We talked about Jalen Johnson last week as the recruiting battle heats up for him. Wisconsin and Marquette are both going hard for the 2020 recruit as well as the entire college basketball landscape. Johnson decided to make a move to Nicole coming from Sun Prairie. Johnson and his brother will be playing for a stacked team that includes two other top recruits, Desmond Polk and Jamari Sibley. This is going to be the team to watch in the state of Wisconsin for high school basketball. So what does this mean for the recruiting hunt?

Well, he goes from being in Wisconsin’s backyard to Marquette’s backyard. That’s the biggest noticeable jump. Steve Wojciechowski will get easy access to go check out Johnson on a regular basis as well as whomever is recruiting him. This could mean absolutely nothing. Or it could be a sign of Johnson wanting to get outside of the Madison area bubble and be more in a place where there are countless names being recruited in the area. Obviously playing for a Wisconsin ‘superteam’ is going to take some of the pressure off him plus there will be coaches to see Polk and Sibley primarily, not Johnson.

You have to feel for Sun Prairie, though. That’s a gut punch to think you’re going to have an amazing team led by a top-level recruit, and now, he’s gone. I don’t follow high school hoops enough, so, maybe, this was a long-time done deal. It’s going to be great when some writer pens a column about how this is exactly what’s wrong with basketball these days. You know an old crusty reporter already filed that to his editor, and we’ll get that take live on Tuesday morning.

The North Shore and Greater Metro conference will be must-see stuff with Johnson and Patrick Baldwin Jr. being in the mix. It’s hard to think when Wisconsin had such a deep group of high-level recruits. We’ll see where they all end up.

Charlie.