
Major takeaways from Wisconsin basketball landing San Diego State transfer guard Nick Boyd
Major takeaways from Wisconsin basketball landing San Diego State transfer guard Nick Boyd
The Wisconsin Badgers landed a transfer commitment from former San Diego State guard Nick Boyd on Sunday.
The four-star prospect chose Wisconsin over top contender North Carolina, which he also visited during his recruitment. The rising sixth-year senior is 247Sports' No. 45 overall player in the portal and No. 11 shooting guard. His addition pushed the Badgers' transfer class up to No. 16 nationally.
Boyd joins Wisconsin after a strong 2024-25 season at San Diego State. He led the Aztecs in points (13.4) and assists (3.9 assists) while shooting 41% from the floor and 35% from 3. While the team fell in the NCAA Tournament First Four to North Carolina, the year continued Boyd's strong career trajectory after an impressive multi-year run at FAU.
Wisconsin's starting lineup and rotation continue to gain clarity with Boyd's addition. He is a write-in starting combo guard beside John Blackwell, assuming Blackwell doesn't enter the NBA draft. The two should create one of the Big Ten's better backcourt duos.
For more on the fallout from Boyd's commitment and what it means for the Badgers' 2025-26 season, here are some key takeaways:
Boyd adds a key veteran presence and a track record of March success
Boyd's strong production (13.4 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.9 assists in 2024-25) is enough of a reason to be excited about his commitment. But past the statistical profile, the senior guard brings a March Madness track record that none on Wisconsin's roster can match. Boyd helped lead FAU to an improbable Final Four run in 2023, then to another NCAA Tournament appearance the following season.
That type of March Madness experience is rare in the transfer portal. It should help Blackwell and the Badgers' other rising stars work to reverse the program's eight years of postseason disappointment.
Boyd's commitment caps a best-case transfer recruiting run for Wisconsin
Boyd is the third four-star transfer prospect to commit to Wisconsin in the last six days. The team beat several top programs in those recruiting races, including North Carolina for Boyd, Michigan for forward Austin Rapp and Iowa State for guard Andrew Rohde.
Wisconsin addressed the major holes in its lineup with those three additions. Big picture, the three commitments represent a best-case run for Greg Gard and his staff. Boyd, Rohde and Rapp were instantly among their top targets and leading pursuits from the moment the portal opened.
Wisconsin prioritized a clear player profile
Boyd, Rapp and Rohde all join Wisconsin under different circumstances. Boyd will be a sixth-year senior with years of strong production, Rohde joins after a breakthrough 2024-25 season at Virginia and Rapp is fresh off a West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year campaign. But there is a clear throughline: all are terrific 3-point shooters and can score without a high shot volume.
Rohde shot a blistering 41% from long range at Virginia last season while averaging 9.3 points on just 7.8 shot attempts per game. Rapp leads this headline, as he led the WCC in 3-point attempts (83), makes (236) and percentage (35%) last season. Boyd, finally, shot 35% from deep in 2024-25. He averaged 13.4 points on 10.5 shot attempts per game, plus led his team in assists (3.9).
Gard has built a versatile lineup that can shoot well and distribute the basketball from one through five. The 2024-25 team was a great preview of that dynamic. Rapp now replaces Steven Crowl, Boyd replaces Max Klesmit and Rohde fills John Tonje's wing role. Together, they should help the Badgers starting group not miss a beat next season.
Gard's offensive overhaul continues to pay dividends
Gard's work to overhaul Wisconsin's offensive approach and overall program over the last few years continues to pay dividends. As mentioned, the team landed transfers over North Carolina, Michigan and Iowa State, among others. It's clear that those players, from a senior in Boyd to a sophomore in Rapp, view Wisconsin's system as one where they can develop, put up big numbers and potentially jump to the NBA.
That was not the reality just three years ago. NIL-based or not, Wisconsin was not beating top programs for coveted transfers.
Wisconsin is another depth addition or two away from being a Big Ten favorite
Assuming Blackwell is back, Wisconsin's projected starting lineup could go against any in the Big Ten. The only question remains deeper in the rotation, where Carter Gilmore and Kamari McGee played such critical roles in 2024-25. Jack Janicki and Xavier Amos should begin to fill those shoes. But Wisconsin is likely one or two key depth options away from being a legitimate Big Ten favorite.
But overall, any outstanding questions about Gard and Wisconsin excelling in the transfer age should be put to rest. He is in full control of Wisconsin's roster management and has the program set to contend for Big Ten titles in the years to come.
