As you can probably tell by the buzz surrounding a certain high schooler's upcoming announcement, recruiting is starting to heat up again as the regular season winds down for both college and high school teams. Wisconsin has the luxury of focusing on juniors and sophomores because it already has a fine class of seniors locked up at this point. All four 2011 recruits are still alive in their respective state's playoffs. Most of the committed Badger recruits have a great shot to make some noise during March Madness.
George Marshall
The broken hand that sidelined Marshall for six weeks may have cost him a spot on the All-City team, but it healed just in time for Brooks Prep (23-3) to start a successful run to the Chicago Public League title. Marshall then scored a game-high 22 points on five 3-pointers to help Brooks avenge an early-season loss to Bogan to continue the run. He wasn't done yet. After being held scoreless for three quarters against Farragut, Marshall scored all 12 of his points in a final period comeback -- including the game winning jumper with four seconds left -- as Brooks prevailed, 56-54.
Check out the video of Marshall's game-winner after the jump.
The group of seniors at Brooks seems to finally be playing well together after several years of hype about their potential. They completed the City Championship with wins over Curie and No. 16 Whitney Young. The No. 10 Eagles opened up state tournament play in Class 3A by defeating Fenger on Tuesday and will play the Tinley Park/Rich East winner on Friday. Marshall is also scheduled to play in the Chicago United Hoops Classic on April 30. Though Marshall now has a reputation as being injury prone, it is a good sign that he appears to be playing better than ever. Hopefully his clutch play carries over under the tutelage of Jordan Taylor.
| Date | Opponent | Score | Result | Points | Assts | |
| 1.22 | St. Ignatius | 54-51 | W | *DNP-Injured | ||
| 1.25 | Chi. Julian | 78-42 | W | *DNP-Injured | ||
| 1.29 | Chi. Foreman | 68-34 | W | *DNP-Injured | ||
| 1.30 | Seton Academy | 47-42 | W | *DNP-Injured | ||
| 2.05 | East Aurora | - | - | *game canceled | ||
| 2.08 | North Lawndale | 58-48 | W | 6 | 7 | |
| 2.10 | Chi. Bogan | 86-61 | W | 22 | - | |
| 2.13 | Chi. Farragut | 56-54 | W | 12 | - | |
| 2.16 | Chi. Curie | 63-60 | W | 11 | - | |
| 2.18 | Chi. Whitney Young | 67-54 | W | 23 | 4 | |
| 2.26 | Prospect | 75-67 | W | 16 | 3 | |
| 3.01 | Chi. Fenger | 86-35 | W | |||
Frank Kaminsky
Led by Kaminsky, Benet Academy has reached as high as No. 6 in USA Today's Super 25 boys basketball rankings after the Redwings finished up the regular season 27-0. Kaminsky has been a rock for Benet all year. The senior center stuffed the stat sheet against Glenbard East in January and put in another well-rounded performance against Marist to clinch the ESCC title. Kaminsky posted a 16-13 double-double on Notre Dame. But his coming out party might have come in Benet's huge triumph over top-ranked Simeon. Benet, now the No. 1 team in the entire Midwest, begins its road to a championship tonight against Plainfield East, which beat Geneva on Monday.
| Date | Opponent | Score | Result | Points | Rebs | Blocks | Assts |
| 1.21 | Marist | 59-56 | W | 14 | 8 | - | - |
| 1.22 | Glenbard East | 75-51 | W | 16 | 11 | 3 | 6 |
| 1.28 | Nazareth Academy | 57-51 | W | 16 | 7 | - | - |
| 2.04 | St. Patrick | 36-23 | W | 11 | - | 2 | - |
| 2.05 | Marist | 62-55 | W | 12 | 12 | 5 | 5 |
| 2.11 | Notre Dame | 45-37 | W | 16 | 13 | 2 | - |
| 2.19 | Chicago Simeon | 58-54 | W | 19 | 10 | 5 | 4 |
| 2.23 | St. Viator | 61-39 | W | 15 | 4 | - | - |
Traevon Jackson
Westerville South (21-1) picked up right where it left off last time when the Wildcats beat Ohio State recruit LaQuinton Ross and Life Center Academy (NJ) at the end of a tough three-game stretch in six days. Once again, Jackson rose the occasion of defending a premier athlete, which bodes well for his playing time under Bo Ryan. South cruised through most of it's season undefeated, before finally having its 45-game regular season winning streak snapped in the season finale against Liberty. Jackson and Co. then destroyed Lancaster, 70-24, and Watkins Memorial, 99-34, to open the state playoffs. The top-seeded Wildcats play Pickerington Central on Saturday.
