Catching up with Wisconsin Basketball’s Recent Recruiting Efforts

The Wisconsin Badgers offered their third player in the Class of 2019 during their advanced camp at the Kohl Center on June 23. The Badgers offered D.J. Carton, a 6-foot-2 point guard out of Iowa who impressed Greg Gard and the coaching staff.

Carton is Wisconsin’s first guard target in 2019, joining forward Matthew Hurt and Nobal Days as Wisconsin’s three extended offers in the class. Hurt is a 6-foot-8 five-star prospect out of Minnesota who also holds offers from programs like Kansas, North Carolina and Arizona. Days, a 6-foot-9 power forward, is a four-star in-state prospect from Racine who has offers from Marquette, DePaul, Illinois, Kansas State and St. Louis, among others.

While Wisconsin fans have heard of Hurt and Days for awhile, Carton’s name came out of nowhere this weekend. According to 247Sports, the soon-to-be junior had offers from North Dakota and IUPUI before he impressed the Wisconsin coaching staff last week.

Carton is a left-hander who plays for Quad City Elite in the summer. He showcased his explosive play from the point guard position at the Wisconsin camp, as shown in this camp highlight video posted by Evan Flood of Badger247.

It’s hard to project exactly who will be on the team in a couple years, but the Wisconsin coaching staff has clearly worked to address the perceived lack of guard depth caused by the graduation of Bronson Koenig and Zak Showalter. If Carton did join Wisconsin in 2019, the Badgers would be projected to have a veteran group of guards that would include senior D’Mitrik Trice, senior Brevin Pritzl, junior Trevor Anderson, junior Kobe King, junior Brad Davison, junior Michael Ballard and junior Walt McGrory.

2017 class steps on campus

Wisconsin’s Class of 2017 is no longer recruits after the group arrived on campus in Madison on June 16. The five-man crop of newcomers, which includes UW-Green Bay transfer Trevor Anderson, was pictured in this photo shared by Wisconsin Basketball, including (left to right) Walt McGrory, Brad Davison, Anderson, Kobe King and Nathan Reuvers.

King impresses in final high school showing

King capped off his high school career by playing in the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association All-Star Game on June 17. The event pitted the top players in the state from the Class of 2017 against one another. King didn’t disappoint, tallying 29 points and 10 rebounds to lead his North team over the South in the Division 2 game. King also showed his athleticism by getting off this off-the-backboard dunk during the flow of the game.