15-04-2025
Recapping Wisconsin basketball star John Tonje's 2024-25 final season accolades
Recapping Wisconsin basketball star John Tonje's 2024-25 final season accolades
Wisconsin basketball star wing John Tonje piloted one of the most storied individual seasons in recent program history in 2024-25.
In his first and only season in Madison, the North Omaha, Nebraska, native averaged 19.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 31.1 minutes per action across 37 games. He did so while shooting 46.5% from the floor, 38.8% from beyond the arc and 90.9% from the free throw line.
As the go-to offensive option on Greg Gard's team, Tonje captained it to a No. 3-seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. UW vanquished No. 14 Montana in the first round before falling to No. 6 BYU in a second-round nail-biter, a game in which Tonje scored an NCAA Tournament program-record 37 points.
Tonje's dominance undoubtedly cemented him as one of the most prolific Badgers in recent memory. He joins a decorated list that includes Johnny Davis, Ethan Happ, Nigel Hayes, Sam Dekker and Frank Kaminsky. He may not have led the same postseason run that Dekker and Kaminsky captained, but the veteran wing's ability to lead Wisconsin from a low preseason projection (No. 12 in the preseason Big Ten media poll) to the top 10 of the AP Poll makes his season unforgettable.
The sixth-year wing was named Big Ten Player of the Week on three occasions, the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week twice, plus the 2024 Greenbrier Tip-Off Tournament MVP in mid-November. He, Derik Queen (Maryland), Brice Williams (Nebraska), Trey Kaufman-Renn (Purdue) and Braden Smith (Purdue) were named to the All-Big Ten First Team. Tonje, Kaufman-Renn and Smith were the three unanimous selections.
Furthermore, Tonje was named a Second Team All-American by the Associated Press, the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the Sporting News. The U.S. Basketball Writers Association named the standout wing a member of its third team.
While Tonje may have played his way into some First Team projections, Duke's Cooper Flagg, Alabama's Mark Sears, Auburn's Johni Broome, Florida's Walter Clayton Jr. and Purdue's Smith were impossible to displace. Only three Wisconsin alumni have earned First-Team honors since 2006: Davis (2021-22), Kaminsky (2024-25) and Alando Tucker (2006-07).
Tonje has been projected as a late second-round NBA draft pick, picked to go somewhere between No. 50 and No. 55, barring a major slip. Nonetheless, the previously unheralded transfer addition has been immortalized in Madison.
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