Recruiting News and Other Stuff

Last week, Wisconsin officially inked all four members of the recruiting class of 2011. 6'2" combo guard Traevon Jackson of Ohio, 6'8" forward Jared Uthoff of Iowa, and 6'10" forward/center Frank Kaminsky and 6'0" point guard George Marshall, both of Illinois will join the Badger squad in the fall of 2011.

JSonline Article on 2012 offer J.P. Tokoto


Evan Anderson Decides to Redshirt

Gasser, Brust, and Dukan Didn't


Badgers, 11 Other NCAA Teams, Wear Most Technologically Advanced Uniforms... No, This Isn't an Onion Article

Sharif Chambliss Returns to Program as Video Coordinator

Fellow Sheboygan native Sam Dekker is a Badger!

Midway through the summer, Wisconsin received their first commitment for the class of 2012. Sam Dekker, a 6'7" G/F from Sheboygan Lutheran, verballed only one day after receiving an official offer from Bo Ryan. This coach's son has a great combination of size, shooting skill, athleticism, and court vision. As with many long and tall players his age, strength is a weakness, but that's nothing that some time with Scott Hettenbach can't fix. I expect to update regularly on Sam since I usually check out the Sheboygan Press frequently to see what dumb things people write to the editor about, haha.

One other great thing to come out of Sam's commitment, other than getting a great player, is that he and J.P. Tokoto are great friends. And shortly after he committed to Wisconsin, J.P.'s mom told Sam to try to convince J.P. to go to Wisconsin with him. Did I mention Sam is friends with Bronson Koenig too (enough so that they are listed as siblings with each other on facebook and Bronson's profile picture is a pic of all of three of them)?





Sam's Sophomore Season Statistics
26.5 PPG
9.2 RPG
3.1 APG
2.9 SPG
0.9 BPG
49.5% FG
40% 3PT
69.7% FT
56% eFG
1.18 PPWS


Commitment Article from madison.com

Jeff Potrykus' JS Online Blog Post

Ben Brust Commits!

I'm really far behind on this stuff and I figure since there's been 3 commits in 3 days that I should get caught up.

After Wisconsin won the appeal to the Big Ten on Ben Brust, he promptly committed to the Badgers. He rounds out the incoming freshman class by joining Duje Dukan and Josh Gasser.

Wisconsin offers Anthony Davis!

As of Monday, Wisconsin has offered class of 2011 6'10" F/C Anthony Davis of Chicago Perspectives Charter. He's a thinly built super-athletic big man who can post and shoot outside. Sounds like the perfect fit for the swing if you ask me. Unfortunately, Wisconsin wasn't the only program to notice him. It seems that in a matter of days, he's gone from no Division 1 offers to supposedly having offers from Syracuse, Indiana, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Harvard, Xavier, and Kentucky. This all due to his supposed domination of Wayne Blackshear, Mike Shaw, and Cody Zeller in this spring's AAU competitions. He was so under-the-radar that I can't find much of anything else on the kid, but apparently he put up 30 and 12 last season in high school.


Dan Poneman Video
ESPN AAU Article
ESPN Chicago Article
Spiece Run N Slam Video

Breaking News! Wisconsin wins appeal in Brust's favor!

This morning, the 11-member faculty committee voted in favor of waiving the rule restricting Mundelein, IL guard Ben Brust from receiving a scholarship from any Big Ten school other than Iowa. This is great news for Wisconsin as it is perceived that he is a Wisconsin lean at this point and the rule was the only thing stopping him from becoming a Badger. The UW representative on the committee, law professor Walter Dickey, was unable to comment on this specific case, but had this to say in regards to the rule,"the basic rationale behind the rule is to try to both support the national letter of intent and to prevent coaching or raiding (players). That is important to us within the conference. (But) every rule can’t ever cover every possible situation. I think one way of looking at it is you’ve got to uphold the rules no matter what. And I think another view, which is mine, is that if rigid and mechanical adherence to rules that don’t advance their purpose, (it) undermines the legitimacy of the rules. The other thing that has to be foremost here is student welfare. It is a free country. Although the conference has an interest in putting sound limitations on it, we should never forget that the welfare of the young people is what this is about.” I don't think it could be said better. Well done faculty committee.


jsonline.com

Wisconsin Offers Damarcus Harrison!

