Wisconsin Basketball Recruiting

[Jim French Stepstool]

Badger hoops fans who follow recruiting news have been paying much attention to Daniel Freitag, where he might wind up, & what sport he may choose. The latest info has him making a decision at 3PM tomorrow. Most sources I've seen are anticipating a UW commitment, with Notre Dame still a possibility. Stay tuned.

[Jim French Stepstool]

Committed to UW moments ago. Very nice addition.

[Oxy]

Freitag's recruitment sure seemed kinda strange in that nobody else really stepped up to aggressively pursue him (MSU/ILL/Kansas/Gonzaga/etc.). I guess he made comments about how UW was the first to offer and have offered nobody else at his position.  Perhaps his first question to schools who contact him is something like "who else are you looking at signing?  Am I your top priority?"  And got a lot of hemming and hawing in response while UW was all-in.

Also, for some reason his ranking seems to have slipped a bit in in the last year.  All of that is fine with me.  From what I've seen of him he is a gem.

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 hour ago, Oxy said:

Freitag's recruitment sure seemed kinda strange in that nobody else really stepped up to aggressively pursue him (MSU/ILL/Kansas/Gonzaga/etc.). I guess he made comments about how UW was the first to offer and have offered nobody else at his position.  Perhaps his first question to schools who contact him is something like "who else are you looking at signing?  Am I your top priority?"  And got a lot of hemming and hawing in response while UW was all-in.

Also, for some reason his ranking seems to have slipped a bit in in the last year.  All of that is fine with me.  From what I've seen of him he is a gem.

His considering football (at least at first) might've played a part in some of the traditional powers not getting involved. But like you said UW was in early & often. You hafta like kids to whom that means a lot.

He's also said some very complimentary things about Greg Gard. I mean over-the-top complimentary.

[rickh150]

And then there is the money and how much was offered.

[Jim French Stepstool]

In the aftermath of the Freitag commitment, just a quick note on Kon Knueppel. He's having an absolutely monster summer. Wouldn't be surprised if he winds up ranked among the top 10 players in the class of '24.

[Jim French Stepstool]

So, yesterday Kon Kneuppel chose Duke. I was a bit surprised, not that I was overly confident about him going to UW (they had a legitimate shot but it was far from a given), but I felt his #1 choice if he decided to go away from home was Virginia. There's a pretty good relationship there between his family & the extended Bennett clan. Blue bloods swoop in late all the time & cherry-pick, he just didn't strike me as the type of kid who would be swayed late in the process.

Their list of offers & kids they're considering offering is still an impressive one, with a legitimate shot at all but 1 or 2, IMO.

[Samurai Bucky]

59 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

So, yesterday Kon Kneuppel chose Duke. I was a bit surprised, not that I was overly confident about him going to UW (they had a legitimate shot but it was far from a given), but I felt his #1 choice if he decided to go away from home was Virginia. There's a pretty good relationship there between his family & the extended Bennett clan. Blue bloods swoop in late all the time & cherry-pick, he just didn't strike me as the type of kid who would be swayed late in the process.

I saw that too, but wasn't really surprised.  There are some blueblood brands that will trump relationships.  Duke is one of them.  Oh well.

[Playing Catch]

Someone should start a season thread.

I saw the athletic released their preseason all-B1G teams. No Badgers on the first or second teams, but Wisconsin was the only team with 5 players that received votes.

[Jim French Stepstool]

11 hours ago, Playing Catch said:

Someone should start a season thread.

I saw the athletic released their preseason all-B1G teams. No Badgers on the first or second teams, but Wisconsin was the only team with 5 players that received votes.

Four double-digit scorers returning plus another who averaged around 8ppg, but no one with Happ or Johnny Davis-type numbers, so I guess that makes sense. Their strength should be in having four to five guys on the floor at any time that need to be guarded. Those are usually their best squads.

We have season tix, so if no one starts a thread before their exhibition on 11-1 I'll volunteer myself.🙂

[rickh150]

On 9/22/2023 at 3:17 PM, Jim French Stepstool said:

So, yesterday Kon Kneuppel chose Duke. I was a bit surprised, not that I was overly confident about him going to UW (they had a legitimate shot but it was far from a given), but I felt his #1 choice if he decided to go away from home was Virginia. There's a pretty good relationship there between his family & the extended Bennett clan. Blue bloods swoop in late all the time & cherry-pick, he just didn't strike me as the type of kid who would be swayed late in the process.

Their list of offers & kids they're considering offering is still an impressive one, with a legitimate shot at all but 1 or 2, IMO.

Who are they in the running for yet?

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 hours ago, rickh150 said:

Who are they in the running for yet?

