MADISON, Wis. – Between preparing for a rugged Big Ten conference schedule and flights across the country, Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard hasn’t put too much thought into new rules and pending legislation.

It’s on the radar though, and could change how Division-1 basketball programs operate from scheduling to roster construction.

“There’s a lot of things that are coming here,” Gard said.

Naturally, the new rules center around Name, Image, and Likeness. The NCAA Division-1 Board of Directors is reportedly considering a rule change that would grant student-athletes five years of eligibility across all sports, a change from the current model of athletes having five years to play four. An injury waiver granted by the NCAA can add an extra eligibility year.

CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein first reported the potential change.

Athletes participating in the winter championship season and the spring season of 2020-21 were given a blanket waiver due to their year being interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In most cases, that blanket waiver ends this year.

The proposed rule change would eliminate the need for redshirts and waivers, not to mention reshape roster construction.

The Board of Directors already made one major change in December by approving a blanket waiver granting an additional year of eligibility to all former junior college players. The waiver only applies to the 2025-26 season for athletes who competed at a non-NCAA school for at least one year and have exhausted their NCAA eligibility.

The change stems from Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia filing a lawsuit against the NCAA, arguing the eligibility rules violate antitrust law. Pavia argued that he couldn't profit off his name, image, and likeness during his two seasons playing at the junior college level for New Mexico Military Institute.

While the blanket waiver for non-junior college players hasn’t been formally discussed, unlikely to happen before the impending approval of the House antitrust settlement in April that would start athlete revenue sharing, the news of that potential has already filtered down to players who potentially would be interested in that opportunity.

“We don’t know where this is going to go,” Gard said about the fifth year. “Is it going to get voted on? Is it going to get resolved because it impacts the computation and assembly of your future roster. We got to get answers to that. The players need to know, too.”

Of the six seniors set to graduate on Wisconsin’s roster, guard Kamari McGee and reserve forward Markus Ilver would be eligible.

“In the era we’re in right now, where there is such a transient nature and with the objective to obviously win games, how do you win games? You have to stay old and mature,” Gard said. “In years gone by, there was a different way of doing it where you had redshirt, you could incubate and develop. All of a sudden, three years into somebody’s career, they pop up … Now we’re in a different era where staying old comes through other sources.”

One change that has already passed was the Division I Men's Basketball Oversight Committee approving a proposal to allow teams to play up to two preseason exhibition games against any four-year school, including Division I teams.

The change is effective beginning next season and eliminates the requirement that preseason practice scrimmages be conducted in private and without official scoring, the so-called “secret scrimmages.”

Wisconsin has typically played one closed-door scrimmage and hosted one Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference school since 2011. The Badgers hosted UW-River Falls for their exhibition game and scrimmaged Northern Iowa in Platteville.

Gard said UW-Platteville will be the in-state opponent in the rotation next season and will combine with Gard’s foundation – Garding against Cancer – having events in that area of the state. Gard’s younger brother, Jeff, is in his 16th season coaching the Pioneers.

Analyzing what to do with the second exhibition game won’t be talked about until spring, according to Gard, who would still like to see more exhibition games be added.

“My stance on that is still the same that I think more would be beneficial versus practicing,” Gard said. “We’re practicing for 30 days anyway. What difference does it make if we have a closed scrimmage (or) an open scrimmage? Just the opportunity to learn more against outside competition is valuable.”

While the return of former Wisconsin guard Connor Essegian will be a sidebar to tomorrow’s home game between the Badgers (15-4, 5-3 Big Ten) and Nebraska (12-7, 2-6), it will also be John Tonje’s first opportunity to play the Huskers.

Hailing from North Omaha, Nebraska, and going to Omaha Central High School, Tonje averaged a Nebraska Class A state-best 23.8 points along with 6.1 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.4 assists per game for the Eagles, leading them to a 22-6 overall record, 11-3 in conference and runner-up finish in the state tournament. He shot 50 percent from the field, 38 percent from the three-point arc, with his 73 triples leading Class A, and 82 percent at the free-throw line, also best in Class A

In his college career, Tonje has played against Nebraska colleges Creighton, Doane College, Omaha, and Peru College but never the Huskers, who didn’t recruit him.

“I guess I got this game has a little extra excitement being the hometown kid,” Tonje said. “I wasn’t highly recruited out of high school. They weren’t one of the teams that recruited me. It is what it is. I’m happy to be here.”

For Wisconsin's next three games, Gard and his staff will celebrate the Coaches vs. Cancer event "Suits and Sneakers" by wearing special sneakers painted by children battling cancer at the American Family Children's Hospital (AFCH).

Visiting the hospital in January before the Iowa game, Gard and the team visited the hospital to spend time with the children and decorate the shoes, including a young patient named Emmett who decorated Gard’s shoes.

“I think that more than anything, it’s going to be really neat to see those and to wear those, knowing that they were individually designed by those kids that are going through really hard time,” Gard said. “Hopefully the visits that we made to the hospital to spend time with them and them getting a chance to see their artwork on display on national TV next week will give them a reprieve, kind of an escape that they have to deal with every day.”

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