Marquette or Wisconsin has made the Sweet 16 five years in a row. Wisconsin added a huge bowl win over Auburn, but the real news in Wisconsin was UW-Whitewater becoming the first school to ever win the Division 3 national titles in football, basketball, and baseball in the same year.
We ran the Value Add Sports calculations on all returning California athletes and emailed 57 sports writers and other experts in the state to help rank the 25 state players to watch on a list.
UW-Green Bay and UW-Milwaukee are the only other two D1 teams in the state, but non-D1 schools excel.
Wisconsin only has four Division 1 basketball schools, with a clear division between large D1 schools and small but excellent smaller schools playing at a lower level. Look for Tyler Marz to open more holes for the Badgers in Big Ten play, and Conner Peters to do the same in an attempt to have UW-Whitewater compete again.
Carroll University is another strong D3 team behind quarterback Kyle Burlingame and wide receiver Kevin Jennings in the Midwest.
The state may also have the best brother duo in the country. Henry Ellenson hopes to take Marquette back to the top as the school’s first Top 10 recruit since most rankings were kept, while his brother Wally has set the high jump record at 7 feet 5 3/4 inches. He hopes to make the Olympics.
- Nigel Hayes, Wisconsin, Basket, PF
- Tyler Marz, Wisconsin, Football, OLine
- Bronson Koenig, Wisconsin, Basket, PG
- Clement, Corey, Wisconsin Badgers, Foot, RB
- Conner Peters, UW-Whitewater, Football, G
- Henry Ellenson, Marquette, Basket, PF
- Dan Voltz, Wisconsin, Football, OLine
- Joel Stave, Wisconsin Badgers, Foot, QB
- Zak Showalter, Wisconsin, Basket, SG
- Jordan Fouse, Wisconsin Green Bay, Basket, PF
- Duane Wilson, Marquette, Basket, SF
- Paige Johnson, UW-RiverFalls, Hockey-Men
- Zach Franz, UW-Whitewater, Football, DT
- Joe Sommers, UW-Oshkosh, Football, TE
- Luke Fischer, Marquette, Basket, C
- Megan Crandell, St.NorbertCollege, Hockey-Men,
- Chloe Kinsel, UW-RiverFalls, Hockey-Men,
- Justin Dischler, UW-Whitewater, Football, LB
- Michael Hill, St.NorbertCollege, Hockey-Men,
- Aaron Karlen, UW-Stevens Point, Football, DE
- Kevin Jennings WR Carroll University
- Matt Tiby, Wisconsin Milwaukee, Basket, PF
- Joe Kalisz, UW-Stevens Point, Hockey-Men
- Kyle Burlingame QB Carroll University
- Andrew Rowsey, Marquette 2017, Basketball TIE Carrington Love, UW-Green Bay, Basketball