The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball program will have to go back to the drawing board to fill one of the frontcourt spots in its 2027 recruiting class.
Composite four-star center Jack Thelen has decommitted from Wisconsin and reopened his recruitment, according to ESPN’s Jeff Borzello. Thelen’s representatives at WME Basketball shared the decision.
The decision ends a commitment that lasted roughly four months and leaves Greg Gard and the Badgers with two verbal commitments remaining in the 2027 class: Jalen Brown and Baboucarr Ann.
For Wisconsin, this is a notable loss because Thelen checked several boxes the program has historically valued in its frontcourt development.
The 7-foot-1, roughly 240-pound center from Maple Grove High School in Minnesota committed to Wisconsin on June 13, only three days after receiving his scholarship offer from the Badgers. Thelen had previously visited Madison in May, with assistant coach and Maple Grove alumnus Brad Davison playing a prominent role in his recruitment.
At the time, Wisconsin’s staff was getting in early on a player whose recruitment was just beginning to take off.
Thelen continued to raise his profile during the summer, averaging 8.5 points and six rebounds per game on the Adidas 3SSB circuit. The composite ranks him as the No. 14 center in the 2027 class and places him in four-star territory, around the top 110 prospects nationally.
That development made his commitment look increasingly valuable as the summer went along.
Thelen isn’t necessarily the modern stretch-five archetype. His appeal came from being a true center with legitimate size, good activity, and a developing offensive skill set around the basket. He has shown solid footwork in the post, touch around the rim, and an ability to pass when defenses collapse, while offering rim protection and communication on the other end.
There was also an obvious Minnesota connection.
Thelen plays alongside fellow Wisconsin commit Baboucarr Ann at Maple Grove. Not to mention, the Badgers have had quite a bit of success developing Minnesota frontcourt players in recent years, including Nate Reuvers, Tyler Wahl, Steven Crowl and Nolan Winter.
Now, Wisconsin will have to decide how it wants to replace what Thelen represented in the class.
Brown and Ann remain committed, giving the Badgers a foundation to work from, but losing Thelen ahead of National Signing Day removes the true center from that group and creates another roster-building decision for Gard and his staff.
That distinction matters more than ever in the current version of college basketball.
Wisconsin can continue evaluating high school big men in the 2027 cycle, but committing scholarship and financial resources to a developmental center is no longer a decision made in isolation. The portal gives college basketball programs access to older, more physically developed options every offseason, which changes how staffs have to weigh long-term upside against immediate production. But 7-footers don’t come cheap.
Thelen’s recruitment, meanwhile, starts over with a considerably different profile than the one he carried when Wisconsin originally offered him.
For the Badgers, the 2027 class is down to two commitments, and the work to determine what comes next in the frontcourt starts again.
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