Report: Wisconsin in contact with five-star in-state guard top-30 recruit

Wisconsin basketball has contacted 5-star 2027 shooting guard Dooney Johnson.

Johnson, from Milwaukee, is ranked No. 27 overall in his class by 247Sports.

Numerous top programs, including Kentucky, Indiana, and Gonzaga, have also contacted Johnson.

Wisconsin basketball is in the mix for one of the top high school prospects in the class of 2027.

According to Sam Kayser, the Badgers are part of a large group of programs that have contacted Milwaukee, Wisconsin, shooting guard Dooney Johnson. Other programs on the list are Indiana, Kentucky, Marquette, Washington, Gonzaga, Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Minnesota, LSU, BYU, Cincinnati, Western Michigan, St. Louis, Southern Utah and Bradley.

247Sports lists Johnson as a five-star recruit at this stage of the 2027 cycle. He’s specifically ranked as the No. 27 overall player in the class, the No. 3 shooting guard and the No. 1 player from the state of Wisconsin. The in-state Badgers and Marquette Golden Eagles are the clear top programs on his offer sheet as of June 17, though numerous blue-blood programs, including Kentucky, Indiana and Gonzaga, appear to be entering the mix.

The Milwaukee Juneau High School standout also sits at No. 30 in the ESPN60. He has a real chance to surpass class of 2024 five-star recruit Kon Knueppel, who finished the cycle ranked No. 19 in the nation, as one of the state’s top players in recent memory.

Johnson’s recruitment should be a major storyline as the 2027 cycle picks up steam. Several top-ranked in-state recruits have committed elsewhere over the last half-decade. That includes top-100 class of 2025 prospects Jamarion Batemon (Iowa State) and Xzavion Mitchell (Iowa State), Knueppel (Duke), class of 2023 standout Milan Momcilovic (Iowa State), 2022 point guard Seth Trimble (North Carolina) and 2021 point guard Tyrese Hunter (Iowa State).

Of course, Wisconsin has experienced as much success as the listed programs over the last half-decade, except for Duke. But there remains a question of how much the program’s ceiling would be elevated by landing top-tier, NBA-caliber talent. Johnson looks like the next in-state player who could make that a reality.