Wisconsin loses another starter to transfer portal as departures begin to mount

The Wisconsin Badgers are one starter away from losing the entire starting five, as now Aleksas Bieliauskas is entering the transfer portal. The 6'10 Lithuanian freshman was inserted into the lineup fairly early in the season when Bieliauskas was able to prove he could play solidly on both ends of the court. He became a big man, the opposite of Nolan Winter, whom Greg Gard could trust.

Now, Gard is going to be going into the portal to look for another stretch big that can implement the plan and help not only protect the basket but knock down threes. It's a big loss for the Badgers as they now only have Nolan Winter returning in the starting lineup.

Aleksas Bieliauskas is a surprising loss for Greg Gard and one that creates an immediate hole

Related: Wisconsin basketball transfer portal tracker: Who’s leaving and who’s coming

Bieliauskas will join Jack Robison, Riccardo Greppi, and John Blackwell in the transfer portal. Wisconsin also lost starters Nick Boyd and Andrew Rohde to graduation. Add in 6th man, Braeden Carrington, also with no more eligibility, and the losses are fully mounting now.

Bieliauskas is a bit of a surprising loss as he was discovered by Wisconsin's staff in Lithuania and then developed in his one year as a Badger. There were no rumblings that he was thinking about leaving, but on the first day of the portal, he's out the door.

The Badgers will now have to turn in a new direction for basically the whole team. There's a chance that Will Garlock can make a big jump and become the starter that Bieliauskas was, maybe even eclipse him. However, Gard would still need to find other bigs, as the roster is now bare of them.

It's day one of the portal, and the losses always come first before the additions start to flood in, so the feeling should be woe, but there is sun coming up on the horizon for next year's Badgers.