Badgers GM Says This Incoming Transfer Will 'Open a Lot of Doors' in Recruiting

All told — and despite losing superstar shooting guard John Blackwell to Duke — Wisconsin basketball had a pretty solid offseason.

The Badgers nabbed three transfers, two international recruits and one high school senior, filling six of the seven empty spots on the 2026-27 roster thus far.

Head coach Greg Gard and his ever-expanding front office staff took a very balanced, well-rounded approach when adding pieces to their roster. Each incoming transfer will be a one-year rental, while the international prospects and freshman (perhaps excluding 22-year old Australian point guard Owen Foxwell) will have plenty of eligibility.

That versatile approach to roster building is critical for the Badgers. It gives them multiple avenues to fill out their depth chart with eggs in multiple baskets, and it ensures a good mix of incoming eligibility; not every incoming player is a one-and-done.

Nonetheless, Badgers' general manager Marc VandeWettering believes that a specific transfer is poised to immensely help Wisconsin in recruiting down the line: former Hofstra forward Victory Onuetu.

“I think Victory is gonna open up a lot of doors for us in recruiting. Because he brings a different element of big to our team that we really haven’t seen, maybe ever or at least in a very long time," he said on Brian Butch's "Butchie's Den" podcast.

Can Victory Onuetu change the perception of the Wisconsin forward?

Former Hofstra Pride forward Victory Onuetu. | Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

What comes to mind when you think of a Wisconsin frontcourt player? Two distinct archetypes of forward have roamed the Kohl Center in recent years: the back-to-the-basket, post-up big man (Tyler Wahl, Steven Crowl, Will Garlock) and the sharpshooting, stretch big (Nolan Winter, Austin Rapp, Aleksas Bieliauskas).

Both types of player have been very successful in Madison, and there's certainly room for both styles of play. But what the Badgers haven't had? A long, rangy, shot-blocking big with the athleticism to be an enormous problem around the rim on both ends of the court.

Onuetu is an explosive athlete that fills a very specific niche but does so extremely fluently. On offense, he's got the bounce to be a big-time lob threat, and he's a 99th-percentile offensive rebounder. Over a third of his scoring came on second-chance opportunities last season; he gobbles up boards and cleans up possessions.

Defensively, he's a 96th percentile rebounder with an elite block percentage of 6.7. His quick feet and athleticism allow him to impact possessions both on and off the ball; he can be a nuisance on that end of the court as well.

The big men Wisconsin have deployed in recent seasons aren't particularly bad defenders, they just haven't made an major impact in that area. And they're certainly not gobbling up offensive boards at statistically the most elite clip in the nation.

The Badgers have seen some freaky athletes come through the program recently, but those have primarily been wings (AJ Storr, John Tonje). Onuetu adds an element to the backcourt the likes of which, as VandeWettering said, we've never seen.

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