An elite, in-state recruit slips through UW’s fingers and ends up at a blue blood. It happens everywhere. The future is extremely bright in Madison.
By Peter Cameron, BADGER STRIPES
https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4317615640364969 (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});It’s a familiar story. The Badgers recruit an elite Wisconsin high school player hard, for months or even years, and then an out-of-state blue blood school swoops in at the last minute, offers a scholarship, and poof. The kid is off to Durham or Lexington.
Tyler Herro (Kentucky). Jalen Johnson (Duke). Seth Trimble (North Carolina). Now Kon Knueppel (Duke).
We just saw it frustratingly play out again, as the smooth scorer from Milwaukee committed to the Blue Devils last week after receiving a scholarship offer earlier this summer.
https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4317615640364969 (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});Meanwhile, Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard and his staff had been recruiting Knueppel for two years, identifying the young talent early, bringing him to campus for games and building the relationship. But Duke beats Wisconsin again.
In the last 30 years, the Badgers (including hall of fame coach Bo Ryan) have beaten the top schools for recruits three times: Sam Okey, Brian Butch and Bronson Koenig. (Sam Dekker would have had offers from the blue bloods, but he committed to the Badgers early in his high school career.) Okey and Butch could have gone anywhere, and Koenig turned down North Carolina to stay in state.
This is what the blue bloods do. This is why they are blue bloods. They have the most exposure, the most history, the famous coaches. They pluck the best recruits from every state in the union. Name a coach anywhere who constantly beats Duke, UNC, Kentucky and Kansas for their in-state recruits. I can think of one, and he’s a giant of the game: Tom Izzo.
https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4317615640364969 (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});Don’t blame Gard. Blame the universe. Life is unfair.
The Badgers head coach is a fine recruiter, and despite a rare, mediocre season last year (in which they still won 20 games), the program is in great shape for the upcoming season and beyond.
Gard admittedly had a disastrous recruiting start when he first became Badgers head coach. After securing a commitment from the best player in the state, Herro, the shooting guard held one of UW’s only two available scholarships for a year before bailing after a last-minute offer from Kentucky. The Badgers also held a scholarship that year for Joey Hauser, who ended up joining his brother at Marquette. Those bad decisions and bad luck meant UW couldn’t offer Oshkosh native and now NBA All-Star Tyrese Haliburton, who was reportedly interested, but without a Wisconsin offer went to Iowa State. UW signed three projects that didn’t last long in the program or even in college basketball.
But since then, Gard and staff have repeatedly had great success on the recruiting trail, both in state and out. Kobe King, Johnny Davis and Gus Yalden (from Appleton, but he went to high school out of state) were the best in-state players in their respective years, with offers from many other big schools, and Gard reeled them all in.
https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4317615640364969 (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});The UW coaching staff have also shown a shrewd eye for talent, finding special players others missed. Tyler Wahl was a lightly recruited 3-star player who has grown into an elite defender and a vital offensive player despite having no jump shot. Connor Essegian didn’t have many major offers, and you know what he can do. Freshman and unheralded recruit John Blackwell is a similar pearl.
And don’t forget Gard has basically owned the state of Minnesota, taking many of their top players away from the Gophers. Four-stars like Nate Reuvers, Brad Davison, Ben Carlson, Steven Crowl, Nolan Winter and Daniel Freitag, the highest-rated recruiting commit in Gard’s tenure, who said his relationship with the head coach was the main reason he chose the Badgers.
UW recently missed on the 6’8” Jackson McAndrew from Wayzata, Minnesota, who chose Creighton, but the Badgers identified the sweet-shooting big early and finished in his top-four. Wisconsin also lost out on the 7’2” Daniel Jacobsen, who attends high school in New Hampshire but grew up 20 miles from Madison in Mount Horeb. He appeared set to come home to Wisconsin, but the pull of Big Man U was too great, and he committed to Purdue.
https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4317615640364969 (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});There’s plenty of good players coming up in the state though, and thanks to the aforementioned talent-sniffing prowess of Gard and staff, the Badgers are in a good position with many of them.
The Wisconsin high school class of 2025 is as deep as perhaps it’s ever been, including the biggest fish, 6’5” combo guard Davion Hannah from Milwaukee and 6’10” big man Kai Rogers from Wauwatosa West.
The Badgers already have a commitment from 6’2” combo guard Zach Kinziger from De Pere, who is an AAU teammate of recent offer Xzavion Mitchell, a 6’8” forward from Oshkosh. Including Kinziger, the Badgers have six offers out to in-state players.
https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4317615640364969 (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});The Johnny Bump
Despite producing two lottery picks in the 2015 NBA draft, the Wisconsin program has a reputation for not developing NBA talent. Herro cited his desire to get to the NBA for ditching the Badgers and heading to Kentucky, where he was a one and done. Knueppel has also set his eyes on the NBA.
But Johnny Davis’ meteoric rise from La Crosse Central High School to freshman sixth man to sophomore All-American and 10th overall pick in the NBA draft has undoubtedly changed the narrative. A path to the NBA exists in Madison. And in the biggest stereotype buster, a quick one.
https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4317615640364969 (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});This no doubt factored into the decision-making of new Badger transfer A.J. Storr, a 4-star, 6’6” swingman who shot 40% from three last year at St. John’s. Despite interest from many basketball powers, Storr chose to transfer to UW without visiting any other campus. He likely has his sights set on the NBA, and he saw Madison as his launchpad to get there.
Look for Davis’ success to continue to bear fruit for Wisconsin recruiting in the coming years.
Recruiting rivals lurking, but still losing
And when fighting for in-state recruits, keep in mind that the Badgers have major competition from in-state rival Marquette. The only time the Golden Eagles beat the Badgers in Gard’s head coaching tenure for a recruit was Joey Hauser, but the coach even gets a pass on that one, because the kid followed his older brother Sam Hauser to Marquette after Bo Ryan didn’t offer him. And Gard reportedly wanted to offer Sam Hauser, now playing in the NBA, but Ryan wanted a point guard to give the roster depth.
Gard also has constant competition for in-state talent from Tony Bennett, the son of Badgers coach Dick Bennett, now coaching at Virginia, where he won a national title in 2019. Bennett went after Knueppel hard and was a finalist for Freitag, but has not beaten UW for an in-state kid yet either.
The fact remains that Gard and his staff are fine recruiters. Probably the best a Wisconsin Badgers program can hope for in a world of UCLAs and Gonzagas. The future is bright, and I can’t wait to get Duke or whoever on the court so we can kick all their 5-star asses with players who were at one time overlooked.
https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4317615640364969 (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4317615640364969 (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4317615640364969 (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});Badger Stripes is a sports news organization that provides in-depth coverage of Wisconsin athletics. Follow us on Facebook.
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