Rising junior Davion Hannah, a 6’5″ combo guard from Milwaukee and a priority recruit for Greg Gard, has said UW “feels like home.”
By Peter Cameron, BADGER STRIPES
Milwaukee product Davion Hannah, a 6’5″ combo guard and a priority recruiting target of the Badgers, announced earlier this month he was leaving the state to attend his junior season at AZ Compass Prep School in Chandler, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix.
The school has a powerhouse boy’s basketball program that made it to the GEICO High School Basketball National Championship Game last year.
According to WIAA rules, high school athletes in Wisconsin are not allowed to profit off their Name, Image and Likeness, usually referred to as NIL. But the rules in Arizona are unclear, possibly allowing high school players to make money.
Hannah is long and athletic with good body control allowing him to attack the basket aggressively and finish from a variety of angles. He’s of course young but has already developed a pull-up jump shot from the midrange that makes him a dangerous scorer.
Hannah has several high major scholarship offers, including from Oregon, Auburn and Marquette. Arizona State has offered him, though Arizona has not (yet).
Hannah attended Nicolet High School his sophomore year, where he averaged nearly 20 points per game and 10 rebounds per game and led the school to the state tournament. He went to Milwaukee Academy of Science as a freshman, helping lead the school to its first state appearance in 2022.
At least before he left the state, UW appeared to be in good position to get a commitment from Hannah. He’s made several visits to campus. He said the Badgers have “shown the most love” and called UW assistant coach Sharif Chambliss, “one of my father figures,” according to BadgerExtra.
“It’s feels like home at Wisconsin,” he told Rivals in January.
He would be the Badgers’ first recruit from Wisconsin’s largest city in 20 years. Marcus Landry of Milwaukee Vincent, who arrived on campus in 2005, was the last.
Top recruits changing high schools like socks is fairly common. Gus Yalden, a Badger freshman from Appleton, attended prep schools in California, Florida, North Carolina and Indiana before arriving in Madison. Jalen Johnson, who played for Duke briefly and is now with the Atlanta Hawks, spent his first two seasons at Sun Prairie High School, transferred to Nicolet High School his junior year before going to a prep school in Florida.
But Chambliss and Head Coach Greg Gard will have difficulty watching his games and getting in-person face time with him so far away for the next year. And the blue blood Arizona program is just 90 miles from his new high school…
In other 2025 men’s basketball recruiting news…
The 2025 Wisconsin high school class is deep. Gard and staff have already offered 6’10 Kai Rogers of Wauwatosa West, another priority recruit, as well as 6’3″ shooting guard Zach Kinziger of De Pere, 6’4″ LaTrevion Fenderson of The Prairie School in Racine, and 6’10” Will Garlock of Middleton.
Garlock has also received offers from Marquette, Penn State and Virigina Tech.
The Badgers have not yet offered 6’8″ Xzavion “Zay” Mitchell out of Oshkosh North, the alma mater of NBA All-Star (and shoulda-been-a-Badger) Tyrese Haliburton. Mitchell plays with Kinziger on the Team Herro AAU team, started by Tyler and his father Chris. Gard and staff are closely watching and evaluating Mitchell, so a scholarship offer may come.
Gard is following Mitchell on Twitter, for what it’s worth.
The Badgers have also offered a handful of out-of-state recruits in the 2025 cycle, which you can see on 247.
I’m told Gard and staff have adjusted their recruiting strategy by making more offers. The program got burned badly when they held their only scholarship in the 2018 year for Joey Hauser of Stevens Point, rather than offering it to Haliburton also. Without an offer from the Badgers, Haliburton went to Iowa State, and Hauser joined his brother at Marquette.
But Gard is still picky when it comes to recruits, frequently noting that kids must be good fits with the rest of the team.
Badger Stripes is an online sports news organization that provides in-depth coverage of UW athletics. You can also follow us on Facebook.
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