Sorry if I gave the wrong impression, but I was referring to '25 recruits. In the current senior class, they've kept in contact with a C from Chicago, Jaden Smith, but I suspect they're pretty much all done there.

In the '25 class, they have a commitment from Zack Kinziger, a combo-ish guard from DePere. Other current HS juniors they're recruiting:

Daniel Jacobsen 7-2 Brewster Academy (NH)

Will Garlock 6-10 Middleton

Kai Rogers 6-11 Wauwatosa West

Xzavion Mitchell 6-6 Oshkosh North

Davion Hannah 6-6 Glendale Nicolet

LaTrevion Fenderson 6-5 Racine Prairie

IMO I believe they're in a great spot with Garlock & Jacobsen, who is originally from Mt Horeb. Mitchell & Fenderson are pretty wide open but possibilities. Rogers seems to be keeping an open mind, but my gut says landing him is less than likely, Georgetown has recruited him enthusiastically since the get-go. Hope I'm wrong but I feel Hannah will wind up out of state. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

Evan Flood, a pretty well-connected recruiting analyst just predicted Jacobsen to Wisconsin. The early signing date is sometime in early November so we'll see relatively soon if there's anything to that.

[Jim French Stepstool]

On 10/27/2023 at 4:16 PM, Jim French Stepstool said:

Evan Flood, a pretty well-connected recruiting analyst just predicted Jacobsen to Wisconsin. The early signing date is sometime in early November so we'll see relatively soon if there's anything to that.

Jacobsen set to announce Friday between Wisconsin & Purdue. 

It also sounds like he's reclassifying from class of '25 to '24.

[LouisEly]

Given Purdue's recent tradition with >7-footers, I'd be very surprised if he chooses UW. 

[RedStickBrew]

21 hours ago, LouisEly said:

Given Purdue's recent tradition with >7-footers, I'd be very surprised if he chooses UW. 

In general, I would agree with this.  However, Purdue uses their 7-footers more in traditional post roles where UW uses its bigs to stretch the floor.  Jacobsen likes to shoot the 3- I think that might just sway things our way this time.

Also some tough news on Gus taking a leave of absence from the team for personal reasons.  Hope for the best for him.

[Jim French Stepstool]

9 hours ago, RedStickBrew said:

In general, I would agree with this.  However, Purdue uses their 7-footers more in traditional post roles where UW uses its bigs to stretch the floor.  Jacobsen likes to shoot the 3- I think that might just sway things our way this time.

Also some tough news on Gus taking a leave of absence from the team for personal reasons.  Hope for the best for him.

There are 2 or 3 sources I trust pretty well who seem to think he's going to Wisconsin. He played prep ball elsewhere but grew up in the state (Mt Horeb). Sounds like he definitely has re-classified to the class of '24.

Whether hoops related or not, certainly hope Yalden works through whatever it is that's going on.

 

[Oxy]

I guess Jacobsen likes surprises...at this point, whoever he says he is committed to tomorrow means nothing...heck...even after he enrolls and practices for a few months he might be gone anyway.  College recruiting is annoying these days.

[stoutdude04]

On 10/27/2023 at 4:16 PM, Jim French Stepstool said:

Evan Flood, a pretty well-connected recruiting analyst just predicted Jacobsen to Wisconsin. The early signing date is sometime in early November so we'll see relatively soon if there's anything to that.

Flood has flipped it to Purdue.

[Jim French Stepstool]

36 minutes ago, stoutdude04 said:

Flood has flipped it to Purdue.

Yeah, I saw that a few hours ago. And he's someone who has more cred than most recruiting analysts IMO. That's the downside of being in an industry where you base your reputation on the whims of 16-18 yr olds.

I feel UW would be a great landing spot for Jacobsen. I feel Purdue would be too. The thing is, PUs' well-deserved reputation for developing post players wasn't earned in the last 24 hours, it's existed for a long time. And I DO believe Jacobsen was a UW lean as late as a day or two ago. The cynical side of me says Purdues' equivalent of UWs' Varsity Collective just received an extra 2 or 3 hundred grand from a PU alum that owns some engineering firm & the NIL deal was sweetened. Welcome to the new world of P-5 college sports. Either that, or like I said kids at that age can twist in the wind pretty erratically.

In any event, if he goes elsewhere you move on to Kai Rogers and Will Garlock, the two other post-types they've offered. Rogers has already received a boatload of offers & will be a tough get although he has visited UW more than once. Garlock has (I think) 4 offers & many expect UW to be tough to beat.

[Jim French Stepstool]

Aaaaaaand it's Purdue. On to next..........