By Peter Cameron, BADGER STRIPES

Greg Gard surprised the college basketball world when he scored a quick commitment from A.J. Storr, an exciting young forward who played his freshman year at St. John’s.

With one swoop of a pen, the signing filled multiple needs for a team badly in need of more athleticism, shooting, rim pressure and scoring in general. The 6’6”, sweet shooting Storr, from just across the border in Rockford, has a ceiling as high as the Wisconsin Capitol.

But it also removed the Badgers from pursuing several Wisconsin high school grads who had big years in lower level Division 1 college basketball, allowing them to move up to bigger schools, bigger competition and bigger NIL deals.

Andrew Rohde

A 6’4” shooting guard out of Brookfield Central, Rohde didn’t have any high major offers coming out of high school, so he went to St. Thomas in St. Paul, a school that only moved up to Division 1 in 2021 and thus wasn’t even eligible for the postseason in Rohde’s first season.

Rohde must have received assurances from the Tommies coaching staff that he would have lots of minutes and opportunities, because he got them in his first year. 

He started every game and took nearly 14 shots per game, averaging about 18 points per game. Rohde won the Summit League Freshman of the Year and was named to the All-Summit League first team.

He would have filled some holes on last year’s Badgers team, but after Storr signed with UW in mid-April, Rohde committed to Virginia and head coach Tony Bennett a few days later. Bennett, who grew up in Wisconsin and played for his father Dick Bennett at UW-Green Bay, then was an assistant coach for his father and Bo Ryan with the Badgers, continues to be a recruiting threat for in-state players. The top player in the 2025 class, Kon Knueppel from Milwaukee, is taking an official visit to UVA, as well as to UW, this month.

Jackson Paveletzke

Other unheralded basketball players out of Wisconsin also had big years. Jackson Paveletzke, a 6’3” guard from Kimberly in the Fox Valley, followed fellow Wisconsinte Max Klesmit to Wofford College in South Carolina. Klesmit transferred to the Badgers last year, and Paveletzke filled his shoes nicely, scoring 15 ppg, shooting nearly 40% from three and winning the conference freshman of the year award.

Of note: Wofford’s head coach Jay McAuley resigned in December after players complained to the college administration and reportedly refused to play for him.

Pavletzke entered the portal after last season and transferred to Iowa State this summer, which has had success recruiting players from Wisconsin in recent years.

Tyrese Haliburton of Oshkosh, who Gard disastrously didn’t offer (thanks Tyler Herro), played for the Cyclones for two years before becoming a lottery pick and an NBA All-Star point guard. Tyrese Hunter of Racine earned Big 12 Freshman of the Year in the ‘21-’22 season, then moved up in the portal to play for the Texas Longhorns last year.

Milan Momcilovic, a 6’8” forward from Pewaukee, was a top-50 recruit nationally, and co-Mr. Wisconsin Basketball with John Kinziger (Badger commit Zach Kinziger’s brother). But he didn’t receive an offer from Gard, who often covets tall shooters, probably because the Badgers already have two in the incoming class in Gus Yalden of Appleton and Nolan Winter of Lakeville in Minnesota. Instead, Momcilovic committed to Iowa State and will be a freshman this year.

Marcus Domask

After a productive career at Southern Illinois, 2019 Mr. Wisconsin Basketball Marcus Domask leveled up to the Big Ten and will use his fifth Covid year at Illinois. The 6’6” small forward from Waupan leaves SIU ranked first in minutes played per game (35.2), sixth in assists per game (3.4), sixth in free throw shooting percentage (84.3%), and ninth in scoring (1,615 points) and 3-pointers made (165).

Domask was also named Mr. Basketball of Wisconsin high school hoops in 2019.

A couple Wisconsin products took steps down in search of more minutes. Danilo Jovanovich, a 6’6” small forward from Whitnall High School in the Milwaukee suburbs, played sparingly as a freshman last year for the Miami Hurricanes, which won the ACC and lost in the Final Four to eventual national champion UConn.

Jovanovich is part of a nine-player tidal wave of transfers completely making over a dreadful Louisville squad that went 4-28 last year.

And of course after beginning last year in the Badgers’ starting five, Jordan Davis departed with two years of eligibility left to play at Illinois State. His brother Johnny Davis, now in the NBA, had an offer from the Badgers for a long time before committing, but wanted to play with his brother and did only when they both received scholarships.

The spot for Jordan would never have been available had the Hauser brothers of Stevens Point, who transferred from Marquette, come to UW, as they appeared set to do. But the pair ended up going their separate ways, Sam to Virginia and Joey to Michigan State in May of 2019. The Davis brothers committed to Wisconsin shortly thereafter.

Johnny became a nearly unstoppable All-American in his second year, leading the Badgers to a share of the Big Ten title, and earning himself a huge, lottery pick contract in the NBA. Jordan could defend at the high level, but never found his shooting stroke, and lost minutes to freshman shooting phenom Connor Essegian.

UW still used the portal more aggressively last year, when the team had more holes to fill, bringing in two in-state products. Shooting guard Max Klesmit of Neenah played two successful years at Wofford in South Carolina before joining the Badgers’ starting lineup as a junior. Point guard Kamari McGee of Racine, had a nice freshman season at UW-Green Bay, leading the team in scoring with nearly 12 points per game and earning a spot on the Horizon League’s all-freshman team. But attempts to recruit frontcourt help failed last year as it did this year.

Gard and staff reportedly tried to bring in another big man to back up starting center Steven Crowl this summer, but failed again as they did last year when it was more of a need. It’s perhaps unsurprising that established college players, even the ones from Wisconsin the staff targeted, don’t want to transfer into a team where they will be a backup.