It only gets worse for Bucky

[94Warrior]

Ah, good point.  They were the Morally Superior Duke, Kansas, Kentucky rolled into one.

Exactly.  And, just over 6 months ago UW Fanboys were all convinced they were a Joey Hauser away from another Final 4 run!  Then Joey picked MU.  Herro said, "No Joey, no Tyler".  And, fast forward to today.  Wow, that unraveled quickly!

[MU82]

Exactly.  And, just over 6 months ago UW Fanboys were all convinced they were a Joey Hauser away from another Final 4 run!  Then Joey picked MU.  Herro said, "No Joey, no Tyler".  And, fast forward to today.  Wow, that unraveled quickly!

Eh ... they had cooled on Joey anyway.

[THRILLHO]

This is a real viper's nest in here, to be honest I don't think that much about UW outside of our game with them and don't care about their program intrinsically. But I have been entertaining the following:

1. Wisconsin (the state) high school recruiting pool has gotten better in the last 5-10 years
2. Both MU and Wisconsin have been good at the same time for much of the last 15-20 years.
3. Having 2 nationally relevant D1 programs in the state has improved the quality of high school basketball
4. Having UW be good makes recruiting easier for MU

just curious whether other people agree with 1) and have considered 2-4.

[Newsdreams]

Eh ... they had cooled on Joey anyway.

I heard it was ACT / academics related 

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

This is a real viper's nest in here, to be honest I don't think that much about UW outside of our game with them and don't care about their program intrinsically. But I have been entertaining the following:

1. Wisconsin (the state) high school recruiting pool has gotten better in the last 5-10 years
2. Both MU and Wisconsin have been good at the same time for much of the last 15-20 years.
3. Having 2 nationally relevant D1 programs in the state has improved the quality of high school basketball
4. Having UW be good makes recruiting easier for MU

just curious whether other people agree with 1) and have considered 2-4.

Personally don't agree. I don't think MU and UW being good has much impact on the quality of WI HS basketball. I think the quality of WI HS basketball has just improved with the increased money being spent on it and improvement in aau and scouting services.  If anything,  I think UW falling off would make it easier for us, give us less competition in state.

[MU82]

This is a real viper's nest in here, to be honest I don't think that much about UW outside of our game with them and don't care about their program intrinsically. But I have been entertaining the following:

1. Wisconsin (the state) high school recruiting pool has gotten better in the last 5-10 years
2. Both MU and Wisconsin have been good at the same time for much of the last 15-20 years.
3. Having 2 nationally relevant D1 programs in the state has improved the quality of high school basketball
4. Having UW be good makes recruiting easier for MU

just curious whether other people agree with 1) and have considered 2-4.

I don't know enough about Wiscy HS hoops to know if 1 is true. And I'm trying to understand why 4 would be true.

If UW is a dumpster fire and kids want to remain in the state, why wouldn't that benefit MU?

[burger]

If the Mich St. spread is anything under 20ish......

Another gift......

Mich St. is going to throttle them.....

[KampusFoods]

If the Mich St. spread is anything under 20ish......

Another gift......

Mich St. is going to throttle them.....

They certainly should. They also needed OT to beat Rutgers in East Lansing. CBB is weird this year.

[THRILLHO]

Personally don't agree. I don't think MU and UW being good has much impact on the quality of WI HS basketball. I think the quality of WI HS basketball has just improved with the increased money being spent on it and improvement in aau and scouting services.  If anything,  I think UW falling off would make it easier for us, give us less competition in state.

Thanks. Do you happen to know why more money is being spent on AAU?

I don't know enough about Wiscy HS hoops to know if 1 is true. And I'm trying to understand why 4 would be true.

If UW is a dumpster fire and kids want to remain in the state, why wouldn't that benefit MU?

In this model, in the immediate short term it would benefit MU, but if UW falls off for an extended period then basketball interest in the state would fall off, eventually leading to fewer top recruits in the state. That makes recruiting harder as we have to spend more resources out of state. Like it or not, UW athletics have a much larger footprint than MU around the state, and if they are good at basketball then people get interested in college basketball.

[Litehouse]

In this model, in the immediate short term it would benefit MU, but if UW falls off for an extended period then basketball interest in the state would fall off, eventually leading to fewer top recruits in the state. That makes recruiting harder as we have to spend more resources out of state. Like it or not, UW athletics have a much larger footprint than MU around the state, and if they are good at basketball then people get interested in college basketball.

I completely disagree with this.  I don't think UW being good at basketball has any impact on the quality of recruits coming out of Wisconsin.  Interest in UW means more kids wear UW sweatshirts to school and UW shorts to their middle school practices, but it doesn't translate to the high level recruits.  Those types of kids are extremely driven and will be good regardless of how much interest there is in UW hoops.  UW is our main competition for recruits, casual fans and media attention.  I don't see any way having UW be good helps MU.

[Galway Eagle]

Pretty sure if MU were to succeed in being the Duke of the Midwest in terms of success we'd have a much bigger  athletic footprint at least for basketball players.

It starts next year!

[WindyCityGoldenEagle]

I completely disagree with this.  I don't think UW being good at basketball has any impact on the quality of recruits coming out of Wisconsin.  Interest in UW means more kids wear UW sweatshirts to school and UW shorts to their middle school practices, but it doesn't translate to the high level recruits.  Those types of kids are extremely driven and will be good regardless of how much interest there is in UW hoops.  UW is our main competition for recruits, casual fans and media attention.  I don't see any way having UW be good helps MU.

