The Badgers have been in contact with a five-star in-state recruit.
The Wisconsin Badgers have seen quite a few talented players in the state head elsewhere for college over the past few years.
Kon Knueppel was a longtime target, but ultimately headed to the Duke Blue Devils. Top four-stars Davion Hannah, Jamarion Batemon, and Xzavion Mitchell were all discussed at one point before heading elsewhere. Even Milan Momcilovic was a top-40 recruit in the Class of 2023.
Of course, Wisconsin has still done pretty well with recent recruiting classes, landing John Blackwell and Nolan Winter in the 2023 class. They also had a years-long pursuit of four-star Daniel Freitag, who transferred this offseason.
Then, in the 2025 class, they landed four-star Zach Kinziger. But, some of the top in-state talent has managed to evade the Badgers for a variety of reasons. Can that change with the next blue-chipper from the state?
Meet Dooney Johnson, a five-star recruit in the Class of 2027 and the No. 1 overall player in the state in that cycle.
Standing 6’5, 185 pounds, Johnson is considered the No. 27 player in the country by 247Sports and hails from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Wisconsin has already been interested in Johnson, offering the guard back on November 16th of last year. But, the beginning of this week marked the first time that restrictions were lifted for underclassmen, allowing teams to freely contact recruits.
Of course, that led to quite a bit of interest for the Wisconsin native, as over 15 schools reached out to Johnson, with one of them being the Badgers, according to League Ready’s Sam Kayser.
In addition to Wisconsin, here are the schools that have already reached out to the five-star this week:
Indiana
Kentucky
Marquette
Washington
Gonzaga
Oklahoma State
Nebraska
Minnesota
Cincinnati
Western Michigan
St. Louis
Southern Utah
Bradley
Now, Wisconsin’s stance on high school recruiting has shifted in recent years, as the Badgers are more focused on the transfer portal with NIL coming into play.
And that’s fair, given the financial commitment that many top high school recruits require and the uncertainty they provide on the court as a freshman. Wisconsin’s budget has certainly grown, but it’s not nearly as high as some of the top teams in the country, so they have to use their resources smartly and efficiently.
That’s why head coach Greg Gard has openly shifted away from the previous ways with high school recruiting, instead only targeting players who fit the program well and are willing to earn their spot over a few years.
With that process, the Badgers have mainly gone after in-state recruits and overseas players with their last two recruiting classes. We even saw how a multi-year recruitment could bear minimal fruit with how Daniel Freitag’s career at Wisconsin played out.
But, Johnson is a top talent in the country, so it’s not a surprise that Wisconsin is showing early interest. We’ll see exactly how this recruitment plays out over the next few months (and years), but the Badgers have been interested for a while with the scholarship offer and have already reached out to the in-state five-star.