involved offensively and he continues to move past whatever has slowed him early, there is still a path for him to look more like the player Wisconsin needs in the frontcourt. [Read more 🡒]