Wisconsin Basketball: New options emerge in 2019

New names have started to emerge in the 2019 recruiting class for Wisconsin Basketball.

Greg Gard and the Wisconsin staff would probably like to forget all about their last few months of frustration on the recruiting front, and so would most Badger fans I would imagine. As a result, we will spare you the pain by not going into too much further detail here.

The disappointing setbacks in the pursuit of high-priority targets have been well-documented by us here at Badger of Honor. We encourage you to give back and revisit them one by one in all their agonizing detail.

D.J. Carton leaves Wisconsin out of his Top 6

E.J. Liddell leaves Wisconsin out of his Top 3

Robbie Beran leaves Wisconsin out of his Top 7

Zeke Nnaji leaves Wisconsin out of his Top 5.

At this point, it seems pretty unlikely that the staff will add another player its current one-man 2019 class of 3-star forward Tyler Wahl, but we probably will not know for sure until the spring, after the high school basketball season has ended and Wisconsin has gotten a look at possible late-blooming senior players.

Over the coming months, new names that the staff is looking into will continue to pop up. Two such players emerged onto our radar this week.

Tre Mitchell- Center

Andrew Slater of The Athletic reported on Wednesday evening that Wisconsin is beginning to show increased interest in Woodstock Academy (Pittsburgh, PA) center Tre Mitchell, though an offer has not yet been extended by the Badgers.

Per the 247Sports composite, Mitchell is a 4-star prospect and ranks as No. 20 center and No. 83 overall player in the 2019 class. Several high-profile programs have already beaten the Wisconsin staff to the punch and offered him, including UConn, Notre Dame, Illinois, Iowa State, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Xavier, Vanderbilt, and Wake Forest. Slater also mentioned that Auburn, Missouri, and UCLA have been poking around here as well.

Based on his offer list and how poorly Wisconsin has fared on the recruiting trail in this 2019 cycle if Greg Gard ever does pull the trigger on Mitchell, the chances of the 6’9 center ending up a Badger are probably pretty minuscule.  Notre Dame appears to be the heavy favorite right now, and the offers from Louisville and Pittsburgh could be particularly dangerous as well. New Louisville head coach Chris Mack has been recruiting out of his mind since taking over the program, and hometown Pittsburgh is now led by one of the most dynamic recruiters in the country in former Duke assistant Jeff Capel.

All in all, Wisconsin fans should not bother to read too much into this recruitment, at least at this point.

David Skogman- Power Forward

A somewhat more interesting development has been the increased level of attention that the Wisconsin staff is affording to an in-state late bloomer in the 2019 class.

6’10 Waukesha West power forward David Skogman has seen his stock rise more than any class of 2019 prospect in Wisconsin over the last few months. Last month, Skogman picked up his first Power 5 offers from Texas Tech and Rutgers and more could be on the way, as Boston College, Creighton, and Northwestern, in addition to Wisconsin, have begun expressing interest.

Skogman has other offers from Air Force, American, Bucknell, Canisius, Elon, Furman, Lafayette, LIU-Brooklyn, Rice, Sam Houston State, Southern Illinois UC-Davis, Valparaiso, and UW-Green Bay.

He is currently unranked by the recruiting services.

According to his coach at Waukesha West, Wisconsin assistant coach Howard Moore paid a visit to the school and watched Skogman on Wednesday. The Badgers would probably need to see him continue on an upward developmental trajectory for at least some of his upcoming senior season before offering.

Aside from him being a rapidly-improving talent from in-state, one can see why Greg Gard and company are interested here. Skogman has an excellent stroke from deep and also appears to move very well up and down the court for a player his size. He’s the type of stretch big that every school wants to have these days, but Wisconsin, in particular, has always sought out players like that for its system and has excelled at developing them.

Skogman could move to jump on one of these early Power 5 offers, but it may make more sense for him to draw out his recruitment into his senior season and try to rack up some more. That being said, you would think it would be pretty tough for a Wisconsin native, especially a young big man with Skogman’s skill set, to turn down an offer from the Badgers should that come to pass.

I still think it’s likely that Wisconsin opts to save that second scholarship for the 2020 class, but Badger fans should keep a close eye on Skogman’s development. If his stock continues to rise, it would not be surprising to see an offer be extended by the Wisconsin staff.