Okay, I'm like 2 or 3 months late on this one, but Wisconsin has offered 2011 6'5" G/F Damarcus Harrison of Christ School in Asheville, North Carolina, with a hometown of Greenwood, South Carolina. He is a teammate of another Badger recruit, Marshall Plumlee. Harrison is a very athletic, but also is a great three-point shooter also, as evident by his 49% accuracy from beyond the arc this past season. For his junior campaign, he averaged 11.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.3 steals per game on a team that features at least 4 other Division 1 recruits. Man is the class of 2011 loaded! I'd gladly take any 4 of the guys we still have offers out on.

Scholarship Offer to Ben Brust!

6'2" guard Ben Brust of Mundelein, IL has somewhat recently been released from his Letter of Intent to Iowa due to the firing of head coach Todd Lickliter.

Here's where the trouble sets in. The Big Ten has a rule stating that once a player signs a Letter of Intent to a Big Ten school, he/she may not receive a scholarship at another Big Ten school if they choose to transfer. Wisconsin's basketball team is familiar with the rule, as when Sharif Chambliss transferred from Penn State to Wisconsin and finished his senior season as a Badger, he was without a scholarship per the rule. Brust has appealed the rule himself and been denied by the conference. Wisconsin, being the apparent front runner for his commitment, has now filed an appeal, which will be decided on by a faculty member from each member institution. For it to be successful, 6 out the 11 members must be in favor of overriding the rule. While I'm not holding my breath, as the madison.com article states, there is a mild precedent for it. Less than 4 years ago, Alex Legion was a highly touted guard that had signed a LOI to play for Tommy Amaker's Michigan Wolverines. When Amaker was fired, he reopened his recruitment and signed with the Kentucky Wildcats. After being in Lexington for a semester, Illinois appealed and was granted a waiver of the rule so that Legion could receive a scholarship when he transferred to Illinois.

As for Brust as a recruit, he's a great shooter that put up more than 25 points per game as a junior and senior at Mundelein High School. From all the write-ups and videos of him that I've seen, he seems to be another Jason Bohannon, which I'd gladly welcome.


Highlight Video #1
Highlight Video #2 (featuring Duje Dukan too)
Highlight Video #3
Highlight Video #4
Highlight Video #5

Devon Hodges Decommits

Two days ago, 6'7" forward Devon Hodges reopened his recruitment, nixing his verbal commitment to be a part of Wisconsin's 2011 freshman class. Several reasons have been voiced, involving Hodges being recruited as a 4 instead of a 2/3, making sure he didn't choose Wisconsin just because his father is a Wisconsin fan, and negative comments made about Hodges on Wisconsin message boards. As for not wanting to be recruited as a 4, I don't really believe that a good reasoning on his part. In Wisconsin's swing offense, the differences between a 2, 3, 4, and 5 is very, very slim. If he has the ability to become a big 2, Bo will produce it. Marcus Landry was similar in skill set and body type in high school, and came into UW as an undersized center and left as a legit 3, good enough to earn an NBA contract. Alando Tucker came in as an undersized power forward and left as an All-American small forward, good enough to be a first round draft pick as a 2 guard.

Lastly, if the Vander Blue saga hadn't made it abundantly clear that recruits and their families read message board postings about themselves/their sons, this certainly reinforces it. I've always posted under the mantra of "if you wouldn't say it to the person's face, don't write it". It's quite obvious many people don't follow the same logic. Saying something that is constructive criticism is okay, but negative hyperbole that's based upon a youtube video or season statistics that don't live up to your standards don't do anyone any good.

madison.com
jsonline.com

Wisconsin Offers Mycheal Henry and Marshall Plumlee

This past weekend, Bo Ryan offered 6'5" forward Mycheal Henry of the 2011 class a scholarship and, at some point in time that seemingly wasn't very publicized, they offered 6'11" center Marshall Plumlee, also of the 2011 class. This makes them the 7th and 8th offers of this recruiting class and the 3rd forward and first center offered respectively.