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USA Today
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- USA Today
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Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
ICE's go-to charter airline for deportations also flew NCAA teams, Inter Miami and more
Cheers greeted the Memphis men's basketball team as it emerged from an Airbus A320 on the night of March 16. The plane had carried the team from Fort Worth, Texas, to Memphis International Airport, and the flight home was a joyous one. The 16th-ranked Tigers were American Athletic Conference tournament champions and NCAA Tournament-bound. The trophy, topped by a large silver basketball, was buckled into a seat next to head coach Penny Hardaway. On the tarmac, cameras flashed. Hardaway gave well-wishers a thumbs-up. Players high-fived fans. Advertisement Less than 12 hours later, the same Airbus A320 – tail number N281GX – flew from El Paso, Texas, to Tapachula, Mexico. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) flight transported 105 men, seven women and one child. Handcuffs, leg irons, and a waist chain likely restrained most adults' wrists and ankles. Guards monitored the cabin. 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We are not aware of any instances of sub-standard service on any charter flights during this championship season.' Advertisement A promotional video for sports charters on the GlobalX website earlier this year featured gourmet snacks, a grinning flight crew and spacious seats, complete with pillows, blankets and Fiji bottled water. A company brochure described its charter flights as 'the ultimate in flexibility, convenience, and luxury' and 'your ticket to wherever you want, whenever you want.' 'They were great flights, they are all excited about playing and having fun,' a second former GlobalX pilot said of the sports charters. 'That was one part of GlobalX's business model. The other part was the deportations.' Tom Cartwright, an immigration advocate who tracks ICE flights, first noted ICE's use of GlobalX in late 2021. GlobalX announced a five-year contract in August 2024 worth $65 million per year as a subcontractor to CSI Aviation for the flights. Cartwright estimates that from March through May of this year, GlobalX operated 64 percent of total ICE Air flights and 62 percent of deportation flights. Most adult passengers are required to be 'fully restrained' with 'handcuffs, waist chains, and leg irons,' according to the ICE Air Operations handbook. Carry-on items like books aren't allowed. Detainees can't wear belts, hats or shoelaces. Advertisement 'They're in conditions that you would see in a POW camp,' said the first former GlobalX pilot. An Airbus A320 with the tail number N291GX joined the GlobalX fleet last year, and its usage in recent months illustrates the disparate worlds the airline straddles. That plane carried San Diego State, Maryland, Kentucky and Auburn during the NCAA Tournament. In the two months preceding March Madness, N291GX flew dozens of times with flight numbers and destinations that match ICE Air routes. The plane traveled from Alexandria, La., to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, then onto Comayagua, Honduras. The Honduran foreign minister tweeted a photo of the aircraft. ICE later announced that 177 detained migrants from Venezuela had been flown from Guantanamo Bay to Honduras, where a Venezuelan plane picked them up. Another trip deported 157 migrants from El Paso, Texas, to Tapachula, Mexico. Local media reported that passengers had been 'handcuffed and shackled from the waist to the feet and hands.' Advertisement The plane flew from El Paso to San Pedro Sula, Honduras, using a flight number associated with ICE Air. The airport is a regular destination for deportation flights. The next day, March 17, the same plane carried the San Diego State men's basketball team to Dayton, Ohio, and on March 19, it flew the Maryland men to Seattle. The plane traveled to San Salvador, El Salvador on another trip using a flight number associated with ICE Air, then, a week later, on April 2, ferried the Auburn men's basketball team to San Antonio International Airport for the Final Four, where a mariachi group and dancers in bright dresses greeted them in a hangar. Another GlobalX plane – tail number N278GX – landed in San Salvador on Jan. 29, according to flight records and local media reports. More than 80 deportees were aboard. A reporter for El Diario de Hoy photographed the red wrists of one of the passengers and wrote they 'show signs of having been handcuffed for hours.' Two days later, the Kansas State men's basketball team flew from Manhattan, Kan., to Des Moines, Iowa, aboard the same plane in advance of a game against Iowa State in Ames, Iowa. (In a statement, Kansas State said it has been 'pleased' with GlobalX's 'aircraft and service.') Advertisement Also on Jan. 29, a different GlobalX plane with the tail number N837VA ferried 40 deportees to San Pedro Sula. 'They brought me in chains from last night until we arrived here. We're not criminals,' one of the passengers, Dagoberto Portillo, told local media. 'I don't understand the treatment of migrants.' Three days later, the Nebraska men's basketball team traveled aboard the same plane from Lincoln, Neb., to Eugene, Ore. The university said in a statement that the school wasn't 'involved in how that plane was received or procured.' Another GlobalX plane with the tail number N276GX landed at Eduardo Gomes International Airport in Manaus, Brazil, on Jan. 24 with 88 Brazilian deportees. Someone activated the aircraft's emergency exit slides. Photos and videos recorded a chaotic scene where shackled passengers stood on a wing and others roamed the tarmac. Brazil's Ministry of Foreign Affairs derided 'the use of handcuffs and chains' and 'undignified treatment' on the flight. Advertisement 'The most difficult moment was when the air conditioning broke down in the air, people started to feel sick, some fainted and children were crying,' Kaleb Barbosa, one of the passengers, told the Brazilian media outlet G1. 'The turbines were stopping during the flight; it was desperate, like something out of a movie.' The same plane carried the men's basketball teams from Arkansas and Houston in the previous two months, amid a stream of deportation trips. Those didn't stop. Neither did the sports flights. On May 13, the plane transported the Miami track and field team to the Atlantic Coast Conference outdoor championships in Winston-Salem, N.C. Miami's men's and women's basketball teams and baseball team also have flown GlobalX this year. The university didn't respond to a request for comment. A higher-profile Miami team is featured on GlobalX's Instagram account. The airline shuttled Messi and the rest of Inter Miami CF to preseason matches in Peru and Honduras this year in addition to a match in Kansas City. Inter Miami also didn't respond to a request for comment. Advertisement When Inter Miami arrived at Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport in San Pedro Sula on Feb. 8, fire trucks shot arcs of water over the plane with the tail number N281GX. Photographers snapped pictures of players, including Messi, walking down the passenger stairs. Contrast that with a flight that same plane made into San Pedro Sula on Dec. 4. Deportees, some of them with children, were photographed as they walked the tarmac. Behind them was the plane they traveled on, 'GlobalX' written in giant blue letters across its fuselage. 'On the one hand, you have the low-end flights for people, which are basically shackled in the sky,' said Angelina Godoy, director of the University of Washington's Center for Human Rights and author of a 2022 study about ICE Air, 'and then you have the other end, the very high-end flights, with these corporate logos and everything on the plane and the athletes in there looking great … and it's the same damn (plane).' This article originally appeared in The Athletic. Advertisement Inter Miami CF, MLS, College Football, Men's College Basketball, Soccer, Sports Business, Women's College Basketball, FIFA Club World Cup, A1: Must-Read Stories, Graphics 2025 The Athletic Media Company