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The Wisconsin Badgers are set to have a ton of new faces in 2026, including a couple projected into the starting lineup. But they’re still bringing back six players from their 2025-26 roster, providing some continuity for the team.
One of those returners is redshirt junior Jack Janicki, who is back after seeing his role increase this past season. Playing in 16.5 minutes per game, Janicki averaged 2.2 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game as one of the top players off the bench. He did see his season cut short with a wrist injury, but is now poised for a top bench role once again in 2026.
With a ton of Wisconsin’s seniors departing, Janicki is now one of the veterans on the team, and head coach Greg Gard is seeing some growth from him this offseason.
“Yeah, I think he’s had a really good summer,” Gard said of Janicki. “I mean, just to this point, we’re about halfway through it, but just his experience, you can tell he’s right place, right time. He’s correcting, grabbing other guys. So you always want your older players, specifically if they’ve been here, they understand what’s going on, to be able to drag guys along with him and push them into the right spots. And he’s done a good job of that.
“I mean, he’s crossed that halftime or halfway mark, so to speak, of his career, and he knows he’s in a leadership role. Quite frankly, we missed him a little bit when he got hurt last year, just the intangible things that he gave us certain times. Never was in large quantities, but it was an important piece that we had gone 3 quarters of the way through the season, and then you have to adapt on the back end of the season without him.
“But he’s taken a step forward physically, much better, I think, just confidently. And he’ll find his way on the floor, I’m positive, to this point, just because he does so many more of those intangible things and even in a more impactful way. So much like a lot of the older guys we’ve had over the years, they help cover up, while the younger guys or less experienced guys— I can’t use younger guys because some of these guys aren’t young, but less experienced in our system— he helps bridge that gap for them. And obviously he’s done a good job at this point.”
One area that Wisconsin must improve in 2026 is on defense, and Janicki should definitely help with that in a secondary role once again. He’s been one of the hardest workers on the team and continues to settle in more on both sides of the ball. Defensively, we saw growth from him last year as a more versatile defender, being able to play a role on the perimeter, but also match up well on switches against forwards physically.
Of course, that next step offensively could be the key to more playing time, but the Badgers will need Janicki, especially with a younger bench, to play in 206.