Mycheal Henry is a 6'5" combo forward from Chicago, IL (Orr HS) who has greatly expanded his game in the past season. As a sophomore, Henry was mostly an inconsistent inside player with loads of potential. But over the summer and throughout this season, he has vastly improved his game, becoming a great shooting threat from the perimeter and continuously improving his driving skills and ball-handling ability. He is very athletic and uses that to his advantage underneath, playing like a young Alando Tucker in almost enjoying the contact near the rim. He finished the season averaging 24.1 points (14 games), 9.2 rebounds (9 games), and 4.7 blocks (3 games) per game. He currently has offers from Illinois State, Fairfield, Nevada, Saint Louis, and Baylor, and garnering interest from Georgetown, among other majors.

Marshall Plumlee is a 6'11" center out of Arden Christ School in North Carolina. Marshall is the younger brother to Miles and Mason of Duke fame, but not build quite like them. He's not as athletic as them, so he is more of a finesse center than a high-flying power forward. The best Badger comparison would be Brian Butch without the three-point range yet. He has great footwork, post moves, and a consistent mid-range jumper. Currently he stands at 200 pounds and doesn't have great foot speed laterally, so I can't see him projecting to be very versatile position wise. He is also a great passer and smart defensively. He has offers from Michigan, Virginia, Purdue, Indiana, Florida, Minnesota, and garnering interest from North Carolina and Duke (some places claim he has an offer, others don't). Apparently we are the odds on favorite if Duke doesn't give him a hard offer to join his brothers.

George Marshall Commits to the Badgers!

Well, it's two weeks late, but Chicago Brooks College Prep point guard George Marshall has committed to Wisconsin! He is the second verbal commit to the Badger 2011 class, along with forward Devon Hodges.

Marshall is considered one of the top 3 or 4 point guards in his class within the state of Illinois. The strengths in his game currently are his midrange shooting, handle, and defense. He is inconsistent from the arc and has trouble finishing among the trees, but is working on improving those areas. He is a decent athlete and long for his height, with a very coach-able personality and has a decent basketball IQ. He has been compared to Jordan Taylor with better shooting skills at the same time in their development. If that holds true, Wisconsin is set at the point guard position for until 2015! Also, apparently his father is around 6'4", and given his baby-face, he may not be done growing either. Now hopefully we can just land Markus Crider, Traevon Jackson, or the longshot Chasson Randle.

Jeronne Maymon Leaves Marquette

Normally I wouldn't post something about other teams, but this event could affect UW recruiting in the future.

Jeronne Maymon, a Marquette freshman forward, announced that he was leaving the team effective immediately yesterday. He had been averaging 4 points and 4.2 boards in about 16 minutes coming off the bench. Early reports indicate that he is leaving due to broken promises made by head coach Buzz Williams, including 25-30 minutes per game, a starting spot, being a key part of the offense, and being able to play small forward and maybe some shooting guard. However, Maymon was, as previously stated, receiving less than 15 minutes of playing time most games, came off the bench, as involved in the offense as a Tim Jarmusz, and playing center for most of the time, with probably no playing time at the 2 or 3 at all. More news should come out tomorrow from a press conference with Jeronne and his father Tim. Where ever J-May lands (early speculation is Tennessee), I wish him the best of luck.

Now, what does this have to do with Wisconsin, other than taking schadenfreude over Marquette's woes? There's two big things...