Agree with Litehouse. To try and make a causation between UW's lack of success resulting in less high school talent in the state of Wisconsin is just ridiculous.

[Galway Eagle]

Agree with Litehouse. To try and make a causation between UW's lack of success resulting in less high school talent in the state of Wisconsin is just ridiculous.

He might be onto something I mean Illinois has been down for years now and it's really affected the quality of recruits in Illinois 

[Dr. Blackheart]

Except for Hank and Joey, what top Wisconsin 5 star talent has stayed in-state recently?  UW is going to have to do some Gardening this offseason and fill in the graduate transfer pipeline to fix this leak in the engine room. 

[Galway Eagle]

Except for Hank and Joey, what top Wisconsin 5 star talent has stayed in-state recently?  UW is going to have to do some Gardening this offseason and fill in the graduate transfer pipeline to fix this leak in the engine room.

Dekker

[wadesworld]

How recently is recently?

Vander, Wes, Diener, Butch, Merritt, Novak, Herro, etc.  Plenty of top talent has stayed in state with options to play at other quality programs out of state.

[Galway Eagle]

How recently is recently?

Vander, Wes, Diener, Butch, Merritt, Novak, Herro, etc.  Plenty of top talent has stayed in state with options to play at other quality programs out of state.

He said 5 star talent. Of those listed only butch and blue probably qualify and not sure they're recent anymore

[wadesworld]

He said 5 star talent. Of those listed only butch and blue probably qualify and not sure they're recent anymore

Ahh missed the five star.

And in reality, I really just wanted to put Herro as an in-state kid who stayed in state, when that obviously isn't the case...

[onepost]

Like it or not, UW athletics have a much larger footprint than MU around the state, and if they are good at basketball then people get interested in college basketball.

Not to pile on but I couldn't disagree more with your theory here that a better UW makes everyone's lives easier: better recruiting for Marquette (huh?), interest in college basketball as a whole (either you follow it or not, people remain dedicated to their schools), quality of Wisconsin high school basketball (what the unnatural carnal knowledge?).  To imply causation between the success of the state's big public school and the quality of said state's high school players is a claim only our POTUS could produce with such confidence.

[mu-rara]

I seriously don't get how people consistently talk about Sam being 100% a badger if Bo recruited him. Sure it made the MU choice much easier for him, but I don't remember the vibe from Sam being "if Wisconsin offers I'm definitely committing."

Sam's Mom was a Badger.  Her roommate is married to a former UW football player.  A lot of underlying Badger love.  Obviously Mom and Dad let the boys make their own choices.

[Dr. Blackheart]

He said 5 star talent. Of those listed only butch and blue probably qualify and not sure they're recent anymore

Exactly.  If two very good teams make it "easier", why is the elite talent leaving?  MU scored with the brother connection and I missed Dekker, but he committed very early.

Both teams have done okay with four stars, but Bo scored in Illinous, Minnesota, Iowa, and Ohio most recently on underrated guys for the most part.

[muwarrior69]

Exactly.  If two very good teams make it "easier", why is the elite talent leaving?  MU scored with the brother connection and I missed Dekker, but he committed very early.

Both teams have done okay with four stars, but Bo scored in Illinous, Minnesota, Iowa, and Ohio most recently on underrated guys for the most part.

I like our under rated boys from Minnesota and Michigan.

[We R Final Four]

Sam's Mom was a Badger.  Her roommate is married to a former UW football player.  A lot of underlying Badger love.  Obviously Mom and Dad let the boys make their own choices.

Thank God!

[Marcus92]

A word of warning: Don't declare the Badgers a dead program until you see absolute, indisputable evidence. I mean, something like a pack of vultures stripping the carcass down to bare bones.

Think back to this point two years ago. The Badgers had lost Kaminsky, Dekker, Jackson, Dukan and Gasser. Bo Ryan, off to a shaky start with losses to Western Illinois, UW-M and Marquette, unexpectedly retires in the wake of a sex scandal. Greg Gard steps in as head coach and proceeds to lose 4 of the next 7 games. UW was 9-9, 1-4 in the Big Ten. Dead program, right?

The Badgers went 11-2 the rest of the regular season and made the Sweet 16.

So far this season, the Badgers are 9-10, 2-4 in the Big Ten. They've lost 3 in a row, including a 28-point drubbing by Purdue. Despite all that, and the loss of Van Vliet, King and Trice, the team is still ranked in the Top 100 according to KenPom.com and has just one loss to a sub-Top 100 team (Rutgers).

I'm not saying UW is a good team. Or that they're going to turn in another remarkable finish. Or that the future of the program looks bright. But after being a fan of MU for more than 25 years, I've learned not to count out the Badgers.

[Galway Eagle]

Exactly.  If two very good teams make it "easier", why is the elite talent leaving?  MU scored with the brother connection and I missed Dekker, but he committed very early.

Both teams have done okay with four stars, but Bo scored in Illinous, Minnesota, Iowa, and Ohio most recently on underrated guys for the most part.

Show me a state that has a 100% record with its top talent. Of the 5 star guys only Looney and Stone have left.  Wisconsin has been turning out a lot more 4 stars but 5 stars it comes down to Butch, (arguably) Vander, Dekker, Looney, Ellenson, Stone. 4/6 ain't too shabby considering neither school is a blue blood