Wisconsin Badgers forward Austin Rapp excited for NCAA Tournament homecoming

MADISON, Wis. - Austin Rapp only had to wait one year for his full-circle moment.

Already excited for his first NCAA Tournament appearance, the former Portland center was easily one of the most excited of the bunch to see his current team - the University of Wisconsin - be seeded in the Portland region for the beginning of its NCAA Tournament journey.

"I was so excited," said Rapp, as Wisconsin left today to travel to the Pacific Northwest in preparation for its Thursday game against 12th-seed High Point at the Moda Center. "I've got hell of a (lot of) people there. My mom, my sister, and brother are all flying over as well now, so it is going to be really cool."

You got to play your best 40 minutes to earn another 40 minutes pic.twitter.com/iRJFVn9CYU
— Wisconsin Basketball (@BadgerMBB) March 16, 2026

Rapp was the only underclassman Wisconsin added from the transfer portal this past spring and looked like a natural fit to Wisconsin's offense. Not only did Rapp start 30 games for Portland, posting 13.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, but he led the West Coast Conference in three-pointers (83), three-point percentage (35.4), and defensive rebounds per game (5.9) en route to winning the conference's rookie of the year award.

It's taken time to adjust to the high-major level, including the disappointment of losing his starting role after just six games, but Rapp has started to find his rhythm as UW enters the final stretch of the season.

Returning to the starting lineup against No.15 Purdue due to Nolan Winter's ankle injury, Rapp scored 17 points on 4-of-8 shooting from three in a four-point win. He had a season-high nine rebounds in an overtime victory over Illinois. He played over 39 minutes against the Illini, a far cry from games earlier this season when his toughness was called into question for not scoring and not rebounding against power-conference competition.

Wisconsin is 12-1 this season when Rapp scores double digits, winning Quad 1/2 games against teams like Iowa, at Illinois, and Ohio State. The only loss came on Saturday against No.3 Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals, when Rapp scored 18 points in the second half on six straight triples.

"(Not having Nolan) put a little bit of pressure on me and AB (Aleksas Bieliauskas)," Rapp said. "In a sense, Nolan is not here, and we have to step up a little bit. We've got to come in and fill his shoes. Nolan is such a good player, so it's going to be hard to fill what he's doing, but I think we've done a good job in the four games we've played. We've beat some really good teams and fought really hard against the No.3 team, coming down to the wire against the No.3 team in Michigan. It shows we're capable."

The toughest test currently for Rapp is figuring out who he can talk to for upwards of 30 tickets for his cheering section, as he’ll make his national tournament debut 15 minutes from the arena where he started his college career.

"I think I was on the phone from 7 to 9:30 p.m. (Sunday) night from Portland trying to get tickets," Rapp said. "It's definitely been a long process, but I'm excited to get back."