1. This is the more fun one to speculate about, but not very likely to happen... Vander Blue comes back to the University of Wisconsin. When he decided to commit to Marquette, he said, "Jeronne being there was a big plus. We have been playing together since third grade. We are more than friends, it is a brotherly love with us. Some kids would get jealous of the way we worked together, but we both want to be successful and we will always push each other. I know we will always have each other’s support and love. He told me he would take me under his wing, and he also told me it wouldn’t be a cake walk. He said there would be good days and bad, and that there would be breakdowns, but that we would fight through everything together.”

Now Jeronne no longer being there might not being a good enough factor to leave Marquette, but what Jeronne tells him about Coach Williams breaking promises might. Blue was quoted saying, "Coach Williams told me you can't just put a number on someone. He said players have to play, so it might be at the 1, at the 2, or even against a smaller lineup the 3." Given Marquette's current roster for the next season, I really doubt Vander sees any time at the 1 and not much at the 2. Marquette has had a 3 or 4 guard line-up for nearly a decade, and unless Buzz changes his recruiting priorities, tall 1s/short 2s like Vander are going to be stuck at the small forward spot, much like Maymon being stuck at the center despite being a 3/4. That isn't conducive to Vander getting the NBA as a point guard. Meanwhile, Bo Ryan would have him play mostly 1, and some 2 mixed in, maybe the 3 occasionally if he goes to the 3-guard line-up that he's been successful with so far this season.

2. That leads me to the bigger and significantly more likely outcome from this... Wisconsin having an edge in recruiting head to head with Marquette. Any kid in Wisconsin being recruited by the two schools will likely second guess any promises made by Buzz Williams due to his broken ones with Jeronne. In the back of their head, they'll question if Buzz is just saying whatever it takes to get the kid to commit to his program. Conversely, Bo has a no frills attitude, refusing to make any promises regarding to playing time, starting spots, etc. I really think the Maymons are going to hurt Marquette's recruiting ability in the Midwest. Which is good for Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Offers Traevon Jackson!

Wisconsin has reportedly offered 6'2" combo guard Traevon Jackson. Jackson is son of OSU great Jim Jackson and hails from Westerville, Ohio. He's a lefty that is more of a slasher than a shooter currently, but has an expanding perimeter range. This past season he averaged 14 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists and shot above 30% from behind the arc.

Jackson has said that he he has 4 criteria for choosing a school... 1) great academics, 2) great player development to help him reach the next level, 3) a winning program, and (unfortunately for UW) 4) a place where he can make an immediate impact aka early playing time. He currently has offers from Akron, Miami (Ohio), Ohio, Cleveland State, and Arizona State. He's also garnering interest from Notre Dame, Butler, and Wichita State.

Rivals Profile
Scout Profile
ESPN Profile
Recruiting Planet Thread
Free Article on RedHawk Insider

UW Offers George Marshall!

Last night after the IPFW game, Wisconsin offer prospect George Marshall of Brooks College Prep High School in Illinois. Marshall is a 5'11" point guard with great floor leadership, court vision, and ability to hit shots with range and accuracy. He was quoted as saying, "I went to their game today against IPFW, and after the game I talked with Howard Moore, and he talked about academics and their expectations on the court. Then I talked to head coach Bo Ryan, and he said how he likes my game, and how they would like to have me. They then offered me a scholarship. It means a lot to pick up a Big Ten offer, especially from a winning program like Wisconsin, and a coach like Bo Ryan."

Marshall also has offers from DePaul, Baylor, Illinois State, Xavier, and Ohio.

Rivals Profile
Scout Profile
ESPN Profile
Recruiting Planet Thread

Duje Dukan commits to Wisconsin!

At about 5 pm today word got out that 6'8" wing Duje Dukan from Deerfield, IL has committed to Wisconsin. With his commitment, Wisconsin's scholarships for the class of 2010 have been filled. But it is being pondered if J.P. Gavinski's scholarship will be offered to another potential 2010 recruit to fill the badly needed guard rotation. As it stands, Wisconsin would be left with 3 guards, 3 wings, and 7 bigs on scholarship in 2010-2011. This wouldn't be great considering that one of those guards is a true freshman and only 1 of the wings is even mildly considered to be able to play 2 guard (Tim Jarmusz). Nonetheless, we are very happy to have Duje on board and I certainly hope that with a little time, he could become a Zach Morley, Jon Leuer, or even more prolific on the offensive end than those 2.

