The big cheese in state recruiting UW tops MU in landing players since 2000

The Marquette and Wisconsin men's basketball teams have battled on the court for decades.

One of the oldest rivalries in college basketball doesn't take place only on the hardwood, though. How the two programs perform on the recruiting front, often going up against each other for the top high school talent in Wisconsin, can be just as important and just as competitive as the annual game.

Last month, we took a look at the best recruiting classes from Wisconsin since 2000 as part of an ongoing series about boys high school basketball recruiting in the state this century.

This story examines how MU and UW, the state's high-major men's college basketball programs, have recruited in Wisconsin, which trends have emerged, which team has fared better when going head-to-head for recruits and more.

As with our rankings of recruiting classes, we are using 2000-on as our timeframe. The 2021 class, due to still being incomplete, was not included.

We focused only on scholarship players who signed with either MU or UW immediately out of high school. This does not include players such as Zak Showalter, who signed with the Badgers as a preferred walk-on and earned a scholarship, though they in some cases may have contributed significantly to their programs.

Recruiting isn't confined to acquiring players only out of high school, of course, so we also make note of instate players transferring to either school when applicable.

In-state recruiting isn't the be-all and end-all of building up a college program, either. Many of the best players during this time period for both MU and UW were from out of state, including the likes of Jimmy Butler, Frank Kaminsky, Markus Howard and Jordan Taylor. This story isn't to imply anything about the necessity — or lack thereof — of successfully recruiting within the borders of Wisconsin, but, rather, a dive into one of the critical elements to recruiting in college basketball.

Starting off with some numbers

Wisconsin has had 23 players from the state commit on scholarship out of high school since 2000. Marquette has had 14.

Regarding in-state players transferring into either program, UW has had only one (Sharif Chambliss), as well as walk-on Trevor Anderson, who went on to earn a scholarship. MU has had four: Wally Ellenson, Luke Fischer, Jake Thomas and Jamil Wilson.

Notably, seven of the Golden Eagles' past 10 in-state commits did not finish their careers at Marquette. Kobe King is the lone player to fall into that category for the Badgers.

FILE PHOTOS Sam Dekker, left, who Wisconsin recruited from Sheboygan Lutheran, and Steve Novak, who Marquette recruited from Brown Deer, were two of the most highly sought-after in-state recruits since 2000.

Wisconsin recruited Devin Harris out of Wauwatosa East High School.