Wrong.
I stated that it's been a while since the area produced a quality power conference player. My later comment regarding the d1 contribution at any rate was admittedly hyperbole, main point was the power conference contribution.
You listed off a bunch of mid major role players you either mislocared or couldn't even name.
You proved my point.
I grew up, played in, and live in Northeast Wisconsin.
It's ok to disagree. Now stop being a ******.
Oh, my snarky comment was indeed in reply to your's, but let's agree that we're both a little bit of a ******.
For background, first and foremost, I reside in De Pere, graduated from Pulaski, and then the U. So its actually nice to hear someone else in NEW is a Gopher Fan. Not many of us here! I actually searched it on LinkedIn a few months ago, 126 graduates of the U in the Greater GB area, at least listed there.
You'll have to excuse me for the Koch/Jesperson mix up and my inability to name Cody Wichman, from Pulaski, off the top of my head on Wednesday.
I'll agree that NEW doesn't produce Top 150 players on a routine basis. But it has produced its share over the years with a population base of roughly 350k (I'm taking an educated guess) (GB to Menasha down 41 and Sheboygan down 43 (I only go 45 mins south to Sheboygan because they are in the FRCC with all of the GB Schools), and west to Shawano let's say) its not the void of talent you claim, nor poor BB.
First, from a team perspective, Bay Port, Kaukauna, Pulaski, De Pere, GB Notre Dame, to name a few, have all had runs through state or won championships in the past few years. As a comparison, when I was a kid, typically Milwaukee area dominated state. I still remember Bay Port running up and down with Maymon and Blue from Madison at State a few years ago.
But to your point, I believe, inside your general statement about the state of HS Basketball in NEW; I knew Brian Wardle a bit when he was at UW-GB (or GB as they now prefer to market themselves) He was under some booster pressure to recruit local products Wichman or Koch, as he had been recruiting most of the kids from Milwaukee and Chicago. He told me what the area lacked, and he was being general, was the toughness of the inner city kids to get hit in the nose and still stay on the ball defending a trait he felt players like Fletcher, Carriignton Love, etc... had. He said AAU experience had helped in that regard, but it wasn't the same game.
To further your point, The last McDonald's All-American was Brian Butch 2006
However, there has been some talent that signed with P5 schools recently:
Brevin Pritzl (De Pere) was the last kid from NEW to sign with a Power 5 school (Wisconsin 2015) 5th ranked kid in the stated behind Stone and Ellenson who will both be drafted this year.
Cohen (Seymour) with Marquette in 2014 (he also played more than 20 minutes last year)
Lowe was the top kid in NEW in 2013 signed with GB, so you win that year, if your argument is LC is out of the sample area, it defaults to Verhagen from Appleton who went to Eastern Illinois. Although, Moesch (GBSW) is a PWO at Wisconsin.
2012 - Dekker (Sheboygan to Wisconsin)
In the end, your comment felt like your stating most of the HS's in NEW still run the four corners offense and play Dick Bennett defense, in nut huggers. There's been some talent that has come out of here, albeit the last NBA player was Tony Bennett.
I hope that explains my position a little better.