Wisconsin Offers 2010 Illinois Wing Duje Dukan

Wisconsin has offered another late bloomer to complete the 2010 class of recruits. Duje Dukan is a sharpshooting 6'8" wing hailing from Deerfield, Illinois. He has great shooting ability and is smart, but isn't overly athletic. As with many guys having a late growth spurt, Duje has retained his guard skills and is still very lanky. He has been compared to Hedo Turkoglo, Jason Kapono, and Toni Kukoc. Duje (pronounced DOO-yay) also has offers from Arizona State, George Washington, New Mexico, William and Mary, among others.

Junior Season Stats
16 PPG
8 RPG
3-4 APG
58% from the field
48% from 3
79% from the line

Rivals Profile
Scout Profile
ESPN Profile
Interview with Dan Poneman
2nd Interview with Dan Poneman

What Now?

With Blue's commitment to Marquette, what does Wisconsin do now with the extra scholarship? With the departure of Trevon Hughes and Jason Bohannon after this season, the Badgers will be left with only 3 scholarship guards on the roster... juniors Jordan Taylor and Rob Wilson and true freshman Josh Gasser. That isn't going to cut it. They need another guard in the class of 2010. From what I can find, these are the best candidates on the radar...

1. 6'6" G/F Harrison Barnes from Iowa... Surely, the best prospect of 2010 would pick a late arriving offer from Wisconsin over Duke, UNC, Kansas, Oklahoma, and UCLA right? Hey, a guy can dream, can't he?

2. 6'1" PG Lavonte Dority from Illinois... a strong, physical guard who likes to penetrate into the lane and finish. He overpowers other guards and likes to go left if he's laying it in or pull-up for a jumper going right. His three point shooting is a weakness. He has been compared to Sherron Collins. Supposedly he's visiting campus in a few weeks.

3. 6'1" SG DeAndre McCamey from Illinois... Demitri's little brother who, like Dority, likes to play physical and overpower other guards. His strength is in his mid-range jumper and playing shutdown defense. His conditioning and offensive skills are weaknesses and he's coming off a major knee injury, requiring him to wear knee sleeves on both legs.

4. 6'5" G/F Flavien Davis from Wisconsin... he's an inside/outside guy, but is very inconsistent from the perimeter. He has below average quickness for a small forward and hasn't really progressed as much as many hoped since his freshman year.

5. 6'4" SG Chim Kadima from Wisconsin... a decommit from Iowa State, he's a good scorer with good range and an ability to post up smaller defenders. He suffered a leg injury his junior season that set back his development. Strength and quickness are a weakness.


Maybe a new guy we haven't heard of before bursts on the scene or Bo finds a JUCO capable of being admitted to Wisconsin, but otherwise, the last scholarship will most likely be filled by one of those five (ok, four) guys.

Mega Post of Info I Haven't Gotten Around To

1. Nnana Egwu, a 2011 PF/C from Illinois has committed to Illinois. Wisconsin had previously offered him.

2. Wisconsin has offered 2011 SG Achraf Yacoubou (6'3") from New York. It's an odd offer since it's out of UW's usual recruiting area and Achraf has already stated his top 3 schools are UConn, Villanova, and Kentucky. I'm not liking our chances to say the least.

3. Wisconsin has also offered 2011 PG Trey Lewis (5'10") from Garfield Heights, OH. He attends the same high school as Rob Wilson and has other offers from Penn State, St. Joe's, Miami (OH), Cleveland State, Akron, and Kent State. As a sophomore, Trey scored 19.3 PPG and scored nearly two/thirds of his points from behind the arc.

4. Wisconsin has also offered 2011 G/F Markus Crider (6'6") of Huber Heights, OH. He has offers from Akron, Cincinnati, Dayton, Cleveland State, and Wright State also.

