2024 - 25 Wisconsin Basketball Thread

[Jim French Stepstool]

This doesn't really belong in this thread but probably a little more appropriate than starting a 24-25 one yet so.........Will Garlock, a post player (about 6'11") from Middleton just committed to UW. The Badgers were pretty much his 1st choice all along so this isn't a big surprise. Fundamentally sound, good strength & post moves, not someone who stepped out & tried to stretch a defense by shooting threes. Not sure that he can't shoot them, because Middleton seldom if ever used him in that manner. He suffered a broken ankle & missed what would've been some valuable summer play. I think he played better as a sophomore, but that might be a byproduct of Middleton having a much better team that year--he was the focal point of everyones' defense last season & had little help.

Still recruiting other post players---Kai Rodgers of Tosa West, who they probably are fighting an uphill battle for, and appear to be serious contenders for Tommy Ahneman of North Dakota, who has 5 or 6 B10 offers.

[homer]

Badgers signed a 6'11 20-year-old from Serbia. Eligible for 24-25 season.

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 hours ago, homer said:

Badgers signed a 6'11 20-year-old from Serbia. Eligible for 24-25 season.

Andrija Vukovic. Thanks for the info. I was watching that development the last few days, but while it seemed like mutual interest there appeared to be a little heel-dragging. Good to hear it finally happened. I was never a believer in Nolan Winter & Crowl on the floor together, but you'd think between he & Vukovic someone may pickup minutes at the 4 behind Xavier Amos.

The only thing I know about Vukovic is that in the leagues he competed in he usually "played up", vs older competition and put up solid but not eye-popping numbers. 

[Playing Catch]

I miss the days when I could get excited about recruits and dream on what they could become. I know we're all feeling the same thing, but you just don't know what the 2024/25 roster will look like until November, let alone what subsequent rosters will look like.

[CheezWizHed]

17 hours ago, homer said:

Badgers signed a 6'11 20-year-old from Serbia. Eligible for 24-25 season.

How much was the signing bonus?  Do we have much cap space left for that year??

[Jim French Stepstool]

6 hours ago, Playing Catch said:

I miss the days when I could get excited about recruits and dream on what they could become. I know we're all feeling the same thing, but you just don't know what the 2024/25 roster will look like until November, let alone what subsequent rosters will look like.

In UWs' case I think you can be pretty sure the current roster is what they'll tee off with in November. AFA future years, yeah, it sucks. I admire Gard for adjusting quickly to a current reality that I'm sure he absolutely hates.

[yourout]

7 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

In UWs' case I think you can be pretty sure the current roster is what they'll tee off with in November. AFA future years, yeah, it sucks. I admire Gard for adjusting quickly to a current reality that I'm sure he absolutely hates.

I don't see how Bo could have operated in this kind of environment.

[Jim French Stepstool]

Since this recent info has been updated into a 24-25 thread (thanks mods), I'll add that UW has just hired a new assistant coach. Isaac Wodajo was most recently an assistant at Northern Kentucky in the Horizon league, & before that was both a head coach & ass't at the JC level. He was a grad assistant at Texas for two years late in the last decade.

 Sounds like his responsibilities will center mostly on scouting opponents & coordinating recruiting. He's in his early 30s & a Milwaukee native.

[Jim French Stepstool]

Recruiting updates:

After recent evaluations during summer play UW has offered, besides the aforementioned Ahneman, a couple of in-state kids. Donovan Davis (class of 27) is an extremely talented 6-7 wing from Freedom High School. UW is his first offer but there will certainly be more. Vaughn Karvala from Oregon, WI is a 6-5 wing who is a year ahead of Davis & averaged 24 PPG as a sophomore. He's received a couple other offers & will add more as he's receiving a lot of interest in recent months.

It's anyones' guess as to whether these kids will remain in their current high schools. Ahneman is from Fargo ND but his family has moved to the twin cities area & he will be playing at Cretin-Durham Hall, the alma mater of Paul Molitor among others. UW is still recruiting Davion Hannah of Milwaukee, but he's spending the upcoming year at Link Academy in Branson MO. Another offer, LaTrevion Fenderson of Racine is also reportedly going to a prep school but hasn't announced which one. My favorite is Kai Rogers. The former Tosa West center is attending--if you can call it that--something called OT Elite, which isn't really a school at all but rather a basketball league that offers an academic program (I'm not trying to be cute; that's how they describe themselves). Apparently they offer players age 16-20 $100,000 plus signing bonus, but you can forego that & take it in the form of a scholarship & retain college eligibility. I'm sure the academic program is very rigorous.

[Playing Catch]

I thought it was interesting in today's Potrykus article, how Gard acknowledged that looking overseas was going to be a thing. I also thought it was interesting that Gard said that the development of players in Europe was far better than in [AAU ball].

As far as I'm concerned, it SHOULD be an emphasis in recruiting, considering how many of the world's best come from another country.

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 hours ago, Playing Catch said:

I thought it was interesting in today's Potrykus article, how Gard acknowledged that looking overseas was going to be a thing. I also thought it was interesting that Gard said that the development of players in Europe was far better than in [AAU ball].

As far as I'm concerned, it SHOULD be an emphasis in recruiting, considering how many of the world's best come from another country.

It's been a source for a long time at some programs, St Mary's specifically, but not nearly as much at UW. That could be bolstered by recent additions to the staff. Kirk Penney & Lance Randall both have quite a bit of international experience. The NIL eligibility is a little trickier depending on the type of visa a kid is visiting under.

