MONROE — Cade Meyer made his college choice official Nov. 18 — he signed his National Letter of Intent to play college basketball at UW-Green Bay. The Monroe senior waited a week to sign, wanting to find the right moment where he could be joined by his parents, brother, coach Brian Bassett and teammates.

“It’s just nice to know that all that work I put in my whole life; I can officially say that I am a Green Bay Phoenix. It’s just amazing,” Meyer said. 

The Phoenix have a new coaching staff, with Will Ryan, son of former Badgers coach Bo Ryan, leading the way. Nonconference games this year include Wisconsin, Marquette and Minnesota.

Meyer said that having Ryan as a new coach and the rebuilding a program is what drew him to Green Bay. “I really wanted to be a part of something like that, and I feel like Green Bay has a chance to kind of get on the map,” Meyer said. “They’ve got some really good players in there right now, and the recruiting class this year is amazing.”

Also joining Meyer at UW-Green Bay in the Class of 2021 are in-state ballers Kamari McGee of Racine St. Catherine’s and Brayden Dailey of Cuba City. 

Ryan said in a press release that Meyer’s “energy, athleticism, and versatility jumped out at me immediately last summer.” All three recruits were rated in the top 10 of state prospects in their graduating class. 

Meyer, standing at 6-8 and still just 17-years-old, has shown the ability to play both inside and outside, grab the tough rebounds, hit the outside shot and spark the crowd with highlight-reel dunks.

Meyer transferred to Monroe prior to his sophomore year of high school, but Bassett already knew what kind of player Meyer could turn out to be.

“When he got here, he was just starting to come out of his shell. I’ve known him for a long time — he and his brother came over to a couple of camps when (Pat) Murphy was still the head coach,” Bassett said. “Back then he was just a post player, and even as a sophomore he really wanted to post up a lot. He developed into a wing, and it didn’t take long just because he’s so athletic and so skilled.”

While Conner stayed at Black Hawk, Cade bided his time in the Monroe program, often deferring shots and big plays to his teammates so as to not seem selfish. Bassett spent time and effort telling his star to be more aggressive, and as a junior last year, Meyer earned honorable all-state honors, averaging 18.7 points per game, 7.5 more than his sophomore season. 

He enters his senior season just 331 points from 1,000 for his career — a mark that would be fairly achievable in most years given the bump to 24 games and individual progression. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has shortened Monroe’s season to just 15 games. If all 15 are played, Meyer would need to average slightly more than 22 each night to achieve the milestone.

“I can’t say enough about how much he works or how hard he works at it,” Bassett said. “He was very shy at first and didn’t want to — his sophomore year — didn’t want to take anybody else’s shots. He was worried about making people angry. Then last year and this offseason, he’s become a true leader of this team and is making everybody else work as hard as he does.”

Meyer follows in the footsteps of his father, Craig, who played at Loyola-Chicago and UW-Milwaukee after graduating from Black Hawk in 1990.

“He talks to me about college basketball a lot. It can be a big wakeup call just because that Division I level is a big level. He told me strength is a huge factor — if you can put a lot of muscle on and be strong going into your first year, then you’ve got a big chance of playing. It’s because you can be a really good player at the divisional level, but if you’re not strong enough, it’s hard to have you in there,” Cade said. “Another thing is to just stay calm and just work hard. You’ve got a lot of people in college that are there to help you. Just use your resources.”

Not just a basketball star, Meyer began competing in track and field as a sophomore and in just two months won the state title in 2019. The coronavirus pandemic kept Meyer from defending his title this past spring, but the letters and interest from school across the country for his leaping ability rivaled that of the interest in his jump shot.

“When I took over at Green Bay, I was thrilled to find out he was still available,” Ryan said. “As an all-state high jumper he runs the floor like a gazelle. He has the potential to be a matchup problem with his ability to play on the block and on the perimeter. His length and athleticism allow for him to guard multiple positions as well.”

Bassett said he secretly pleased Meyer was staying in-state, which allows both Bassett and Meyer’s teammates to travel to attend multiple games per season.

“It’s absolutely exciting, and the coolest part is he is playing close by, because then I can go watch him play. That’s what my son (Brandon, a freshman) was concerned about, is that he’s going to be close enough that we could go watch him,” Bassett said. “Talk about fun.”

For now, though, Meyer said signing is a weight off his shoulders and he can go back to focusing on the upcoming season. Monroe’s players and coaches are extra excited for this season, giving the fact that four starters and nearly a dozen total letter winners return. 

“We’ve got a chance to be really good this year,” Meyer said.

Not knowing when or if the season would start, the Monroe players took advantage of court time by playing in a Sunday league at Brookfield Central this fall, consistently playing some of the top teams and players in the state. Bassett said that time on the court together against that kind of competition could pay dividends for this team come February for the tournament.

“They got to see all the big boys, all the best players in the state and everything,” Bassett said. Should the season get played out, one potential marquee matchup for Meyer and the Cheesemakers would be against Sussex Hamilton, which went 22-3 last year in D1. Hamilton’s top player is Patrick Baldwin, Jr., the son of UW-Milwaukee head coach Patrick Baldwin, Sr. The younger Baldwin (6-9) is the top-ranked player in the country according to Rivals.com, and the second-ranked prospect by ESPN, and narrowed his college choices down to Wisconsin, Duke, Georgetown, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, UCLA, Virginia, Northwestern and his father’s squad at UW-Milwaukee.

“To bring in the No. 1 player in the country here would be pretty cool,” Bassett said.

The coaching staff has also been more than pleased with the dedication of those on the roster during this past offseason.

“This is the hardest working group I’ve ever seen, as far as individual workouts in the offseason and keeping themselves motivated and in shape and just being prepared for whatever can happen next,” Bassett said.

Meyer said he’s felt his leadership role increase as well, and that didn’t bother him.

“I feel like not only me, but other kids on our team have done a really good job of making sure that we are holding each other accountable and getting in the gym and working harder to get better every day,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of time right now — we’re in virtual school. So, we have no reason why we can’t get in the gym all the time. We lift every night — like, everyone on our team pretty much. We’re in the gym with coach Tuesday and Thursday and we’ve got other kids on the team getting their personal workouts in, so we’re all just really working hard to stay in shape and take advantage of the time as it is right now.”