Badger Basketball Exit Meetings: Wisconsin bids farewell to John Blackwell

John Blackwell has no hard feelings towards Wisconsin. That doesn’t ease the blow of losing a guy who Greg Gard and his staff developed from a freshman who had no other high-major offers to a guy with All-American upside in his senior year, but that’s just how it goes in this day and age.

Before officially shutting the door on his tenure at Wisconsin, I assessed his junior season. Despite the sour taste left by him transferring, it was another season of growth and exceptional offensive performances leading to big wins.

2025-26 stats (33.8 minutes per game)

19.1 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 2.3 APG, 1.1 SPG | 43% FG, 38.9% 3-pt, 85.9% FT

2025-26 High

When I reflect on the peak of Blackwell’s season, my head goes to two stretches of games. The first was the two-game stretch which featured the win in Ann Arbor over Michigan, followed by the nail-biter at The Barn to beat Minnesota just days later. The second stretch, consisting of three games, started in the regular-season finale and ran through the spectacular win over Illinois in the Big Ten Tournament.

In these five games, Blackwell scored 26, 27, 25, 34 and 31 points, respectively, on a combined 47-for-84 shooting, connecting on 24 of his 49 attempts from deep. The standout play from these games was obviously his pull-up three at the buzzer to down the Gophers in their own gym, but there was so much more to these stretches than a highlight game winner.

Blackwell arrived on campus as a freshman and immediately carved out a role playing hard, rebounding, cutting and making the open jumper at a decent clip. These five games showcased how far he’d come, as he played at an All-American level, not bad for a guy with only one high-major offer.

At all three levels, Blackwell got buckets. The pull-up three to beat Minnesota wasn’t something that was in his game as a freshman, and he did it with consistency as a junior. He played off-the-ball and improved drastically as a catch-and-shoot player when Nick Boyd was taking the game over. He even showcased a back-to-the-basket game, using his solid frame to get deep and make turnaround jumpers.

Albeit with some inconsistencies, Blackwell was the total package as a scorer in 2025-26, and when he was on, as he was in these stretches, he was one of the best players in the country, and Wisconsin was a team absolutely nobody wanted to face.

Blackwell drives against High Point — Mar 19, 2026; Portland, OR, USA; Wisconsin Badgers guard John Blackwell (25) drives against High Point Panthers guard Chase Johnston (99) during the second half of a first round game of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images | Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images

2025-26 Low

A few years ago, when AJ Storr was taking the Big Ten by storm, there was a point in the season where, simply put, he looked checked out. As the offseason rumor mill later revealed, it may have been partially due to tampering going on behind the scenes.

Knowing that the transfer portal was a real possibility for Blackwell because of how much money he could command on the open market, there was a four-game stretch where Blackwell gave Badger fans a similar checked-out vibe.

From the road loss to Ohio State on Feb. 17 through the road win at Washington on Feb. 28, Blackwell struggled mightily. He shot a combined 16-for-46 and 10-for-29 from three. These numbers you can chalk up to a rough shooting stretch, it happens with dominant scorers, but the main concern came elsewhere.

Blackwell, while never being known as an elite defender, seemed disengaged on that end, leading to foul trouble in three of the four games. With the ball, he also got sloppy and gave up some bad turnovers. It wasn’t just the cold-shooting stretch, he looked entirely out of whack. He did, however, manage to turn it back on to close the season, putting to rest the checked-out allegations for the final couple weeks.

Additionally, I won’t speak on it too much, but the most painful loss of Wisconsin’s season, in the NCAA Tournament, will forever be debated as to if Blackwell had already looked towards next season. After scoring 20 points in the first half against High Point, he essentially disappeared.

Obviously, Boyd taking over in the second half was partially responsible, but he seemed to lose his aggression, and the costly turnover on the inbounds late will forever haunt Badger fans.

Final grade: A

Without allowing his offseason decision to sway the grade, Blackwell had an exceptional season. Sure, there were some cold spurts offensively, but those are going to happen with nearly any dominant scorer at the college level.

As I just mentioned, there were still stretches where he got sloppy and lazy defensively, but I felt like the overall effort in both of those facets was improved from a season ago, along with the scoring. The key wins fans will look back on don’t happen if not for Blackwell, so I felt his grade needed to reflect a star effort for the season.

Blackwell arrived as a raw prospect who showed flashes of skill, but mostly just did little things to earn minutes. Now, he leaves as a polished scorer, arguably one of the best in college basketball, a testament to both he and the Wisconsin staff.

Blackwell drives against Illinois — Illinois guard Andrej Stojakovic (2) guards Wisconsin guard John Blackwell (25) during the second half of their quarterfinal game in the Big Ten tournament Friday, March 13, 2026 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. Wisconsin beat Illinois 91-88. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

What’s next?

This is obviously the bad news for the Badgers. Following the season, Blackwell entered his name into the transfer portal while once again going through the NBA Draft process. To the surprise of very few people, he once again withdrew his name and will return to college basketball, but at Duke.

It sucks. There’s no other way to put it. But, you can’t fault Blackwell for taking advantage of life-changing money while he can, especially when he’s not a guy with a solidified NBA future. It will be painful to watch him suit up for the team that delivered Wisconsin the program’s most heartbreaking loss of all time, but that’s the modern college basketball landscape for you, and Wisconsin simply is not in the same tier as Duke financially.

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