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Wisconsin Badgers news, 6/19: Busy Thursday edition

Following a busy Wednesday, Thursday's links have quite a bit going on.

Mike McGinnis

Football

Add another preseason honor to the board: Wisconsin running back Melvin Gordon was named 10th on Phil Steele's 2014-15 Heisman Trophy contenders list (Insider). Steele notes Gordon's increase in carries will help his chances, as well as the Badgers having a "great shot at playing in the Big Ten championship game."

Gary Andersen and his staff have been aggressive on the recruiting trail as of late, resulting in the second-most scholarship offers extended among teams ranked in the final 2013 AP poll. This post also takes a really interesting look at the offer-to-commitment ratio.

That ratio improved on Wednesday, as Illinois tight end David Edwards and Georgia outside linebacker Mohamed Barry both committed to Wisconsin.

With James White departing to the NFL, Corey Clement will be Gordon's new running mate. Can he successfully handle that role? The sophomore running back is No. 3 on Fox Sports Wisconsin's most important Badgers list. Correction from yesterday: Michael Caputo was No. 4, not No. 5. I apologize for the error.

Basketball

I'M SHOCKED: The men's basketball team ranked second in the Big Ten and seventh in the nation for home attendance in the 2013-14 season.

There have been a lot of talented UW teams that have taken advantage of the Kohl Center's electric environment. BT Powerhouse looks at the best Big Teams of the past decade, highlighted by Wisconsin's 2007-08 team. Looking back, that team was really, really good. It just found the short end of the stick in facing then-Davidson star Stephen Curry.

Recruiting

In addition to the two aforementioned commits, Mike has the latest recruiting notebook, which includes two new offers from Andersen and his staff, in addition to checking the status of already-offered recruits.

Quick Hitters

As Sports Illustrated's Stewart Mandel points out, the additions of Rutgers and Maryland were in the doing for the grand scheme finances, not just TV money for the Big Ten.

BuckAround talks with Lake the Posts about the prospects of Northwestern bouncing back from a forgettable 2013 season and also discusses Joel Stave's shoulder injury.