UWGB men's basketball lands record-setting Illinois prep star David Douglas Jr.
GREEN BAY – Sundance Wicks didn’t spend much time celebrating after earning his first NCAA Division I head coaching job March 14.
The new leader of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay men’s basketball team went right to work in reshaping a roster that finished 3-29 last season.
He made a scholarship offer to Yorkville Christian (Illinois) senior David Douglas Jr. one day after getting hired and met with the high school star during a campus visit to Green Bay on March 18.
It apparently went well.
Douglas became the first recruit of the Wicks era Monday when he announced his commitment to the Phoenix.
It didn’t take long for Douglas to learn what everybody knows after speaking to Wicks for a few minutes: The man has some serious energy.
“Definitely,” Douglas said. “From the first words he said, when he said, ‘DJ, what’s up, my man?’ I was like, oh my goodness, he has so much energy. This guy is pumped.
“I always bring stuff to my parents. They are a big part of that. We all do our own little research. My mom or dad will say something to me, and I will look at it. We did some research on Coach Wicks and we saw a lot of good stuff about him.”
Division I interest in Douglas was picking up
Perhaps it’s a good thing Wicks didn’t waste time reaching out to the 6-foot-5 combo guard. Along with several Division II offers in hand, Douglas had started picking up interest from DI schools.
It included Columbia University, an Ivy League program that can’t offer athletic scholarships but does provide financial aid to student-athletes.
“They offered the next day (after UWGB),” said Douglas, who has a 4.0 grade-point average. “But Coach Wicks got on it right away and made the offer and got us down. We ended up really liking it.”
Per NCAA rules, Wicks is not allowed to comment on potential recruits until their paperwork is complete.
Former UWGB coach Will Ryan and his staff reached out to Douglas before his final prep campaign started in the fall, but he did not hear from them during the season.
He was surprised when UWGB came calling again after so many months, but he wasn’t aware it had made a coaching change.
Douglas’ high school coach told him that a coach from the University of Wyoming had reached out about him during the season.
Wicks was an assistant at Wyoming the last three years.
“I think he might have known me before and was kind of keeping track and ended up getting me,” Douglas said.
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Douglas showed during his final two prep seasons that he can fill a variety of roles for a team.
He was the fourth scoring option and a facilitator on a squad that won the Class 1A state championship during his junior season, finishing with 11 points and 5 rebounds in 29 minutes in a 54-41 win over Liberty in the title game last March.
His responsibilities were much different as a senior.
Yorkville lost almost its entire team to graduation after the championship run, leaving Douglas as the only player with any varsity experience to start the season.
He knew he would have an increased scoring role, but even Douglas didn’t realize just how big.
Douglas was a prolific scorer as a senior
Douglas led the state and was eighth in the nation in scoring at 33.8 points per game, adding 9.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.9 steals.
His 339 free throws made set a state record and ranked second in the country, while the 1,083 points he scored ranks seventh all-time in Illinois for a single season.
Douglas scored 50 or more points four times, including a school-record 66 in a 93-84 loss to Bloomington last month.
He never felt much pressure about his college future despite entering his final prep season without a decision.
Last summer was his first time playing on the AAU circuit as a member of Breakaway Basketball after previously being on the roster of independent grassroots programs.
He hadn't experienced the recruiting process until then, but his parents reminded him to be patient and not rush into anything.
His strong faith, not to mention a strong belief in himself and his abilities, made him confident things would work out.
It appears they did.
Douglas could bring a much-needed scorer to UWGB, which has been one of the worst shooting teams in the Horizon League the last two seasons, including the worst this season after it shot 39.4%.
He has shown an ability to score anywhere on the court, which the Phoenix hopes will translate to the collegiate level.
What guard spot Douglas plays remains to be seen, but he’s prepared to do whatever the Phoenix needs in helping it return to respectability.
“I think I can do both,” Douglas said. “I can facilitate and get my teammates involved, and I can score from three levels. I feel like if Coach needs me to get some buckets or create, when I was playing this past year, I had a lot of attention on me so there would be like two guys running at me, I’d make the easy pass.
“I feel I can do the same thing at Green Bay. Create off the dribble, catch-and-shoot if I need to, sometimes play point guard and get my teammates involved.”
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: UWGB men's basketball lands record-setting Yorkville Christian star
