Wisconsin freshman Gus Yalden to take temporary leave of absence for personal matter

The Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team got some bad news on Wednesday afternoon, after they learned one of their prized freshman prospects will have to step away from the team for a bit. Gus Yalden will take a temporary leave of absence to address a personal family matter, according to Badgers’ head coach Greg Gard.

“We are in full support of Gus and will always be here for him and his family,” Gard said in his official statement released on the Badgers’ website. “Gus is part of the Wisconsin basketball family and even though he won’t be on the court with us right now, we’ll always do everything we can to help him. We look forward to his return.”

Yalden just recently got his first minutes in front of Badger fans in the team’s Red-White scrimmage, which was held on October 15th.

A native of Appleton, Wisconsin, Yalden grew up as a fan of the Badgers. The 6-foot-9 forward was one of the more highly regarded prospects in the 2023 cycle. He was ranked just outside the Top 100 prospects in America, according to the On3 Industry Rankings for that class. Yalden was rated as the No. 114 overall prospect in the nation and the No. 19 power forward prospect in the country, according to those rankings.

He had one of his best performances on the Nike EYBL circuit before his senior season of high school, erupting for a 35-point, 17-rebound performance at Nike Peach Jam in July. Yalden bounced around to a number of different high schools in his high school career.

Coming out of high school, Yalden drew praise from scouts and evaluators for his tremendous ability to pass the ball for a player his size. For that, many different people dubbed him as “Baby Jokic”, in comparisons to last year’s NBA Champion and MVP, Nikola Jokic. He also earned the nickname, the Gus Bus.

Scouting Report on Yalden

“Gus Yalden has a strong frame and an excellent skill base. You immediately notice his footwork; he has an array of moves from 15-feet and in with upfakes and up-and-unders. He is a skilled ball-handler in the open floor and can knock down a three-pointer off the catch. The athleticism will be the ultimate question; where does he defend? However, he consistently gives great effort. Yalden is a matchup problem and has consistently given production at a high level.” — Jamie Shaw, On3 National Recruiting Analyst

Yalden also gave his own personal take on his game.

“I’m a versatile big man who can do a lot of things,” Yalden told On3’s Jamie Shaw. “I can play physical, knock down jump shots, put it on the floor, and get to the rim. A lot of people have compared me to Nikola Jokic and Kevin Love, and I understand that. I would say for me, growing up, my favorite basketball player was Kevin Durant. Every big man’s dream is to play like a guard, so I watched a lot of his games and tried to model what I do after him.”

On3’s Jamie Shaw also contributed to this article.