When Carter Gilmore was a kid, he hung around games coached by Bo Ryan and Greg Gard during their time at UW-Platteville.
Now a junior at Arrowhead (WI) High School, Gilmore, a 6-foot-7, 200-pound forward, may one day have the opportunity to participate in one of Gard's practices at the University of Wisconsin.
'I have always been a big-time Badgers fan all my life," Gilmore told BadgerBlitz.com. "My dad played for coach Ryan and coach Gard at Platteville, so growing up Bo would always let me come up and get the players' autographs."
Gilmore, who has seen his recruitment pick up this off-season, was on campus for Wisconsin's win over Nebraska this past weekend.
"Thee Wisconsin visit was awesome," Gilmore, who competes with Phenom University on the AAU circuit, said. "I got to see a practice, went down in the locker room and then up in Coach Gard's office. The feedback was good. Mainly I need to just live in the moment and not let recruiting and basketball take me away from family and academics. But they said personally they like how I’m versatile and can play multiple positions and have a high IQ for the game. They said obviously I need to get stronger, but it will come with time. I just need to keep working.
"The coaching staff was really friendly and were very nice. Watching their practice and watching them play for years, I think I could be a good fit there based on the player I am and how I play."
So far in the 2020 class, the Badgers have offered Dawson Garcia, Ben Carlson, Shon Robinson, Ethan Morton, Zeb Jackson, Reece Beekman, Jonathan Davis and Jalen Johnson.
"I know Wisconsin doesn’t recruit and offer a ton of kids like some other programs," Gilmore said. "While in their office they said they see me having a bright future because how much they have seen me develop so far this summer. They said the odds are in my favor because they know my parents and that they were both tall and good at basketball."
Gilmore currently has offers from Brown, DePaul, Illinois-College, Milwaukee and Southern Illinois, with interest coming from a handful of other schools.
"The bigger schools involved are Wisconsin, Minnesota and Marquette," Gilmore said. "There's also Butler, DePaul, Belmont, Loyola-Chicago, Drake and a few more.
"I’m going to Minnesota for the second time in November and UWM next weekend. I also have a DePaul visit coming up soon."