A lot can change in the recruiting world in just a few days and especially so in the international recruiting. There are so many more hoops to jump through and academics to clear, and all sorts of other things. There is also less of a desire to attend specific colleges due to family or allegiances, or fandoms. It can often be about opportunity and money. Which is exactly what happened over the last couple of days for Wisconsin's recruitment of star Serbian point guard Mihailo Petrovic.
Illinois was able to swoop in and get Petrovic to become a Fighting Illini with a better immediate opportunity at point guard and potentially even more money. Though that latter statement is more guess than anything.
Mihailo Petrovic has committed to play at Illinois over Wisconsin
Mihailo Petrovic just days ago had a quote published on BadgerNotes.com, "The plan is for me to come to the University of Wisconsin... Right now I don’t have any sure information, but I think and hope that I will become a part of the Badgers family.” Which is as good of a verbal commitment as you can ask for when it comes to international recruiting. However, he has recently changed his mind. What gives?
First, Petrovic will have a better opportunity to start right away for Brad Underwood and the Fighting Illini. If Petrovic was going to come to the Badgers he would be a backup to Nick Boyd fighting for minutes off the bench.
It's also not uncommon knowledge that Illinois has NIL money to spend on basketball. It may not be significantly better than Wisconsin's overall, but they have only secured one transfer portal commitment despite three losses. That means they certainly have more to play with.
At the end of the day, recruiting is never a sure thing, and it gets even more complicated when it comes to international recruiting. Illinois came in silently and swiped Petrovic out from under Wisconsin's nose. The question becomes, what happens to his teammate Filip Jovic who was also rumored to be sitting on a Badger commitment?