Greg Gard and the Wisconsin basketball staff have worked hard to keep the top players in the state home, but it doesn't always happen. Now in back-to-back weeks, the Badgers are losing out on two of the top players in the state of Wisconsin: Dooney Johnson and Vaughn Karvala.
Karvala, from Oregon, Wisconsin, moved out of the state last year to play prep school in Arizona. That may have been the first indication that he was looking more nationally for a program. However, there was still hope that Gard would be able to retain him and get him to play for his home state Badgers. Instead, he commits to the Indiana Hoosiers, according to On3.com.
Karvala is a class of 2026 prospect and is ranked 42nd in the class by 24/7 Sports. He may have never considered staying home all that seriously, as he took visits to only Indiana, California, Syracuse, and Xavier.
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The other player, Dooney Johnson, a 2027 player out of Milwaukee, was ranked as the top in-state player for most of his high school career. He chose to commit to Gonzaga last week. He also had a slew of offers from all over the country, but settled on playing for a basketball-centric school in Gonzaga.
It's a tough miss for Greg Gard, who wants to keep as much in-state talent home as possible. In the 2025 recruiting class, he was able to bring in Zach Kinziger and Will Garlock, two of the best in the state. But missed out on Jamarion Bateman and Amari Allen.
In 2026, Gard has had LaTrevion Fenderson committed for months, but Yusef Gray Jr. chose to go to Iowa State, and now Karvala is off to Indiana. Gard always ends up finding his guys, but it's nice to keep the best players home.
For 2027, losing out on Johnson is a bummer. Gard's biggest target in the state is Donovan Davis, and he's still strongly considering the home-state Badgers.