The NFL Draft has fully wrapped up and now the sporting world turns to the NBA Draft that will happen at the end of June. The first step was all the underclassmen declaring for the draft to see how they would be evaluated, the second step is the combine invite list for players to come show off their skills in front of NBA scouts. Wisconsin received one invite to the combine in John Tonje.
For John Blackwell, this is different news because of what it means for his return to Wisconsin, which is covered in an article here. As for Tonje, this is an exciting chance to chase his dream, and he took to social media with a post about how grateful he is.
John Tonje is headed to the NBA Draft Combine as one of 75 players invited
John Tonje received a second chance in basketball when Wisconsin grabbed him in the transfer portal last offseason. He hadn't really been able to do much as he was pretty unheralded out of high school, played for four years at Colorado State improving each year. He used his grad year to go to Missouri, where he was quickly injured and had to get an extra year of eligibility. It was looking like his career in college may have been wrapping up, but then Greg Gard grabbed him out of the portal, and the rest is history.
He went on to have one of the best seasons in Badger basketball history. He scored 724 points, which is the second most in a season for Wisconsin, only behind Frank Kaminsky. He won a ton of awards and averaged nearly 20 points a game. He was dynamic not just against weaker competition but, in the NCAA Tournament, had the ability to take over the game. He truly was a star, and that allowed him to go from nowhere on any draft boards to a potential first-round or early-second-round pick.
The NBA Combine is his next step as he chases his dream and he is grateful to Wisconsin in his latest post, "Blessed to get an opportunity to chase a life long dream!! On Wisconsin."