Is Wisconsin’s 2025 Offense About to Redefine College Basketball?

Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion

AI-assisted summary
• CBS Sports projects Wisconsin’s basketball team to have a top-10 offense in the 2025-26 season.
• Returning guards John Blackwell, Andrew Rohde, and Nick Boyd, along with forwards Austin Rapp and Nolan Winter, are expected to be key offensive contributors.
• Wisconsin will need to replace the production of John Tonje, who led the team’s high-scoring offense last season.
• The Badgers’ first exhibition game is scheduled for October 24th against Oklahoma.

Backed by All-American wing John Tonje, who now a member of the NBA’s Utah Jazz, UW averaged 80.1 points per game off 45.4% shooting from the field, 34.8% from 3-point range and 82.6% from the charity stripe. Notably, Gard’s group finished with at least 80 points in 19 contests — the most by any Badger bunch in years.”The Badgers have three guards who can play on or off the ball in John Blackwell, Andrew Rohde and Nick Boyd, surrounding two sweet-shooting forwards (Austin Rapp and Nolan Winter). That’s a dangerous combination offensively. Losing John Tonje stings, but Blackwell is the total package and has All-America upside as the go-to alpha.”With roughly three months remaining until the 2025-26 college basketball regular season, the Wisconsin Badgers received high praise on Friday. 

As the countdown to the 2025-26 college basketball season hits the three-month mark, eyes are fixed on the Wisconsin Badgers — and for good reason. CBS Sports recently tipped its hat to this squad, pegging Wisconsin as a potential top-10 offensive powerhouse. It’s no small feat to earn such acclaim, especially when you’re stepping out from the shadow of last season’s star, John Tonje, whose departure leaves a sizable gap to fill. Yet, the Badgers aren’t exactly short on talent. With returning guards John Blackwell, Andrew Rohde, and Nick Boyd leading the charge alongside sharpshooting forwards Austin Rapp and Nolan Winter, this team is shaping up to be a formidable force. Their first taste of the court action comes October 24th in Milwaukee, facing off against the Oklahoma Sooners — a game sure to offer a preview of what’s to come. The buzz is real, the stakes are high, and the drama is already simmering. Ready to dive deeper? LEARN MORE

Wisconsin, which finished the 2024-25 season with a 27-10 mark and No. 3 seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, was listed as one of the outlet’s top 10 projected offensive programs this fall alongside the UConn Huskies, Purdue Boilermakers, Louisville Cardinals, Florida Gators, Kentucky Wildcats, Illinois Fighting Illini, BYU Cougars, Texas Tech Red Raiders and Duke Blue Devils.

Here’s what Trotter shared regarding the Badgers’ offensive outlook this season:In CBS Sports’ recent article, titled ‘101 Days Out: College basketball stars, new faces, contenders, storylines ahead of 2025-26 season’, analyst Isaac Trotter outlined several lookahead themes for the 2025-26 slate. Among those themes, Trotter looked at which programs roster the best projected offensive units.

Yes, Wisconsin’s roster is revamped with all sorts of talent, but projecting the program to recreate its 2024-25 offensive success is a difficult task. Wisconsin boasted KenPom’s No. 13 offensive unit this past season, a threshold traditional Badger ensembles rarely reach.UW now welcomes the aforementioned Rhode, Boyd and Rapp into its starting unit, three more-than-capable offensive contributors. In a loaded Big Ten, the starting unit shapes up well against almost any program.

That lineup’s first exhibition test is slated for Oct. 24 against the Oklahoma Sooners in Milwaukee.