Why Wisconsin men’s basketball won’t abandon high school recruiting in the portal era

Wisconsin men’s basketball is betting on development, culture, and a blend of local and global recruiting efforts to build a lasting foundation.

In today’s college basketball landscape, most programs have all but scrapped the idea of traditional high school recruiting as the foundation.

The transfer portal era, paired with the unregulated NIL arms race happening behind the scenes, has turned roster building into something more transactional, more short-term, and, in many ways, more cutthroat.

Why invest multiple years developing a relationship with a high school recruit with long-term upside, knowing they might not pan out — or worse, bolt the moment a bigger offer or more money rolls in — when you can pull a 21-year-old ready-made contributor from the portal?

That’s the question a lot of head coaches are asking themselves. And in an era where athletic departments and fanbases have little patience for rebuilds, it can feel like every season is a must-win in the Power 5.

But the Wisconsin men’s basketball staff? That’s not how they’re wired. At least not philosophically. They’ve embraced the portal where it makes sense, but they haven’t sold out on it or completely abandoned the long game of development and high school recruiting.

Greg Gard and his staff still believe high school recruiting matters — not just as an occasional add-on, but as a real part of their identity. And Associate Head Coach Joe Krabbenhoft couldn’t have been clearer about why.

“I think it’s fair to say that it’s changed,” Krabbenhoft admitted on The Swing. “I don’t think there’s a negative light to that by any stretch of the imagination because it’s important that we continue to get the right guys.”

Look at the players that they prioritized keeping this offseason: John Blackwell out of Bloomfield Hills (MI), Nolan Winter from Lakeville North (MN), and Jack Janicki from White Bear Lake (MN). All were key targets in the Badgers’ 2023 recruiting class, all developed in the program, and now all of them are expected to be major pillars of the 2025–26 team.

“That’s no different than what we’ve been trying to do for a long time,” Krabbenhoft said. “You’re not going to bat a thousand. I think our percentages over the course of decades, even before I came here, have been really, really good. That’s because the first box you check is: What kind of person are you? What kind of teammate are you? How about that academic piece? How important is that? Because here, to Coach Gard, our staff, our administration, and our school, it’s a very important piece.”

In other words, Wisconsin’s philosophy isn’t about chasing the flashiest four or five-star name on a ranking sheet. It’s about finding the guys who fit the Badgers’ culture, not just as players, but as people, too.

“You’re going to strike out sometimes, but you’re going to hit more often than not,” said Krabbenhoft. “I think when you look at who we brought in this year, Will Garlock and Zack Kinziger, they checked those boxes.”

Garlock, a promising big man from Middleton, and Kinziger, a four-star combo guard from De Pere, have been on the staff’s radar for years and were both considered impressive in-state recruiting wins.

“We knew those names by the time they were 12 or 13 years old. We knew those families really well. Got to talk to those teachers and coaches. Those boxes were checked early,” Krabbenhoft explained. “Then you start watching a guy like Will develop, he’s going to surprise some people. He’s pretty good. He fits in this system and the way we’re playing really well.”

As for Kinziger, the staff sees a potential long-term building block.

“Zack, the pedigree he comes from up in De Pere, his brothers, is just a really mature player that I think is going to have an opportunity to be a guy, a year or two from now, that we’re talking about as a key piece to this program’s success.”