WBB recruiting: Katelyn McGinnis scouting report
The in-state guard out of Kimberly is Wisconsin's latest scholarship offer in the 2025 class.
With the live basketball recruiting period in full swing, you can expect to hear about more offers going out in the coming weeks. On Tuesday, 2025 guard Katelyn McGinnis (Kimberly, Wis.) announced that she had received a scholarship offer from Marisa Moseley and the Badgers.
Fast Facts
Name: not 100% sure but I think she prefers Kate
Height: 5-foot-9 or 5-foot-10
Position: shooting guard
Hometown: Kimberly, Wisconsin
High School: Kimberly High School
Grassroots Team: Wisconsin Flight Elite (EYBL aka the Nike circuit)
Other offers: Eastern Illinois
High School Stats (2022-23)
Points per game: 10.0
Rebounds per game: 3.8
Assists per game: 1.5
Steals per game: 1.2
Blocks: 12
Turnovers per game: 2.1
Field goals: 101-of-274 (36.9%)
Free throws: 17-of-25 (68.0%)
Three pointers: 62-of-182 (34.1%)
Honors
2022-23 Honorable Mention All-Fox Valley Association
Highlights
Shooting highlights from game vs. Kaukauna
Transition highlights from game vs. Sheboygan North
Shooting highlights from game vs. Oshkosh West
Highlights from 2023 Boo Williams Nike Invitational
Scouting Report
Basketball is a pretty simple game when you think about it. You shoot the ball into the hoop and then you win. However, there are certain levels of “shooting the ball into the hoop” that any one player can be. There are your Steph Curry/Kelsey Plum God Tier shooters and then there are your Ben Simmons Oh God Why Tier shooters. That LARGE area in between is where 95% of the players who lace ‘em up reside, and there are obviously a lot of levels within that huge middle ground.
Kate McGinnis has the potential to be towards the higher end of the spectrum based on her highlight clips. She shot just under 35% from deep, on high volume, as a sophomore at Kimberly and she has a smooth, repeatable stroke with a high finish and she doesn’t seem to be bothered much by defenders in her face.
Even if she didn’t have any other skills, I’d still argue she’d be a valuable addition to the Badgers because of how good her shooting projects to be. Luckily, it would appear that she DOES have other skills, so we don’t have to worry about this crazy hypothetical.
The second thing I noticed about McGinnis is her movement without the ball. Good shooters are always trying to find new and creative ways to shake free of their defender and get open looks. The best way to do that is to constantly be on the move.
In the video of her high school highlights embedded above, McGinnis is running off a variety of screens to get open and she also shows the ability to relocate beyond the arc to open up passing lanes for her teammates.
Another aspect of her game that might go unnoticed is her cutting ability. She gets into the lane via back cuts a number of times in her highlights and they don’t all appear to be designed, so I think she has a good sense of when/where to be on the court.
I wouldn’t say this is an outstanding part of her game, but her highlights show an ability to finish at the rim and she doesn’t look uncomfortable in the paint despite her height. There are even a couple of times where she does a nice pivot move to get her defender moving and then goes the opposite way for a scoop shot. Were she to develop a lethal runner or pull-up jumper in the paint when she gets chased off the line, she’d really be tough to guard.
There weren’t a ton of highlights that focused on her passing or rebounding, so I don’t feel to confident in saying those are “plus” or “minus” skills right now. It doesn’t look like she is much of a ball handler for Kimberly, but that may change as she gets older. She averaged more turnovers than assists last year, but that can be chalked up to being a sophomore while taking on a larger role.
A few concerns that I have include:
Will she be able to diversify her diet of three-point attempts? Right now it appears that most of her attempts are of the spot up variety. That’s all well and good, but she’ll need to show that she can make off-the-dribble threes and pull-up threes and threes where she might not have her feet set perfectly. She has two more seasons of high school ball to work on that and I’d guess she’ll be able to do it based on how mechanically sound her jumper is already.
What does her defense look like? This is simply because I haven’t seen her play live, so I just don’t know. She averaged over one steal per game, which is nice to see, but that doesn’t always mean you are a great defender. This is something you have to trust the UW staff to evaluate, because they know best what will work in their system.
Will she continue to develop into a Big Ten-level athlete? The Badgers, in just about every game they play, are at an athletic disadvantage. McGinnis doesn’t look slow or unathletic, per se, but she’ll also need to keep improving her speed and strength over the next two years.
Overall Thoughts
Wisconsin was her first offer, which I really like. It means that Marisa Moseley and her staff trust their evaluation of a young player and don’t need to wait for other schools to offer. Players always remember their first offer and I do think it gives that team a boost.
I also like that UW’s first offer (I’m pretty sure) of this live period went to an in-state kid. The optics of Maty Wilke transferring out haven’t been great and it will probably take some serious work from Moseley and co. to regain some stature, and trust, in Wisconsin, but that journey has to start somewhere. Why not here?
McGinnis will be an interesting player to follow this summer/next season because I think her shooting ability will put her on a lot of teams’ radars. If she shoots the three at 38% or higher with her AAU team, I could see a bunch of Big Ten schools come calling.