The Wisconsin Badgers are expecting big things out of star forward Nolan Winter this season, and it looks like the rest of the country is as well.
Ahead of the season, Winter was named to the Naismith Trophy Watchlist for the award given to college basketball's best player every season. 50 players were named to the Watchlist, including 10 from the Big Ten.
Along with Winter, here were the other Big Ten players named to the preseason list:
Elliot Cadeau (Michigan)
Jeremy Fears Jr. (Michigan State)
Tomislav Ivisic (Illinois)
Trey McKenney (Michigan)
David Mirkovic (Illinois)
John Mobley Jr. (Ohio State)
Rodney Rice (USC)
Pryce Sandfort (Nebraska)
Andrej Stojakovic (Illinois)
Former Badgers star John Blackwell was also named to the list as one of three Duke Blue Devils players, joining center Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje and Patrick Ngongba.
Winter has high expectations as a potential draftee in the 2027 NBA Draft, and is building off a career year where he averaged 13.1 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game, while shooting 56.9 percent from the field.
He did not have a great season opener for the Badgers, scoring just six points on 3 of 10 shooting, while missing all three of his three-pointers and all four of his free throws. After the game, head coach Greg Gard said he needed to be more aggressive.
Winter will likely spend time playing both the four and the five this season, as Wisconsin has some frontcourt depth with Victory Onuetu and Will Garlock alongside him and Austin Rapp.
With Blackwell gone and a much different team this season for the Badgers, Winter will need to take on a bigger role if Wisconsin is to exceed expectations, as they've repeatedly done over the years.
