Wisconsin has spent most of Greg Gard’s tenure looking like Wisconsin - steady, familiar, and usually good enough to matter. But the Badgers haven’t hit the same peaks they once did, and this past March was another reminder. They were knocked out in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament by a double-digit seed for the second time in three years.
That’s the backdrop for why Eian Elmer matters so much.
Wisconsin did not lose only one piece from last season’s team. John Blackwell and Nick Boyd are both gone, and Blackwell chose to transfer to Duke.
That leaves real holes to patch, even with Nolan Winter and Austin Rapp back to form a veteran frontcourt. Hayden Jones and Jack Janicki are also in line to push for more minutes.
The Badgers went to work in the portal to fill in the gaps. Trey Autry arrives from George Washington and should matter in the backcourt, while Victory Onuetu brings promise after a freshman season at Hofstra. He stands 6-10 and gives Wisconsin another option up front.
But Elmer is the transfer who changes the conversation.
The 6-6 forward from Cincinnati started his college career at Miami-Ohio, where he spent his first three seasons and built a reputation as a dependable shooter and scorer. He was a major reason the Redhawks opened the season 31-0, and he finished with 12.7 points and 5.9 rebounds per game while earning All-MAC honors. He also hit 43% of his 3-point tries.
That profile fits Wisconsin almost too neatly. The Badgers have made a habit in recent offseasons of taking mid-major scorers like Boyd and John Tonje and turning them into bigger offensive weapons.
Elmer looks like the next player in that lane. He fills a clear need on the wing and has a real chance to become one of the team’s most productive scorers.
No one is projecting a sudden leap to 20 points a night in the Big Ten, but Wisconsin’s recent history says these kinds of transfers can be more than just placeholders. They can become central pieces.
And that’s why Elmer stands out above the rest of the incoming class. Rapp and Winter are the headliners among the returnees, but the roster still lost a big chunk of its scoring and upside.
There isn’t an obvious freshman or returning player ready to seize that void on day one. Gard and his staff are counting on Elmer - and the other new arrivals - to step in and lead right away.
In Other News...
Ranking Wisconsin Footballs Rare 5-Star Recruits From Best To Worst
Wisconsin football has never lived on five-star recruiting alone, which is part of what makes the list of its rarest blue-chip additions so interesting. According to 24/7 Sports, the Badgers have signed only five five-star recruits, and the exercise of sorting them says as much about development and durability as it does about raw talent. Anttaj Hawthorne sits at the top of the group, while Josh Oglesby earned his place near the front of the line by becoming a reliable starter, landing on the 2011 All-Big Ten first team and helping anchor two Rose Bowl offensive line units.
The rest of the list is a reminder that elite rankings do not guarantee a clean path in Madison. Justin Ostrowskis career was cut short by injuries after doctors told him to stop playing, Logan Brown left for Kansas before eventually bouncing around NFL practice squads, and Nolan Rucci moved on to Penn State before signing with the Indianapolis Colts as an undrafted free agent. For a program that has built its identity on development, those stories make the five-star ledger feel less like a recruiting trophy case and more like a snapshot of how unpredictable a college career can be. [Read more 🡒]
Wisconsins New AD Just Set The Standard For Year One
Shawn Eichorsts first public remarks as Wisconsins new athletic director were less about sweeping declarations and more about getting the lay of the land. Introduced to the Badgers community, he framed his early months around building deep relationships inside the department and across the university, saying the priority is to understand where things stand before pushing ahead.
Eichorst also made clear that the modern realities of college athletics are already on his radar, with NIL competitiveness among the issues Wisconsin has to keep pace with. He pointed to the need for clarity around the football programs direction under Luke Fickell, a reminder that his first year will be judged not just by introductions and outreach, but by how quickly he helps set the programs next steps. [Read more 🡒]
Wisconsin Faces Familiar Pressure As Another Badgers Reset Raises Real Doubts
Wisconsins latest offseason reset has left the Badgers once again trying to piece together a roster that looks different in all the ways that matter. The departures of Nick Boyd, Andrew Rohde, Braeden Carrington, John Blackwell and Aleksas Bieliauskas stripped away both production and, in some cases, the kind of fit that made the system work, forcing the staff back into the portal for answers. Eian Elmer and Trey Autry are among the newcomers expected to help on the perimeter and defensively, part of an effort to steady a group that has to rebuild quickly.
The optimism around the additions is real enough, but so are the familiar questions that hang over Wisconsin when the shot goes cold. Analysts see reasons for hope, yet they also point to red flags in the Badgers 2026-27 outlook, especially the possibility that the offense can bog down when the three-point ball is not falling. It is the same kind of concern that has trailed the program before, including during last seasons tournament run, and it leaves Wisconsin facing another test of whether a reset can become a step forward. [Read more 🡒]