The Wisconsin Badgers landed its third player in the transfer portal this week as they landed John Tonje from the Missouri Tigers. According to Evan Flood of 247sports, Tonje was going to commit to the New Mexico Lobos but he decided to go the Badgers instead.
John Tonje has one year of eligibility remaining as he only played in eight games a season ago with the Missouri Tigers. In eight games played for the Missouri Tigers in the SEC last season, he averaged 2.6 PPG, 0.9 RPG, 0.4 APG, 0.1 BPG, and 0.3 SPG. He would miss the remainder of last season due to a foot injury.

In the previous season at Colorado State with the Rams, he played in 33 games and averaged 14.6 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.3 BPG, and 0.8 SPG. John Tonje shot 47.3% from the field that season and also shot 38.5% from three-point land. He is a very good free-throw shooter and he shot 81.5% from the free-throw line.

He is 6’6″ and weighs 215 lbs. With John Tonje being the third player in the transfer portal being landed by Wisconsin Badgers head coach Greg Gard this week, this goes to show that they have now found all of the replacements for Tyler Wahl, A.J. Storr, and Chucky Hepburn for next season.
We will see if the three players that Wisconsin landed this week will be better than the other three they had a season ago. Kevin Lytle, a beat writer for the Coloradoan covering the Colorado State Rams athletics, wrote about Tonje by saying:
“I think the one that will always jump out to me, is the start to the ’22 season. We all knew he was talented, we knew he was growing as a player, but it was like, ‘Oh my gosh!”
Wisconsin Badgers Fans React To John Tonje Signing With the Basketball Program

The Badgers fans reacted to Tonje committing to the program for the 2024-2025 season. This is what some of the fans had to say on Twitter about it:
Former Missouri guard John Tonje, who was briefly committed to New Mexico State, is headed to Wisconsin per his Instagram.#Badgers pic.twitter.com/le5vKE4feO
— Jake Maier (@JakeJMaier) May 2, 2024
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I think Wisconsin’s transfer portal class addressed all of the significant areas of need on the roster.
On paper, Camren Hunter, Xavier Amos, and John Tonje appear to fit this offense well. #Badgers
— Dillon Graff (@DillonGraff) May 2, 2024
All new look ‘24/‘25 #Badgers Basketball how I see it:
Starters:
Cam Hunter
Klesmit
John Tonje
Xavier Amos
CrowlBench:
Kamari McGee/Freitag
John Blackwell
Ilver/Robison
Gilmore/Winter
Winter/(Portal)A backup big from the portal would be huge and there’s been a few in talks. pic.twitter.com/hfFZhIPTxr
— Clifford Miller (@Cliffthecarguy) May 2, 2024
Everyone thought that the Wisconsin Badgers were not going to be able to land anyone in the transfer portal because of the way people were leaving the program and Connor Essegian also left. Head coach Greg Gard deserves some credit for trying to fix the roster for next season. Whether it works for Wisconsin next season or not after landing John Tonje, that’s another story for another day.