Wisconsin basketball recruiting: UW lands 2023 3-star CG John Blackwell

In what comes as a bit of a surprise, the Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team received their first commitment of their 2023 recruiting class on Friday afternoon. 3-star CG John Blackwell (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) out of Brother Rice High School announced his verbal commitment to UW via his Twitter account.

Now, to be clear, the surprise isn’t that Blackwell committed, Wisconsin always seemed to be high on his list, the surprise is that it came on Friday afternoon.

Blackwell held offers from Central Michigan, Cleveland State, Eastern Michigan, Loyola Chicago, Northern Illinois, Oakland, Rhode Island, Toledo and VCU. The Badgers were his lone Power 5 offer, but teams like Louisville, Marquette, Michigan, Michigan State and Minnesota were all showing interest according to his Rivals profile.

Standing around 6-foot-4 and weighing near 180 pounds, Blackwell is a versatile guard that can play either backcourt position for UW. We’ll have more on his commitment, and fit with the Badgers, soon.