In total, the Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team has six returning players for the 2026-27 season.
Even though none of these come as a real surprise, it's still important for longtime head coach Greg Gard to know he still had a solid foundation to build around.
Of the six returnees, Nolan Winter and Austin Rapp are by far the most important. Those two will return to the starting lineup, but there's still room for these bench players to leave a mark on Wisconsin's upcoming season.
All for the 👐Excited to have these guys back in Madtown pic.twitter.com/kQ8Bi8H953
Winter and Rapp are a clear one-two combo, but Winter is by far the most important returning player. Rapp made quite an impact late in the season, but Winter has started 67 of his 104 career games in Madison and now it's time for the seven-footer to end his career with a bang.
Rapp's barrage of three-pointers against Michigan in the Big Ten tournament semifinals made people realize just how good the Australian forward can be. His 23.1 minutes per game average is going to skyrocket this season, and rightfully so.
Entering his junior season, Janicki was actually listed as a potential starter by Jon Rothstein. While that likely won't be the case, the Minnesota native has played 63 career games with the Badgers, which is just 10 shy of the final three returning players combined.
Garlock is a 7-foot forward that this team would love to build around. He was 13-18 from the field last season, which is a small sample size, but Gard clearly sees a lot in the Wisconsin native to have played him in 30 games as a freshman.
Other than Janicki, Jones is the only returning bench player who started a game last season. The New Zealand guard appeared in 27 games but averaged just 7.1 minutes per game. That's up slightly from Garlock's 6.0, but Wisconsin is once again guard-heavy, so Jones role could be impacted by their transfers and incoming freshmen.
Kinziger was an absolute superstar at De Pere High School, but he's entering just his second season at Madison. Of the returning players, he averaged 4.8 minutes, which is the fewest, and appeared in 16 games. That's not saying he's a bad player, far from it, but it's a waiting game at this point as Gard will continue to develop Kinziger, who should be a massive focal point in the coming years.
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This article originally appeared on Badgers Wire: Wisconsin men's basketball six returning players 2026-27 season ranked