Freshman point guard Lorne Bowman has taken an indefinite leave of absence from the University of Wisconsin men's basketball program.
According to a news release, Bowman has returned home to Detroit "to tend to a personal family matter." He will continue to take classes virtually and "remains a committed member" of the program.
"As a program, our thoughts are with Lorne and his family right now," UW Greg Gard said in a statement. "He is a big part of our Wisconsin Basketball family and we are going to continue supporting him in every way possible during this time."
Bowman's father, Lorne Bowman Sr., declined to comment other than to reiterate that it's a family matter and say his son "will be back in time."
Rated a top-100 recruit in the 2020 class by ESPN, Bowman was named the MLive Metro Detroit Player of the Year and was a finalist for Michigan Mr. Basketball last season after averaging 25.2 points, 6.2 assists and 6.0 rebounds per game as a senior at Orchard Lake St. Mary's High School.
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He was the first player to commit in what turned out to be a big — and highly regarded — 2020 recruiting class for the Badgers. After Bowman orally committed in November 2018, La Crosse Central siblings Johnny and Jordan Davis followed in June 2019 and UW completed the class with three frontcourt players: a pair of scholarship players from Minnesota — Steven Crowl and Ben Carlson — and walk-on Carter Gilmore from Hartland Arrowhead.
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