The Wisconsin men’s basketball staff is working with one roster spot still open, and the name most closely tied to it is a familiar one.
Braeden Carrington was spotted practicing with the Badgers during the first summer workout of the offseason, a sign that Wisconsin is at least exploring the possibility of bringing back the former Minnesota, Tulsa and Wisconsin guard. Carrington spent last season in Madison and has already used his final year of eligibility under the old setup, but the NCAA’s recent rule changes have put players from the 2022 recruiting class in a strange holding pattern.
The new system uses an age-based model that gives athletes five years to play five seasons, which removes the need for a redshirt. Some players from the 2023 class and beyond have been granted extra years back, but the 2022 class has not gotten that same treatment yet. That has sparked a wave of legal fights aimed at restoring another season for those players, and the uncertainty keeps growing.
Carrington is one of the names caught in that mess. He started at Minnesota, transferred to Tulsa after two years, and has now completed four full seasons in four years.
Under the new rules, that would leave him with another year available. But because the rule change did not grandfather in players who were already in that gray area, his situation remains unresolved.
For now, Carrington has not told Greg Gard or the staff whether he plans to pursue a fifth season.
That leaves Wisconsin in wait-and-see mode. Gard said during his media availability that the process is not nearly as simple as it might sound, and that the staff has to account for several possible outcomes. He also said the legal fight over a fifth year for 2022 class players has been “changing by the hour,” which makes any planning around Carrington especially tricky.
Wisconsin has already seen a version of this issue play out in football with defensive back Nyzier Fourqurean last season. The Badgers kept Fourqurean on the roster while waiting on his eligibility decision, but it never came through, and the team ended up without enough time to replace him or fill the spot. In basketball, that kind of delay carries even more weight because the roster is smaller.
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One familiar name already hanging around practice is Braeden Carrington, whose case depends on whether he can secure another year of eligibility. Recent NCAA rule changes and the legal fight around them have made that far from certain, which is why Wisconsin is also weighing other possibilities, including a walk-on, an in-state player or another addition from the portal. [Read more 🡒]
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The question now is how quickly that toolkit translates into steady minutes in Madison. Onuetu has the traits to compete for a larger role right away, but the next step is smoothing out the parts of his game that can stall an offense and force a coach to work around him. If Wisconsin can get him to the point where the strengths show up consistently, Gard may have found the kind of interior piece fans have been waiting for. [Read more 🡒]