Wisconsin men’s basketball: 3-star SG Connor Essegian commits to the Badgers

Since earning an offer from Wisconsin assistant coach Dean Oliver back on Aug. 2, Connor Essegian’s recruitment progressed rapidly. After taking an official visit to Madison over the weekend of Sept. 3, the Badgers grabbed ahold of his recruitment, culminating in his commitment to Greg Gard and the staff Wednesday evening in a public announcement at his high school gymnasium.

Rated as a 3-star prospect by 247 Sports in the 2022 class, Essegian is a 6-foot-4 guard that is a terrific shooter. Hailing from the state of Indiana, he averaged 24 points per game as a sophomore, and 25 points as a junior at Central Noble (Albion, Ind.) High School. He also added nearly eight rebounds and a shade over two steals per game while shooting 40% from three this past season.

Expected to play shooting guard at the next level, Essegian has done a nice job of rounding out his game the past year or so. Known primarily for his shooting prowess, he is very good at moving without the ball in his hands and has a quick shot release coming off of screens and on step-back jumpers from deep. However, he does have the ability to elevate and can finish around the basket strong as well.

His style of play and size reminds me a bit of Brevin Pritzl on film, so I am interested to see how he handles defending some of the quicker guards in the Big Ten when he gets on campus. With playing time potentially available early in his career, Essegian’s ability to adjust on the defensive end will dictate how quickly he contributes. Right now I would guess he redshirts as he adds weight and develops as a defender, but his shooting ability could make him a threat on the offensive end for the Badgers during the course of his career.

Essegian took official visits to both Wake Forest and Wisconsin in recent weeks but opted to cancel upcoming trips to Butler and Minnesota in favor of shutting down his recruitment. Overall, he held a slew of mid-major offers and Creighton, in addition to the schools he planned to officially visit.

How the Badgers finish up the 2022 class will be interesting to watch. At this point, Wisconsin is expected to have one more scholarship to play with, and Braden Huff is the only uncommitted prospect that currently holds an offer from the staff.

Huff interesting prospect to monitor. He is expected to be on campus for an official visit in late October, and the lanky forward has been one of the Badger's top prospects for quite some time. Wisconsin is one of his top offers on the table right now, and I think the staff will be picky and work hard to land Huff, or bank the scholarship towards 2023.