Wisconsin basketball recruiting: a new official visitor and updates from the AAU circuit

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 (sometimes more) 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!

Badgers coaches on the road

• This past weekend found the Wisconsin Badgers coaching staff back out on the road watching prospects for the 2023, 2024 and 2025 classes. Not sure who exactly UW was at this game to scout as 2023 4-star forward Milan Momcilovic hasn’t been offered by the Badgers and is planning on making his college decision this week. Since they’re an in-state team, maybe UW was just checking up on them to try and improve relationships?

• Greg Gard was courtside to watch, presumably, 2024 4-star SG Nojus Indrusaitis (Lemont, Ill.), who doesn’t hold a UW offer yet, and 2024 5-star big man James Brown (Chicago), who Wisconsin offered back in February.

• A member of the coaching staff also checked up on 2023 commit, 3-star combo guard John Blackwell, who didn’t have a particularly good game on offense against Vegas Elite, but who has been playing well overall this summer.

Wisconsin targets and commits performing well

• One of Wisconsin’s top targets in the 2024 class is massive big man JT Rock out of South Dakota. While many are, rightly, concerned about the competition he’ll be facing in high school, dropping 32 points on the grassroots circuit is a surefire way to get your name on the board of high major coaches everywhere. The Badgers offered him back in October.

• 2023 4-star big man commit Gus Yalden continues to have an impressive summer. There are legitimate concerns about his game vis a vis athleticism, but he has steadily improved every year in high school and when he gets the ball on the block he really goes to work on defenders, Ethan Happ-style.

• Wisconsin has two (but seems like they may only be planning on using one) scholarships available in the ‘23 class and their top target right now is 4-star wing Gehrig Normand out of Texas. He has already taken an official visit to Madison and has had nothing but nice things to say about the Badgers, but it might be hard to pull him away from the home-state Longhorns when all is said and done.

• A new name on Wisconsin’s radar is, apparently, 2023 6-foot-10ish big man Cyril Martinov who plays for The Lawrenceville School, a prep school in Lawrence Township, New Jersey. His Twitter bio says he’s from Ontario, Canada, and he plays for UPlay Canada on the EYBL circuit, so perhaps fellow Canadian Jahcobi Neath can help out in this recruitment if UW offers. Against Vegas Elite last weekend, Martinov scored 27 points (10-of-16 shooting) and grabbed 18 rebounds, while averaging 17.2 ppg and 10.4 rpg over the five games in Kansas City. We’ll keep you posted if Gard decides to pull the trigger with an offer here.

Official visit update

• Over at Badger247, Evan Flood is reporting that 2023 3-star big man Nolan Winter (Lakeville, Minn.) is planning on taking an official visit to Madison beginning on Aug. 3. By all accounts, the Badgers and Gophers are battling for Winter, with Minnesota, where his father played ball, currently having a slight lead.