It's a known fact at this point that head coach Greg Gard and Wisconsin basketball have done more with less, budget-wise, in recent seasons.
The college basketball arms race keeps getting exponentially pricier, while most schools simply don't have the deep pockets to keep pace. Throwing together a top-of-the-line roster in college hoops, at least financially, costs schools north of $20 million according to a report from CBS Sports' Matt Norlander and Isaac Trotter.
The veteran college basketball writers spent weeks compiling information on the roster costs of each high-major program in the sport, placing each team from the Big Ten, SEC, ACC, Big 12 and Big East into tiers according to how much they spent on their 2026-27 roster.
Wisconsin — again, unsurprisingly —was one of the lower spenders among high-major schools. The Badgers were placed into the 5th tier, with a roster valued between $10-12 million.
Where Wisconsin's payroll stands in college hoops
The Badgers aren't quite among the cheapest teams in the sport including programs like Washington, Georgia Tech and Notre Dame, which spend somewhere between $5-7 million on their rosters. Their payroll also certainly isn't anywhere near the most lavish rosters, where programs like Duke, Michigan, Illinois and St. John's spend over $20 million.
The Badgers' aforementioned roster range of $10-12 million puts them in the same tier as the following programs: Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa State, Georgia, TCU, NC State, Clemson and Syracuse.
In terms of the Big Ten, Wisconsin finds itself around the middle of the pack. Here's how the roster budget tiers shake out for Big Ten teams:
- Tier 1 ($20 million plus): Michigan, Illinois
- Tier 2 (Just under $20 million): Indiana
- Tier 3 ($15.1-17.5 million): Michigan State, USC
- Tier 4 ($12.1-15 million): Oregon, Maryland, Ohio State, UCLA
- Tier 5 ($10-12 million): Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota
- Tier 6 ($7.1-9.9 million): Northwestern, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, Iowa
- Tier 7: ($5-7 million): Washington
According to Norlander and Trotter's tiers, there's at least nine teams in the conference spending more than the Badgers and potentially as many as 11. That firmly puts Wisconsin in the Big Ten's bottom half in terms of payroll, but the Badgers aren't quite as poor as some make them out to be.
It would be fascinating to see how the Badgers divvied up their budget this offseason amongst the key pieces on their roster. Retaining star center Nolan Winter and dynamic stretch big Austin Rapp were likely the two costliest moves they made in the offseason. Signing Miami University transfer wing Eian Elmer and former Australian professional point guard Owen Foxwell were also both likely pretty expensive.
Under Gard, Wisconsin has pretty consistently out-performed expectations, from rankings-related expectations to those that come with having a roster that costs somewhere in the bottom half of the Big Ten. It'll need to rinse, wash and repeat this season.
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