5. Wisconsin has basically decided not to pursue 6'4" 2012 SF Junior Lomomba of Madison Memorial. The most suspected reason is a difference in beliefs about the recruiting process between relative and mentor of Junior, former Badger Hennssy Auriental.

6. 6'7" 2011 SF Paul Jesperson of Merrill is starting to get some love from high major schools and Wisconsin may be pulling the trigger on an offer some time too with Coach Gard keeping tabs on him. He has recently received an offer from Arizona State and also has offers from Colorado St, Loyola (IL), North Dakota St, Northern Iowa, San Diego, South Dakota St, UW-Milwaukee, and UW-Green Bay.

7. Last but not least, practice has begun. Here are some articles about it...
Final Hill Climb
Getting to Know Jared Berggren
Day One Review
Steve Stricker and Andy North to Coach Teams in Red-White Scrimmage

Wisconsin Conditionally Offers Josh Gasser

Wissports.net has reported that Bo Ryan met with Josh Gasser's parents late last week and gave him a conditional scholarship offer of walking-on for his freshman season, redshirting, and then being on scholarship for 4 years. Some may see this as a back-up plan if Vander Blue says no. Honestly, I think this says UW thinks they are landing Blue. Why give a prospect like Gasser a conditional offer when you can offer a full one right away? I think it points to a likelihood of them not liking their chances with Chasson Randle and Nnana Egwu in 2011. But I digress...

Gasser is a 6'4" combo guard who is a decent shooter. As with all Ryan recruits, he's got great basketball I.Q. and the will to win. I don't have a lot more info on him, but he also has offers from Maryland, Arizona State, Northwestern, Butler, Creighton, Northern Iowa, Bucknell, St. Louis, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Green Bay, Buffalo, and William & Mary. He is also garnering interest from Tony Bennett's Virginia.

Stats
29 PPG

Links
Recruiting Planet Thread
Scout Profile
Rivals Profile

Wright Commits... to Pitt

Hey all! Sorry for absolutely no posts for nearly three months. There hasn't been much to report on this summer, and I've been trying to enjoy it while it lasts. Anyways, the breaking news as of about 2-3 hours ago is that Ohio combo guard Cameron Wright has verbally committed to Pitt. This leaves Wisconsin in the tough position being "all-in" for Vander Blue. That or they may have to start giving Josh Gasser or Flavien Davis really serious looks.

Blue Decommits...

The rumor that had been swirling for months finally became true this past week as heralded Badger recruit Vander Blue rescinded his verbal commitment to play for the Badgers.

I don't want to go into the details of that terribly inaccurate Rob Schultz article, but I will say this... I completely understand where Vander is coming from. Having known that I wanted to go to UW-Madison since I could ever remember, I didn't give it a second guess after I was accepted. But for a stud basketball player without that allegiance who is being tempted by some of the most storied programs in the history of college basketball, you'd have second thoughts about the relatively quick decision you made a year earlier too. While I hope he ultimately decides that his original choice was the right one and recommits to the Badgers, I think Badger fans who take basketball for what it is, a game, agree that Vander should choose the school that best fits his desires, whatever those may be. After reading the transcript from his press conference announcing the decommitment, there's no doubt in my mind that he has a good head on his shoulders and a great family environment to help him make that decision.

I only wish those that disparaged him after that article came out would realize there is more to life than winning a few basketball games. When I first read the article, the first thought I had was that I hope he pulls it together academically so that he can take advantage of his great ability to earn a degree. Unfortunately, a small number of people on the various message boards and the Badgerbeat comment section (mostly them) took this as an opportunity to verbally abuse Blue and/or the Badger program under cover of internet anonymity. This is the ugly side of sports that I just detest and wish was not part of the equation. Hopefully the positive comments that far outweighed the negative ones will help Vander know that he is indeed wanted at the University of Wisconsin and will be accepted with open arms should he decide to recommit. But until then, there is no joy in Madville.