In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the transfer portal is open, which means big news for Badger Men’s Basketball. John Blackwell has announced that he is officially entering the portal. Badger fans might be mad or upset at him for the decision, but we should be thanking Blackwell and the Badgers for the three years we got to have him in Madison. That’s pretty rare in the new NCAA! Lucas was a bit surprised by the move, but Oates was not. It’s a smart move for both his career and his financial future. He’ll probably get a few NBA tryouts to find out if and where he might be drafted, but most likely next year will be the most money he’s ever going to make playing basketball. He likely won’t be a second round NBA draft pick, and he’ll likely end up in either the G League or in Europe. Any money he could make there won’t compare to the millions he can be making if he can get some big schools in a bidding war.

Greg Gard has always had success with the transfer portal, and the Badgers have already added an exciting face to the roster. The 22 year old Owen Foxwell already has some experience playing guard in Australia. If he works out, he could be joining Nolan Winter, Austin Rapp and Will Garlock on the starting line next year, so long as Garlock continues to step up as he had to end the season. Gard has around 2,000 players to pick from in the transfer portal, and he’s shown that he’s able to find guys like Nick Boyd when he needs one more star player that nobody is paying attention to.

Finishing off the college basketball season, Michigan has beat UConn to take home the NCAA National Championship. The millions they’ve spent on players has paid off! UConn tried to bully Michigan early, but that didn’t work and Michigan ended up bullying them instead. Michigan only made two triples in the championship game, but went 25 for 28 at the free throw line. With the Men’s Basketball National Championship secured in the Big 10, college sports is falling right into the lap of the conference. Add in football, women’s basketball, women’s hockey and maybe men’s hockey into the mix, and it’s clear that the talent is going to where the money is, and that resource is in the Big 10. 

The Wisconsin Sportscast with Lucas & Oates is a Cap Times podcast produced by Nate Wegehaupt. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.