Wisconsin basketball recruiting: some news from around the B1G

Recruiting is the lifeblood of any major college athletics team, but following it closely as a fan can sometimes be difficult and can often be time consuming. We’ll try and condense all the recruiting news you can use into this bi-weekly (or more often since we are in Uncertain Times and there aren’t actual sports going on) post. It’ll include updates on current commits, including stats from their high school games, as well as news on players the Badgers are still pursuing. Let’s get down to business!

New 5-star in the B1G

• 2021 5-star wing Max Christie (Rolling Meadows, Ill.) committed to Michigan State and Tom Izzo on Tuesday. For a long time it was thought that Christie was going to head to Duke, but recently all the momentum switched to the Spartans.

The Badgers had been in on Christie for a long time and he even visited campus this past fall, but UW was never a serious contender for his services. Baylor, Illinois, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Villanova, Virginia, Ohio State and many others had offered Christie but he’s heading to East Lansing.

2023 big man gets a B1G offer

• 2023 big man Gus Yalden (De Pere) who will be attending the Asheville (N.C.) School in the fall just received another B1G offer from the Maryland Terrapins. Rutgers and Utah have also offered the 6-foot-10 sophomore with many other schools, including Wisconsin, showing high interest.

His highlight video from this past weekend’s grassroots tournament in Wisconsin is impressive. He throws outlet passes like Kevin Love and has the old-man at the Y post moves of Ethan Happ. Unlike Happ, however, Yalden can stroke it from distance. He’s a modern big man in the mold of Nikola Jokic or Joel Embiid that is equally comfortable with his back to the basket as he is on the perimeter.

Once the 2023 class starts getting rated by the recruiting services, one would expect Yalden to be a top-100 talent for sure.

New 2021 class rankings

• PrepHoops.com has released their new rankings for the class of 2021 and both the Badgers and the state of Wisconsin are well represented.

Three Wisconsin commits are on the list:

No. 54, Matthew Mors, 6-foot-7, SF, Yankton, S.D.
No. 64, Chucky Hepburn, 6-foot-1, PG, Bellevue, Neb.
No. 112, Chris Hodges, 6-foot-7, C, Schaumburg, Ill.

Six Wisconsin natives are also on the list:

No. 2, Patrick Baldwin, Jr., 6-foot-8, SF, Sussex Hamilton High School
No. 144, David Joplin, 6-foot-6, SF, Brookfield Central High School
No. 153, Cade Meyer, 6-foot-7, PF, Monroe High School
No. 160, Tyrese Hunter, 5-foot-11, PG, Racine St. Catherine’s High School
No. 172, Cameron Palesse, 6-foot-3, CG, Waukesha West High School
No. 176, James Graham, 6-foot-9, SF, Nicolet High School