Many college basketball players spend their college days striving for the lights and stardom of a distinguished NBA career. But Mike Wilkinson, a sophomore forward on the UW men’s basketball team, spends his striving for the humble work ethic necessary to run a dairy farm.
Instead of waking up in swanky hotel rooms, Wilkinson desires to wake up at the crack of dawn to roosters and cows. Rather than perfecting the intricacies of a motion offense, Wilkinson wants to perfect the intricacies of agricultural economics. And rather than being known for serving up highlight-reel dunks, Wilkinson wants to be known for serving up dairy products in grocery stores.
“Farming’s something [where] you’re your own boss; you don’t have to work for anyone. You sit there, and you work on your own schedule,” he said. “I just grew up in it, and I love it. It’s just something that’s in my blood.”
While it may seem strange to some that a star basketball player from a major college would want to spend the rest of his life toiling on a farm, Wilkinson’s roots explain his desire to do so. He was born in Sauk Prairie, Wis., and grew up on a dairy farm. Although he doesn’t dislike city life such as that in Madison, Wilkinson calls himself a “farm boy,” and his heart certainly lies in his rural background.
“Nothing against the city or anything, but I totally buy into the country,” he said. “That’s where I grew up. That’s where I’m from, and I love to go back. I just love being in the country.”
To prepare for his farming career, Wilkinson is pursuing a major in agricultural business, which is basically a business degree with a broader background.
“I’ve been focusing on the farming aspect of business more, and [agricultural business] just gives you a few more options,” he said. “I had a chance to go [to many schools] for basketball, but when it came down to it, this was just a better school, and it had what I was looking for in academics.”
While Wilkinson boasts an impressive farming pedigree, his basketball pedigree is just as impressive. At Wisconsin Heights High School in Mazomanie, he was a three-time first-team all-conference selection. Following a senior season in which he averaged 28.6 points and 12.1 rebounds per game, he was named Mr. Basketball in Wisconsin and was the Wisconsin State Journal player of the year.
“It was a great honor,” he said of being named Mr. Basketball. “But I knew what I needed to do [coming into college], and I needed a lot of work.”
That type of determination helped Wilkinson make a major impact once he hit the floor for the Badgers. After sitting out a redshirt season, he was more productive than perhaps anyone imagined he would be last year.
He came off the bench to play in all 32 of Wisconsin’s games, leading the team with 5.3 rebounds per game and posting four “double-doubles,” which is the most by a UW freshman since Rashard Griffith in 1993-94. His ability to mix it up inside and step outside to knock down the jumper provided valuable offense to a Wisconsin team that surprisingly shared the Big Ten title.
“I was fortunate to play pretty well in some games, and I just took what they gave me,” he said of his freshman year.
Wilkinson has been just as effective this season, averaging 8.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game in helping the Badgers to a 4-0 record. But perhaps his biggest contribution has been giving the current freshmen a lesson in the physicality of Big Ten basketball before the season began, something Wilkinson needed to adjust to when he was a freshman.
“Athletically, it’s a little different pace here,” he said. “Everything’s a little bit quicker, a little bit faster, maybe a little bit stronger. It’s something I’ve gotten accustomed to over the last couple years.”
Over his entire life, however, Wilkinson has gotten accustomed to the farming lifestyle. Whether he continues with basketball or not, his passion will always be back on the farm.
“We’ll see where basketball takes me,” he said. “I want to go and play basketball as long as I can. It’s something that I love, and I can always go back to farming.”