[LouisEly]

10 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

My favorite is Kai Rogers. The former Tosa West center is attending--if you can call it that--something called OT Elite,

The WIAA has voted against NIL for high school athletes.  Probably not coincidental that an above-average number of WI HS BB players are going to out-of-state private schools (read: basketball acadamies).

Not saying what the WIAA did was wrong - I applaud them for making that decision.  But the WI ties for these kids, and the ability to recruit and build relationships with them, will deteriorate.

[Jim French Stepstool]

On 6/29/2024 at 1:09 PM, LouisEly said:

The WIAA has voted against NIL for high school athletes.  Probably not coincidental that an above-average number of WI HS BB players are going to out-of-state private schools (read: basketball acadamies).

Not saying what the WIAA did was wrong - I applaud them for making that decision.  But the WI ties for these kids, and the ability to recruit and build relationships with them, will deteriorate.

The home state ties IMO have been strained for awhile now, at a lot of schools. It started with the upper-level kids spending their summers traveling around playing other upper-level kids. Sure makes evaluating easier, but it really "shrinks the world" & makes going away to school seem much less daunting. Then as you said, might as well go the whole nine yards & spend the academic year where the academics are a byproduct of the basketball program, rather than the other way around.

All Gard can do is try to establish relationships as early as he can & hope it sticks. It worked with Kinziger. It worked with Freitag, who was out-of-state. Keeping my fingers crossed on Karvala & Davis.

FWIW, I also applaud the WIAA (on this at least).

[CheezWizHed]

Just as long as we can keep getting all the best players out of MN... 😂

[MrTPlush]

On 6/11/2024 at 2:16 PM, Jim French Stepstool said:

I admire Gard for adjusting quickly to a current reality that I'm sure he absolutely hates.

To be fair, I don't think any coach likes it.

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 hours ago, MrTPlush said:

To be fair, I don't think any coach likes it.

You're right. How about "Hates it for (IMO) the right reasons?" I think some coaches don't like it because they're philosophically opposed to the new system, and some because rules were in place that some followed & they ignored, giving them an advantage that's now gone.

Unlimited transfers & having to re-recruit your roster every year, yeah. I'm sure that's universally hated.

[bjkrautk]

Size and depth from international scouting.  Hard not to like what the Badgers are doing here.

[Jim French Stepstool]

8 hours ago, bjkrautk said:

Size and depth from international scouting.  Hard not to like what the Badgers are doing here.

Thanks for the info, first I've heard of this!! After getting the Bosnian kid, they received a commitment from Hayden Jones, a guard from New Zealand that Kirk Penney had a substantial hand in. Now this. New assistant Lance Randall has a lot of international connections; that's bearing quite a bit of fruit so far.

It sounds like Andrija Vukovic is having travel (visa?) issues & may not wind up in Madison. Perhaps Greppi is taking his spot.

[yourout]

1 minute ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Thanks for the info, first I've heard of this!! After getting the Bosnian kid, they received a commitment from Hayden Jones, a guard from New Zealand that Kirk Penney had a substantial hand in. Now this. New assistant Lance Randall has a lot of international connections; that's bearing quite a bit of fruit so far.

 

As luck would have it I have a friend from Nelson New Zealand and I have business partners from Bologna Italy which is south of Milan.

[Jim French Stepstool]

There's also been attention paid to the subject of foreign students & NIL eligibility. The way I understand it, a student visa would be jeopardized if a student-athlete received payments & he could be subject to deportation. Now that we're in a world where college athletes are professionals, I assume this will be worked around one way or another, probably through a non-student visa of some type, perhaps even a green card.

[Jim French Stepstool]

5 minutes ago, yourout said:

As luck would have it I have a friend from Nelson New Zealand and I have business partners from Bologna Italy which is south of Milan.

G'Day. And Ciao.

[yourout]

1 minute ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

G'Day. And Ciao.

He says "cheers" all the time and loves to talk about the "All Blacks" rugby team.

[Jim French Stepstool]

On 8/9/2024 at 6:40 PM, Jim French Stepstool said:

 

It sounds like Andrija Vukovic is having travel (visa?) issues & may not wind up in Madison. Perhaps Greppi is taking his spot.

Vukovic definitely NOT coming to Madison, and it appears visa issues have nothing to do with it because he just committed to Oklahoma State. The latest rumor has him not being able to get past the admissions dept at UW.

Win some, lose some. They just received a commitment from Latrevion Fenderson of Racine, who they've been after for quite some time. He's reclassifying to class of '26 & is (for now at least) playing at something called DME Academy in Daytona Beach. Athletic 6'5-ish wing, strong penetrator w/a pretty comfortable mid-range jumper in traffic, shows a lot of energy on defense. Shot does not reach out to the 3-point line on any consistent basis at this point. Averaged about 21 ppg w/11 rebounds last season. Iowa State was his other high major offer.

Think John Blackwell w/ more of a physical nature but not as good of a shot from beyond about 17 ft.

[LouisEly]

14 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

The latest rumor has him not being able to get past the admissions dept at UW.

Does he not have the three required years of foreign language credits?

[nate82]

1 hour ago, LouisEly said:

Does he not have the three required years of foreign language credits?

Off topic but US schools start way too late in the learning experience for foreign languages to actually work or stick.  The best time to start learning a foreign language would be k-5 and not middle school or later.

Plus the foreign language credits is the dumbest requirement.  Rant done.