Andy Katz is one of the big names in the college basketball media world, and so his opinion carries a lot of weight, and his predictions are often fairly close to the mark. So, when Katz revealed his new "Power 44" after the May 27th NBA Draft withdrawal deadline, Badger fans were quick to see if Wisconsin found its way safely into the field.
The Badgers are sitting at No. 37, and that's actually a good thing, for now. The Power 44 is a representation of the 44 teams that are "in the field" as of now. For this one, as there hasn't been a single game, it's purely a projection. This projection matters, though, as there has been growing concern that Wisconsin didn't do enough to field a competitive Big Ten team next season.
Andy Katz puts that concern to bed by saying, in his projections, they are safely an NCAA Tournament team.
🚨 NEW #Power44 from @TheAndyKatz following the May 27th NBA Draft withdrawal deadline 👇
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) May 28, 2026
1. Florida
2. Duke
3. Michigan
4. Illinois
5. Tennessee
6. UConn
7. Michigan State
8. Texas
9. Vanderbilt
10. Louisville pic.twitter.com/s6HrtOcbzB
Wisconsin basketball has more questions than answers right now
Related: Jon Rothstein breaks massive non-conference scheduling news for Wisconsin
This Andy Katz projection may allow you to take a deep breath, but it doesn't ease all the concerns. The Badgers do have more questions than answers right now. Losing the top two scorers from last season, the 6th man, the go-to 3-and-D wing, and a starting big man isn't an easy pill to swallow or easy positions to replace.
The worry is that Gard didn't do enough. Replacing John Blackwell and Nick Boyd is hard enough; imagine trying to also figure out how to improve the roster by losing Braeden Carrington, Andrew Rohde, and Aleksaus Bieliauskas.
Gard added good pieces in the offseason with Eian Elmer, Victory Onuetu, Trey Autry, and Owen Foxwell, as well as some talented freshmen. But is it enough? All of those players are unproven at the Power 4 level.
Andy Katz seems to think so, or he's just seen Greg Gard do this roster reload enough times to trust that Gard will figure out how to get this squad to outperform any expectations lobbied at the Badgers. It's not going to be easy to replace what was lost, and there's reason to be concerned, but Gard does it year after year.
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