Crowl dunks in the 2019 Class 4A state tournament
Wisconsin mens' basketball coach Greg Gard continued to upstage Gophers' coach Richard Pitino in his own back yard Tuesday when Eastview's 6-10 senior forward Steven Crowl gave a verbal commitment to Wisconsin.
Crowl, who made the annoucement on Twitter, averaged 19.3 points per game last season and led the Lightning to a Class 4A state tournament berth.
"They've had a lot of guys like me go through there," Crowl told the Star Tribune after Wisconsin initially offered him in July. "That's one thing that obviously intrigues me that they can develop me into those type of guys."
He'll join a program that already has five Minnesotans on its roster: Juniors Brad Davison (Maple Grove), Nathan Reuvers (Lakeville North) and Walt McGrory (Edina), redshirt freshman Joe Hedstrom (Hopkins) and true freshman Tyler Wahl (Lakeville North).
Crowl played AAU basketball during the spring and summer with D-I Minnesota, the same program as Reuvers and Wahl. He chose Wisconsin over Minnesota, Iowa and Colorado. He also had scholarship offers from Northern Iowa and South Dakota.
Garcia announces seven finalists
Prior Lake's 6-10 forward Dawson Garcia announced his seven finalists Tuesday, also via Twitter. Garcia is considered the No. 2-ranked prospect in Minnesota in the class of 2020 and is ranked No. 30 overall by 247 Sports.
His finalists are North Carolina, Arizona, Memphis, Indiana, Kansas, Marquette and Minnesota.
Garcia averaged 27.5 points and 11 rebounds per game last season, guiding the Lakers to the Class 4A, Section 2 championship game last winter before falling to Eden Prairie. He led Team USA to the FIBA World U-18 3-on-3 championship in Mongolia in May. He played AAU for D-1 Minnesota, but missed a portion of the summer season with illness.
