Wisconsin basketball recruiting: James Graham pushes back decision date

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!

Commitment date pushed back

• 2021 3-star wing James Graham III (Milwaukee) out of Nicolet High School announced on Twitter Sunday evening that he was moving his commitment date from Monday (today) to Friday. Graham’s four finalists are Wisconsin, Maryland, Auburn and Memphis and until very recently the smart money was on the Terps securing his commitment.

However, with him pushing back his decision date it would appear that he has not fully decided on where he’d like to attend school. Auburn might be making a late push, according to AL.com, and could leap ahead of Maryland. The Tigers, led by head coach Bruce Pearl, do not have any commitments in the 2021 class yet but did sign their best class ever in 2020, ranking No. 9 in the country, that included 5-star PG Sharife Cooper and 4-star PF J.T. Thor (what a name!).

The Wisconsin Badgers may also be making a late play for the in-state standout since Graham has mentioned before that he wants to stay close to home so his family can see him play, but his other finalists might lead one to believe that proximity isn’t the top factor in his college decision.

We’ll keep you posted as we get closer to Friday and any other news comes out about Graham’s recruitment.