Greg Gard states the obvious when analyzing Wisconsin basketball's 2025-26 season

Wisconsin won six games against AP Top 15 teams but lost in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the sixth straight appearance.

Mar 19, 2026; Portland, OR, USA; High Point Panthers guard Rob Martin (3) shoots against Wisconsin Badgers guard Andrew Rohde (7) during the second half of a first round game of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Craig Strobeck-Imagn Images | Craig Strobeck-Imagn Images

MADISON, Wis. - The television in the Gard household has stayed pretty quiet.

With the transfer portal officially opening Tuesday, the official starting point of a roster-building feeding frenzy, head coach Greg Gard has spent a good portion of his time focused on restructuring and building a competitive team for the 2026-27 season.

It also gave him a valid reason not to think about the bitter conclusion to a season that he and many others felt had a chance to produce a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.

"You have a bitter taste in your mouth because you feel you should still be playing," Gard told Mike Heller on the podcast I Love Mondays. "With the teams that are still playing, you've gone toe-to-toe with and beat most of them."

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Gard isn't wrong. The Badgers were 6-3 against the teams in the Sweet 16, 5-2 against the Elite Eight, and 3-1 against tonight's Final Four field. Included in those six wins were five victories over teams that were ranked in the Associated Press Top 15, four coming away from the Kohl Center.

But the Badgers finished the season without any championships because their defense never materialized into the standard the program is known for.

"This group, for me, we were never where we needed to be defensively," Gard said. "We've had some really good teams defensively. This was not one of them."

Finishing last season ranked 24th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency, giving up 96.3 points per 100 possessions (adjusted for opponent). Wisconsin finished this season giving up 102.1 and dropped to 55th nationally. It's the lowest KenPom ranking in the category since UW finished 66th in 2018, the program's only losing season in the past 28 years.

Wisconsin played 29 games against high-major schools and held only three opponents under 70 points, and allowed at least 80 points 13 times.

"You saw when we won, we had the big wins, we outscored teams," Gard said. "Offense has to be good. If you want to be playing this time of year, you have to have a top-10, roughly, offense, and you got to get your defense close to the top 25.”

All four schools in tonight's national semifinals rank in the top 10 in either adjusted offense or adjusted defense efficiency and none lower than 26, with one-seeds Arizona and Michigan ranking in the top 10 in both.

While many fans have already tried to move on from the latest early tournament exit, Gard said he will continue to watch and analyze game film throughout the spring and summer from the High Point loss and the other 34 UW games last season.

It's his traditional deep dive to evaluate all aspects of his program, picking through the possessions with a fine-tooth comb that he's unable to do during the frenetic pace of the season.

After seeing a team built around the offensive end and three-point shooting go cold in what became the season's final game, Wisconsin is likely going to spend the portal targeting players who can help improve the defensive identity of the group on the floor.

"That's the fine line that you walk when you're in this tournament, a single-elimination tournament," Gard said. "We had a really good year (with) a cruel, brutal ending.