Greg Gard earns a commitment from one of Wisconsin’s top-of-the-board prospects in the 2023 recruiting class:
Madison, Wisc. βΒ As a fan of the Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball program, you can count on three things in this life: death, taxes, and prep players from Minnesota committing to play for UW.
On Friday, that statement held true once again when Greg Gard and his coaching staff received a verbal commitment from three-star power forward Nolan Winter out of Lakeville, Minnesota.
Per the 247sports Composite, Winter is the No. 176 overall prospect in the 2023 recruiting class, the No. 38 PF in the country, and the No. 2 player in Minnesota.
If Lakeville sounds familiar, it’s because Wisconsin has recently created a pipeline at Lakeville North High School β producing Badger forward’s Nate Reuvers, Tyler Wahl, and now Nolan Winter.
“I love all the coaches from top to bottom,” Winter told BadgersWire. “The campus is beautiful, and the entire city is awesome with a really supportive fanbase. The players are all really cool and are dudes I can get along with for four years. They know how to win.”
Winter, a 6-foot-11, 210-pound forward who plays AAU with Howard Pulley, chose Wisconsin over scholarship opportunities from Minnesota, Stanford, Xavier, Oregon State, St. Thomas, Wake Forest, and Xavier.
“The staff sees me thriving at the four spot and, over the years, transitioning into the three,” Winter explained. “They compared me a lot to Sam Dekker and Jon Leuer. They also said they want me to have a big impact early on in my career.”
It’s easy to see Winter’s potential fit within a program like UW, given their success utilizing inside-out big men with similar skill sets.
The Lakeville North High School standout is a lanky, stretch big man that excels in the pick and pop, is a good passer from the high post, and has a budding low-post game. He also moves well for his size and flashes the ability to take defenders off the dribble and use his height to score over the top.
Winter, who fills Wisconsin’s last remaining scholarship in the 2023 recruiting cycle, joins combo-guard John Blackwell, forward Gus Yalden, and walk-on shooting guard Jack Janicki.
The Minnesota native announced his commitment to the University of Wisconsin via his Twitter account:
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