The Wisconsin Badgers are roughly a week away from the start of the 2026-27 season under 12th-year head coach Greg Gard. 

This season, Gard will be enlisting the likes of seven new players, including three transfers: Eian Elmer (Miami OH), Victory Onuetu (Hofstra), and Trey Autry (George Washington), along with Jackson Ball, Owen Foxwell, Isaac Riddle, and LaTrevion Fenderson.

Recently, Gard revealed that Fenderson would not participate in basketball activities this season, leaving a dent in Gard’s class. 

Prior to the new college basketball season, CBS Sports compiled a 100-source list where Matt Norlander and Issac Trotter looked at the current landscape of NIL.

They reported that in order "to build the typical high-major college basketball roster," one would need to spend at least $13.5 million.

Where do the Badgers rank?

Wisconsin founds itself in Tier 5 alongside high-major programs like Clemson, Georgia, Iowa State, Minnesota, NC State, Nebraska, Syracuse, and TCU. 

Those schools were projected to spend anywhere from $10-$12 million. 

"We have to be really strategic and really intentional; a great example is what our Brewers are doing right now. One of the smallest markets in baseball. I'm not saying we have the smallest market in college basketball, but we're not the Yankees or the Dodgers. We have to find a way to compete with the Yankees and the Dodgers. We've done it, and we'll continue to do it," Gard told CBS Sports at Big Ten Media Day.

Wisconsin's strategy with limited NIL

Norlander and Trotter said that Wisconsin "embraced being different from a style-of-play perspective, which gives them a chance to succeed with lower budgets."

In order to put things into perspective, Tier 1 featured the likes of: Duke, Florida, Kentucky, Illinois, Louisville, Michigan, North Carolina, St. John's, Tennessee, Texas, Texas Tech, and it's reported that all 11 of those teams are spending $20+ million on their men's college basketball roster.

Louisville's starting five alone is valued at "just north of $15 million," so keep that in mind when looking at Wisconsin's entire roster, which costs up to $5 million less than the Cardinals' starting lineup.