During the summer, injuries and lawsuits made it difficult to see what the 2026-27 Wisconsin men’s basketball team could look like this winter. As that summer has turned to fall, injuries have turned to successful rehab and those lawsuits, well, those are still clear as mud.
In a preseason press conference on Tuesday, Wisconsin Badgers head coach Greg Gard provided updates on the injury and eligibility status on four players. Seemingly, at least three of those players will be available when UW opens its season on Monday, November 2nd against the Denver Pioneers.
Gard is preparing as if that fourth player will be available. As of this publication, he would be, but a preliminary injunction hearing could change that.
Braeden Carrington mounts eligibility bid
After the most-productive offensive season of his college basketball career, Braeden Carrington is attempting to play a fifth season of college basketball. Following two seasons with his hometown Minnesota Golden Gophers, a campaign with the Tulsa Golden Hurricane, and a lone season in Madison, Carrington had seemingly exhausted his eligibility.
After the NCAA announced its new age-based eligibility rules, Carrington joined dozens of athletes who had seemingly exhausted their eligibility in Glancey v. NCAA: a civil case tried in California state court that would, if successful, grant relief in the form of a year of eligibility for the 2026-27 season to a slew of athletes who graduated high school in the class of 2022.
The court granted the athletes a temporary injunction in August. That ruling cleared the way for Carrington, and the other petitioners, to practice and compete with their teams as fully-eligible participants.
Following off-season surgery, Gard says the 6-foot-5 guard has “been in everything” with his team. The two-time Big Ten Coach of the Year added that as long as Carrington “is eligible, he’s probably going to play.”
A hearing on a preliminary injunction in Carrington’s suit against the NCAA is scheduled for October 20th, according to Sam Ehrlich’s College Sports Litigation Tracker.
Carrington was a full participant in Tuesday’s practice, but he was not made available to speak to members of the media when the other 14 members of UW’s roster were.
Wisconsin basketball forwards undergo successful surgery and rehab
Forwards Nolan Winter and Austin Rapp also spent much of the summer recovering from injuries. After offseason ankle surgery, Winter is “full throttle,” according to Gard and Rapp “will be coming full throttle this week,” but the Australian big man’s status for this Saturday’s exhibition contest against UW-Parkside remains in question.
“I haven’t had that discussion with the medical team,” said Gard.
While Rapp and preseason All-Big Ten selection Winter have been sidelined, projected reserve forwards Will Garlock and Victory Onuetu took extra reps in practice during the summer. Gard sees that as a silver lining as it “forced those two to have to be on the floor a lot.”
“We didn’t have another 7-footer or 7-1 guy to to match up with the the other,” Gard said. “So you know the first thing was you just watch the competitive level grow in each of them.”
Gard complimented the pair’s development during the summer. He said the sophomore Garlock made “tremendous strides” in the weight room getting “bigger, stronger,” and Onuetu, a transfer from Hofstra of the Coastal Athletic Association, adapted to the level of physicality in a power conference.
Full-steam ahead for Owen Foxwell
A five-year veteran of the Australian NBL, Owen Foxwell arrived in Madison with the experience Gard seeks. The 23-year-old point guard will likely only play one year of college basketball under the new age-based eligibility model, but “he’s ruled eligible. Completely eligible,” Gard said.
Gard remarked that when the Big Ten’s deadline approached for program’s to appoint team representatives for conference media days, the NCAA had not yet made that final eligibility determination for Foxwell. Winter and Miami (OH) Redhawks transfer Eian Elmer got the nod to speak for the Wisconsin Badgers this week.
“Owen could have represented us as well,” Gard commented. “But at the time we had to turn it into the league, we were still—we hadn’t been rendered a decision yet.”
Sophomore guard Zach Kinziger, who has practiced in a reserve point guard role for Wisconsin this offseason, spoke glowingly about the veteran and what he can bring to Madison this winter, especially as a changeup from what opposing teams may have expected with former lead guard Nick Boyd at the top of the scouting report.
“His pace of play, I’ve really tried to implement into my game because he does a really good job of it, and I’ve realized how hard it is to guard,” the De Pere native said. “He’s obviously a great point guard who makes tremendous reads with the ball in his hands, so I’m excited to see what he does on the court this year.”
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