John Blackwell was a phenomenal Wisconsin Badger basketball player who helped Greg Gard for three seasons as one of the star players. He chose to use his final season of eligibility and transfer to Duke. It was a move that simultaneously hurt and yet made sense. Blackwell is a fringe NBA player at best, but he's a dynamic college player who can make millions at Duke, so it made sense in that regard. But it sucked watching him go to Duke of all places and flip from his "Badger for life" to "mercenary for hire."
Now, Blackwell is receiving insane National Player of the Year odds according to DraftKings. He's got the third-highest odds in the country at +1200. The only players in front of him are Jeremy Fears Jr. from Michigan State at +850 and Thomas Haugh at +1000. The bitterness is real and tastes a bit worse after having to see that. But once again, it does make sense, even if a Duke Wooden award winner is already awful enough, it has to be a former Badger? Wow.
John Blackwell has extremely high odds to be the National Player of the Year for Duke
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There's a side of the Wisconsin heart and fanbase that will still root for Blackwell and will cheer if he does end up taking home the National Player of the Year trophy, but it has to come with a taste of bitterness, right? Or is that just over here? It stings a little to see his name up toward the top of the list with a "Duke" next to it.
It does make sense that Blackwell will be considered, considering he averaged 19.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 2.3 assists last season for the Badgers. Put those stats on a Duke team, and his brand is elevated. The biggest problem working against Blackwell for the award will be the fact that he will have other Duke players on his team vying for stats, moments, and wanting the ball.
There's also the fact that Duke continues to talk about him being a point guard and being the primary ball-handler, which did not go well for the Badgers. It's a major reason why Gard went out and found Nick Boyd after Blackwell's sophomore year as the "point guard." So, it will be an interesting season to sort of look over the shoulder of Jon Scheyer and see what's happening with the former Badger.
As for Wisconsin, the highest odds for National Player of the Year go to Nolan Winter, not a surprise. He's receiving +15000 odds to win the Wooden Award. Not really even close to what Blackwell's odds are, but he is on the list.
At the end of the day, it is what it is, and this is the nature of college basketball now. You can't fault a guy for going to get paid when his NBA future is uncertain, but that doesn't mean that Wisconsin fans have to love it.
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