| Date | Opponent | Score | Result | Points | Assts | Steals |
| 1.21 | Westerville Central | 73-53 | W | 21 | - | - |
| 1.22 | Life Center Academy | 60-55 | W | 10 | - | - |
| 1.25 | Dublin Scioto | 74-48 | W | 19 | - | - |
| 1.28 | Dublin Jerome | 74-50 | W | 24 | - | - |
| 2.04 | Marysville | 83-39 | W | 22 | - | - |
| 2.08 | Westerville North | 70-63 | W | 18 | - | - |
| 2.11 | Oletangy | 87-48 | W | 23 | 6 | 7 |
| 2.15 | New Albany | 64-54 | W | 18 | 5 | 4 |
| 2.18 | Oletangy Liberty | 64-66 | L | 18 | - | - |
| 2.22 | Lancaster | 70-24 | W | 16 | - | - |
| 2.25 | Watkins Memorial | 99-34 | W | 14 | - | - |
Jarrod Uthoff
Iowa's top prep scorer has positioned himself nicely for Mr. Basketball honors this season. Uthoff went over the 1,000-point barrier in late January when Cedar Rapids Jefferson (17-5) toppled crosstown rival Washington in double overtime, accomplishing the feat in only two and a half seasons.
The J-Hawks stumbled through three losses in their next five games. Cedar Falls beat Jefferson by making life difficult for Uthoff with an effective box-and-one defense. Fortunately, Uthoff bounced back with 26 points and a career-best 19 rebounds to exact revenge on Kennedy and also had a valiant effort against a powerful Linn-Mar squad. Uthoff knocked down the winning free throws Monday night against Waterloo West, as Jefferson avoided the earlier rash of upsets in the Iowa's Class 4A bracket. The J-Hawks advanced to play No. 2 Des Moines Hoover on March 9.
| Date | Opponent | Score | Result | Points | Rebs | Blocks | Assts |
| 1.21 | C.R. Xavier | 78-67 | W | 21 | 6 | 3 | - |
| 1.25 | Wahlert | 64-56 | W | 23 | 8 | 8 | - |
| 1.28 | C.R. Washington | 58-50 | W (2OT) | 24 | - | - | - |
| 2.04 | Iowa City West | 45-59 | L | 28 | - | - | - |
| 2.07 | Cedar Falls | 54-60 | L | 20 | 8 | - | - |
| 2.08 | Waterloo East | 67-49 | W | 36 | 11 | 3 | 4 |
| 2.11 | C.R. Kennedy | 53-44 | W | 26 | 19 | 5 | - |
| 2.15 | Linn-Mar | 64-70 | L | 26 | 14 | 4 | - |
| 2.17 | C.R. Prairie | 50-41 | W | 25 | 15 | 5 | - |
| 2.25 | Western Dubuque | 60-50 | W | 27 | 15 | - | - |
| 2.28 | Waterloo West | 57-55 | W | 25 | - | - | - |
If you have watched any of Wisconsin's recruits play in person, drop me a note via email at hoopsmarinara@gmail.com or on Twitter @hoopsmarinara.
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Previous Recruit Reviews:
January 2011 (Backcourt)
January 2011 (Frontcourt)
December 2010