Badger of Honor
Fansided

Wisconsin Basketball: Badgers pick up first commitment of 2022 class

By Christian Borman

Mar 7, 2020; Bloomington, Indiana, USA; Wisconsin Badgers head coach Greg Gard on the sideline in the first half against the Indiana Hoosiers at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 7, 2020; Bloomington, Indiana, USA; Wisconsin Badgers head coach Greg Gard on the sideline in the first half against the Indiana Hoosiers at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

The Wisconsin basketball team scored the first commit of their 2022 recruiting class. After missing out on Jaden Schutt (Duke) and Rowan Brumbaugh (Northwestern), Greg Gard and the Badgers got a commitment from Connor Essegian, a shooting guard from Albion, Indiana.

Recruiting profile for the new Wisconsin basketball commit

According to 247Sports, Essegian is a 3-star prospect and is 6-4 and 180 pounds. He is the 36th-ranked shooting guard in the country.

Essegian currently holds 13 scholarship offers from Wisconsin, Wake Forest, Butler, Creighton, Minnesota, and more. He took a visit to Wisconsin over the September 3rd weekend and announced later that week that he would make his commitment this week.

He had a top seven of Butler, Wake Forest, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Creighton, Chicago-Loyola, and Indiana Purdue-Fort Wayne. He made his announcement live and committed to Wisconsin.

Essegian is the Wisconsin basketball team’s first committed player in their 2022 class.

What will Connor Essegian bring to the Wisconsin basketball program?

Essegian is going to his sharpshooting ability to the Madison. Right now, I don’t think there’s a player on the current roster that is a huge threat from deep. He does a great job catching and shooting the ball, especially coming off screens.

You can check out one of his highlight videos here.

Last season, the Badgers shot better than you’d think. They hit 36.4% of their threes, but that was with players like D’Mitrik Trice, Nate Reuvers, and Micah Potter, all of whom have now left the program.

Having Essegian on the floor is going to make a big difference for the other players. If he is on the floor, defenders won’t be able to sag off of him because of his catch-and-shoot ability. That’s going to give the rest of the team an opportunity to get the ball inside without the defense collapsing on them.

The Badgers haven’t had a guy like this since Brevin Pritzl or Ben Brust.

Who are other prospects the Wisconsin basketball team will target?

According to Badger247’s Evan Flood, it sounds like Greg Gard and the Badgers will only take one more player in this recruiting cycle and they have their sights set on their target: forward Braden Huff.

Must Read. Games that can benefit the Badgers in Week 3. light

Huff is a 4-star forward from Carol Stream, Illinois. Things seem to be trending in the right direction for the Badgers, but like most recruits, it’s better for Wisconsin to wrap his recruitment up sooner than later. If he starts to blow up and some blue blood programs start sniffing around, he may leave Wisconsin behind bite on one of those offers.

Huff has offers from teams like Wisconsin, Gonzaga, Michigan State, Iowa, Northwestern, and more. He is expected to visit Wisconsin on the weekend of October 29.