Throughout June and heading into the all-important July recruiting period, Jeff Goodman and Jeff Borzello will take a look at the summer checklists for the top 50 programs in college basketball, as revealed in Goodman's preseason ballot published in late May. Goodman and Borzello will show you each roster the way the coaches are looking at it, projecting graduation/NBA casualties and areas of need ahead of 2016-17. Below is the summer guide for the Wisconsin Badgers.
An index and schedule for the Summer Recruiting Bible series is located HERE.
(UPDATED: 6/29)
Scholarship chart
Seniors (1): G Jordan Smith
Juniors (5): F Nigel Hayes, PG Bronson Koenig, PF/C Vitto Brown, SG Zak Showalter, G Jordan Hill
Sophomores (2): PF Ethan Happ, SF Riley Dearring
Freshmen (5): PF Alex Illikainen, SG Brevin Pritzl, PF Charlie Thomas, SF Khalil Iverson, PF Andy Van Vliet
Possible early-entry losses after next season: Nigel Hayes, Bronson Koenig
Available scholarships for 2016: One (will likely take two)
Committed prospects for 2016 and beyond: None
Biggest needs for 2016-17: Point guard and either a wing or a big man
Must-haves: SF Maverick Rowan (ESPN No. 30, Each 1 Teach 1)
Targets: SF Maverick Rowan (ESPN No. 30, Each 1 Teach 1), SF Seth Towns (Ohio Basketball Club), SG JaQuori McLaughlin (Team Access), SF Amir Coffey (Howard Pulley), SF Willie Jackson (King James), PG Frankie Hughes (All-Ohio Red), PG Xavier Green (Team Loaded), C Baret Benson (Illinois Wolves)
Summer scenario
The Badgers will enter something of an uncertain summer recruiting period, as Bo Ryan announced recently that he would only coach one more season in Madison before retiring. Instability in a program often scares away recruits, but Ryan threw his support behind long-time assistant coach Greg Gard, and naming Gard as Ryan's replacement could eliminate any questions.
With that said, Wisconsin isn't likely to need to do much damage in the 2016 recruiting class anyway. The Badgers have only one senior, but the expectation is that Nigel Hayes will leave early for the NBA. There's a chance Bronson Koenig could do the same. Wisconsin needs another point guard and is looking at Frankie Hughes and Xavier Green, as well as one more player -- a wing or a big man. The Badgers have plenty of bigs in the program, so the primary focus right now is on a wing, and the priority is Maverick Rowan -- who wants to reclassify into the Class of 2015 and is down to four schools.