John Blackwell has been sensational in his sophomore year and has grown into a dynamic guard in the Wisconsin offense. He has the ability to either take over the game himself or distribute in a way that allows someone else to shine. He scored 19 and 21 points, respectively, in each of Wisconsin's NCAA Tournament games and finished the year averaging 15.6 points a game.
Many Wisconsin fans worried that he would transfer out after the season, especially after Greg Gard mentioned in The Swing podcast that their main priority in the offseason was to retain Blackwell and Nolan Winter. In fact, Gard went as far as saying they've been talking with those two and their representatives since January.
Winter earlier this week said something that alluded to him being a Badger next season. Now, Blackwell goes a step further and posts on social media this message:
My brothas 4L! Wouldn’t want to go to war with anyone else! Appreciate the upperclassmen for everything ❤️❤️ We going to bounce back!🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/c7ZdYmDipA
— John Blackwell (@_Johnblackwell1) March 23, 2025
John Blackwell posts, "We'll be back," after a frustrating loss to BYU in the NCAA Tournament
In addition to the message above, he also posted on Instagram to show love to his teammates. The picture of Blackwell and his teammates says, "No other group I'd rather do it with! Love these guys 4L." With two heart emojis to follow (the 4L means "for life.") The message below the picture on IG also says, "We'll be back." With a praying hands emoji. Sometimes used for "belief" or "believe."
This message from Blackwell is pretty clear: His attention has already turned not to the opportunities in the portal, but to running it back as a Badger. This is huge! He would be a hot commodity on the NIL market with how good he is, and he still has multiple years to play.
While nothing is a sure thing and when people get in the ears of players, things can change. This is a great sign for a player that Gard and all Wisconsin fans want to retain. "We'll be back!"