Ranking the Classes: #9 - Wisconsin

For as along as anyone can remember, or at least since Jack Pettinger strolled the deck, the Badger women have overshadowed the men.  This class, head coach Eric Hansen feels “allow[s] us to continue working towards our goal of having both programs in the top ten (in the nation) at the same time.”

They took a big step towards doing just that when they kept National Junior Teamer Wes Lagerhausen in state.  Lagerhausen, ranked 13^th overall, is the best recruit from Wisconsin since Kyle Bubolz, but with about four more inches.   Hanson also added a couple of interesting kids in Brett Nagle and Chris Johnson.  Both are top-100 recruits and both have the ability to help the Badgers in the 400 IM and the 200 Freestyle Relay.  How about that for range?  Cole Scarborough and Chris Nemeth add depth at sprinting.  If they can make the same gains as someone like Mitch Buenger did, the Badgers shoot up the Big Ten. A couple more bodies and they could follow the pattern set by Northwestern.

A rival coach's perspective:  "This class is HUGE for them.  This is the first time I've seen them beat Minnesota for kids.  With a little momentum they can just filling holes."