Wisconsin had a specific plan when it came to identifying targets in the transfer portal.
The Wisconsin Badgers came into the offseason with a plan for retooling their roster, quickly identifying targets and setting up official visits.
That led to three quick commitments: Virginia wing Andrew Rohde, Portland forward Austin Rapp, and San Diego State guard Nick Boyd all committed to Wisconsin within a week of each other.
Then, later on, Wisconsin also added commitments from Tulsa transfer Braeden Carrington, who began his career at Minnesota, as well as Lithuanian forward Aleksas Bieliauskas, getting them to 14 scholarship players.
Why did the Badgers target those specific plays in the transfer portal?
“With [Braeden] Carrington, with [Nick] Boyd, and with [Andrew] Rohde, we’ve added a lot of experience,” head coach Greg Gard said at his annual Garding Against Cancer event on Friday. “That was important to be able to bring guys in that have had experience. We lose a lot of experience, and then with the others, just continuing to grow and get better.
“Rapp is a West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year there and fits who we are. [Not] every ‘I’ has been dotted or ‘T’ has been signed with a gentleman from Lithuania (Aleksas Bieliauskas), but we are at the finish line for that, and we’ll have more to say on him. Then we will have the three freshmen coming [in] the fall. Then, planning to add around one more.”
How did Wisconsin identify that the additions would be good fits for the program?
“Lot of research, lot of phone calls, you’re trying to rely on relationships,” Gard said. “Obviously, with Rohde, he is from the state. We recruited him, watched him in high school, and recruited him when he transferred from St. Thomas to Virginia. Obviously stayed in touch with the people around him. He decides to make a move.
“Carrington, we saw at Minnesota, watched him growing up playing there in his high school days, and obviously the two years at Minnesota, and then was with good friends of ours, Eric Konkol and Duffy Conroy, at Tulsa. So, there was a familiarity there with him.
“And Rapp, there were a lot of connections. His dad had coached in Division III. He knew about Coach [Bo] Ryan and that relationship there. There was a connection through Randy Bennett at St. Mary’s that really helped us in terms of when they had asked just for some advice, and Randy Bennett really helped us in that regard in vouching. And there was some connection through Gregg Popovich with the Spurs too. His dad has a good relationship with him. Between the Division III background of myself and our history, and also the relationship with Greg Stiemsma, a lot of things came together to make that happen.”
Ultimately, through all the research, Wisconsin found several players who fit their program, helping rebuild the rotation for the upcoming season. But, they still have one more player to add to the fold, and it seems that will be a scholarship player, according to Gard.
After that, they’ll be set for the 2025-26 season.