Busting Brackets
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Big Ten Basketball: Breaking down each program’s 2018 recruiting class

By Lukas Harkins

EAST LANSING, MI - JANUARY 26: General view of the Breslin Center. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MI - JANUARY 26: General view of the Breslin Center. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /
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EAST LANSING, MI – JANUARY 26: Head coach Gard of Wisconsin. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MI – JANUARY 26: Head coach Gard of Wisconsin. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /

Wisconsin Badgers

Class rankings: 12th in Big Ten, 65th nationally

Commitments: Taylor Currie (191), Tai Strickland (314), Joe Hedstrom (363)

Wisconsin had a really tough season in 2017-18. The Badgers struggled tremendously to pick up wins and had their worst season in recent memory by far. The team also had to deal with season-ending injuries to guards Kobe King and D’Mitrik Trice. Thankfully, the team saw a huge freshman season from Brad Davison and is expecting Ethan Happ to return for his senior season.

Because of the massive amount of returning talent staying in Madison, Wisconsin should be back in the top-half of the Big Ten standings this next season. When analyzing the Badgers’ recruiting class, though, things could have been better. Most notably, the program had secured a major commitment in the form of top-50 recruit Tyler Herro. However, the star guard de-committed in October and is now heading to Kentucky to play under John Calipari.

Head coach Greg Gard was able to recover from this by signing three other recruits. Taylor Currie and Joe Hedstrom are both frontcourt options of the future. Right now, returners Happ and Nathan Reuvers are holding down the power forward and center positions but there is nothing behind them. The addition of these two bigs should help the future of the program.

In addition, the Badgers signed 6’2″ guard Tai Strickland out of Florida. He joins a crowded backcourt in Madison and it is difficult to see what role he will have within the program. However, talented players always find a way to receive minutes.

Next: Big East recruiting for 2018

After a down season in 2017-18, it looks like Big Ten basketball is going to be back on the rise soon. The conference has a ton of excellent recruiting classes coming in and there are several players who are on the cusp of becoming household names.

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