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The lure of being an integral part of building something new appealed to Monroe senior Cade Meyer.

So on Wednesday morning, Meyer called the rookie coaching staff at Green Bay and told them he would accept their scholarship offer over other NCAA Division I offers from schools like South Dakota State, Stetson and Valparaiso.

The 6-foot-8 senior forward, who averaged 18.7 points and 8.5 rebounds as a junior at Monroe, thus becomes the first scholarship recruit for new coach Will Ryan, the son of former University of Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan who was hired earlier this summer as the head coach of the Phoenix. 

"They are building with a new coaching staff and I wanted to be a part of something new," Meyer said today. "It's a really good fit for me. I have some family up there and I was able to build a really good relationship with coach Ryan since he took over."

Meyer's older brother, Conner, is a student at Green Bay and former classmate Bailey Butler, a 5-foot-7 point guard from Black Hawk High School, recently committed to the women's program at the Horizon League school. 

"It's nice to be able to focus on myself now and continue to work on improving, rather than taking phone calls all the time," Meyer said. "I'll be working hard on improving my shooting and post moves."

Meyer competed with the talented Wisconsin Playground Club 17U squad in several tournaments in July and August and performed well. He had some strong interest this summer from several high-major programs, including Clemson and Marquette. But when Ryan took the job at Green Bay he made Meyer a very high recruiting priority. 

"I'm glad it's behind me now and that I have a school I can call home," said Meyer, who said he plans to study business in college.

Meyer is one of four returning starters for coach Brian Bassett at Monroe. The others, senior Max Golembiewski (6-4) and juniors Carson Leuzinger (6-0) and JT Seagreaves (6-6), team with Meyer to give the Cheesemakers one of the most potent lineups in the state. 

"I think Monroe is going to make a deep run, I think very highly of my team," Meyer said earlier this summer. "There is not a single kid on the team that is not shooting for one goal and that’s to make a state appearance. We will also be mostly upperclassmen, which helps a ton because we are more experienced and all have played with each other for two or three years now." 

Meyer is the sixth player in Wisconsin's class of 2021 to commit to a NCAA Division I program, joining Racine St. Catherine's Tyrese Hunter (Iowa State), Brookfield Central's David Joplin (Texas), Waukesha West's Cam Palesse (Valparaiso), Onalaska's Gavin McGrath (North Dakota) and River Falls' JT Dougherty (Army).

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