Wisconsin Basketball now has Three Blue-Chip Players Committed in Stacked '27 Class

As we race towards the start of Wisconsin football season, it's easy to forget that Wisconsin basketball appears to have an extremely bright future.

This summer, Wisconsin secured the commitment of both Jalen Brown and Baboucarr Ann, both of whom are consensus four-star, top-100 players in the nation.

The Badgers haven't historically been able to lure that kind of high school backcourt talent to Madison; they've largely needed to rely on the portal for dynamic wings and guards.

An area they have been historically great at recruiting? Big men from Minnesota, and they carried on that tradition with seven-footer Jack Thelen out of Maple Grove.

We knew Brown and Ann were elite prospects, both of whom appear to have a shot to play early in Madison. But Thelen was considered more of a developmental player; you take a gifted seven-footer when you can get one, and bank on developing him down the line.

Thelen has made waves this summer, however, and is now considered a four-star prospect by 247Sports.

The impressive numbers behind Wisconsin's loaded '27 class

Wauwatosa West guard Jalen Brown. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

247Sports now has Thelen as the No. 15 center in the country, the No. 2 player in the state of Minnesota (behind the aforementioned Ann) and the No. 120 player in the entire country.

On3/Rivals currently has a similar evaluation for Thelen. On that site, he checks in as the No. 12 center in the country, the No. 2 player in the state and the No. 125 player overall nationally. The difference is that he's now been awarded his fourth star by 247Sports, making the Badgers' 2027 recruiting haul entirely comprised of blue-chip players on that site.

It's clear that Wisconsin has three elite prospects in tow for the class of 2027, fourth star on On3/Rivals or not. The Badgers' 2027 hoops recruiting haul currently ranks a whopping No. 3 in the country on 247Sports, behind only Iowa State and Purdue. It's not too far behind on On3/Rivals, where it checks in at No. 8 in the nation.

We still won't get to see these Badgers commits on campus for another year, but right now, the 2027 recruiting class is a sign of great things to come for Wisconsin.

It marries one of the key building blocks of this program (big men from Minnesota) with something this program needs to take it to the next level (elite backcourt talent out of high school). With Thelen, Brown and Ann, the future looks extremely bright in Madison.

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