Although the on-court product has wavered in recent years for Wisconsin Badgers basketball, the overall direction the program has been moving in seems positive, in large part due to the recruiting momentum Greg Gard and Co. have gained. One of, if not the biggest grassroots recruiting gets of the entire Gard era was guard Jalen Brown — a consensus 4-star and top-100 recruit.
However, Wisconsin fans were given a bit of a scare recently, as news came out of the guard packing his bags from Wauwatosa and transferring to Sequoia Prep in Arizona. At face value, a cross-country move out of state such as this may come across as a signal of him not being all in on the Badgers long term, but those rumors are well overblown.
According to Wauwatosa West coach Chris Newbauer, Wisconsin recruit Jalen Brown (6-5) will attend Seqouia Prep in Arizona for his senior season. He is not too old by WIAA rules, Newbauer said, but Jalen opted to spend his senior year out of state at a prep school.
— Mark Miller (@WisBBYearbook) September 14, 2026
It has become increasingly more common for players to make the leap from public school to the prep level in search of a higher level of competition to better prepare them for the collegiate level. In Brown’s case, he has already proven — at least to himself — that he can dominate the public school level in the state of Wisconsin, making the step up in competition a sensible move…