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Greg Gard and his staff have done a great job navigating this new “NIL Era”. Every offseason, it feels like the same story in Madison. Wisconsin loses key pieces to graduation, the draft, or the portal itself, and every offseason, Greg Gard finds a way to reload without missing a beat. This spring proved to be no different. With Nick Boyd, Andrew Rohde, and Braeden Carrington all graduating, and John Blackwell ultimately deciding to leave for the portal (to a school I will not name), the Badgers were staring down the loss of essentially their entire backcourt. Add in the departure of promising freshman starting forward Aleksas Bieliauskas, and we began to see panic among Badger fans all over the internet. While yes, I would like to keep these guys, Coach Gard knows what he’s doing; he understands our limited budget and the true value of his players. When these schools contact our players and offer a blank check, we can’t keep up, and honestly, we shouldn’t have to. Gard has never been the coach chasing every name on the board; he’s the coach who knows exactly which two or three guys actually move the needle for this program, and he goes and gets them.

That’s what makes his portal work so impressive. Gard has crushed it three years running now, from AJ Storr to John Tonje to Nick Boyd, continually finding underappreciated talent and turning it into real production for the Badgers. This offseason was no exception. In the span of about a week, he landed George Washington guard Trey Autry, Miami (OH) wing Eian Elmer, and Hofstra center Victory Onuetu, three guys who have proven to be positive, impactful basketball players, that I believe Coach Gard can develop into taking that next step. Throw in international freshman point guard Owen Foxwell, and just like that, the panic starts to fade.

It’s not luck at this point. It’s a pattern. Year after year, Gard identifies precisely what his roster is missing, finds the players who fit it (often from outside the spotlight of bigger conferences), and gets immediate returns. So before you doomscroll through another “Wisconsin is cooked” thread, take a breath. Let’s look at who’s actually walking through the door in Madison.

Trey Autry

 Sr.Height 6′ 4” Weight 211 lbs
Hometown: Jamesville, N.Y. Previous School: George Washington

Autry was Wisconsin’s first commitment out of the portal this offseason, and it’s easy to see why Gard moved fast. A senior with three straight years of starting experience at George Washington, Autry brings something the Badgers desperately needed after losing Boyd and Blackwell: a guard who’s already proven he will be a consistent scorer.

Last season, Autry averaged 11.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.5 assists a game, while knocking down 38.5 percent of his threes on 6.4 attempts per contest. That volume and efficiency from deep are exactly the kind of shooting Wisconsin’s offense is built around, and it should make him an immediate plug and play piece in Gard’s system.

Projected role: Wisconsin’s starting shooting guard next to Freshman Owen Foxwell in the backcourt, his shooting ability will be crucial in the Badgers overall success next season. If his 38.5 percent clip from three carries over to the Big Ten, he could end up being the Badgers’ most reliable outside shooter by January.

Eian Elmer

 Sr.Height 6′ 6” Weight 222 lbs 

Hometown: Covington, Ky.Previous School: Miami (Ohio)

If Autry was the “fill an immediate need” signing, Elmer feels to me like the “this is the guy” signing. Wisconsin’s top target once the portal opened, and it’s not hard to understand why Gard and his staff prioritized him the way they did.

Elmer spent last season at Miami (OH) as part of a team that won 32 games, and he was a huge reason why. He averaged 12.7 points and 5.9 rebounds a game, while shooting nearly 50 percent from the field and 43 percent from three. That kind of efficiency at 6’7″ is rare, he’s not just a shooter, he’s a legitimate scorer who can do damage inside and out, and that versatility is exactly what makes him such an intriguing fit for Gard’s system.

Honestly, I think Elmer might end up following the same path as AJ Storr, John Tonje, and Nick Boyd. Every single one of those transfers came in as the “under the radar” portal add, and every single one of them left Madison as one of the best players in the Big 10. Gard has a track record of taking guys who were productive at a smaller program and putting them in a position to explode once they get real spacing, real coaching, and a real system around them. Elmer has the size, the shooting, and the scoring pedigree to be next in that line.

Projected role: Immediate starter at the wing, and a real candidate to be Wisconsin’s leading scorer by the time Big Ten play rolls around. If the Tonje/Boyd/Storr pattern holds, don’t be shocked if Elmer’s name is the one being thrown around for All-Big Ten honors come March.

Victory Onuetu

Sr.Height 6′ 11” Weight 238 lbs
Hometown: Alhaurin El Grande, Spain. Previous School: Hofstra

Coach Gard usually recruits skilled, floor spacing bigs who fit that stretch four mold, guys who can step out and knock down threes. Onuetu isn’t that. And honestly, that might be exactly what this roster needs. He’s athletic, strong, and explosive, adding a dynamic that Badger fans haven’t seen out of a big man in a long time.

Onuetu averaged 4.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks a game last season in just 17.9 minutes per contest, numbers that jump out once you realize how limited his playing time actually was. This kind of production is exactly what you look for out of a backup center, someone who can hold there own in limited minutes throughout a grueling big ten season. Gard specifically praised his rim pressure in transition, his ability to finish lobs in the half court, his shot blocking, and his relentless rebounding, all things Badger teams of the past have lacked.

This is a high energy center who does his damage around the rim and cleans up the glass, giving Wisconsin a physical presence they haven’t always had up front. He’s not walking in to space the floor next to Nolan Winter, he’s walking in to do the dirty work, crash the boards, protect the rim, and give this frontcourt an edge it’s been missing.

This addition should also help Nolan Winter take the next step forward as a scorer, allowing Winter to exert his energy on the offensive end instead of being forced into fighting with Big Ten bigs for 30 plus minutes a night.

Projected role: Backup center behind Winter to start, but don’t be surprised if his energy and rebounding earn him real minutes regardless of the matchup. In a league that still has its share of bruising bigs, having a true rim protector and glass eater off the bench could end up being one of the most underrated additions of this entire class.

I’m not expecting Onuetu to fill up the stat sheet or wow anyone with flashy counting stats. That’s not his game, and it doesn’t need to be. What he can do is make everyone else’s job easier, boxing out so shooters don’t have to crash the glass, protecting the rim so guards can gamble a little more on defense, and finishing the possessions Winter and the offense create. Sometimes the most valuable additions aren’t the ones putting up the craziest of numbers; they’re the ones making the whole team function better. That’s the role I see Onuetu filling in Madison.