LEXINGTON, Ky. — In a normal year, star Wisconsin recruit Brandin Podziemski might have received some recognition in the national rankings a little earlier.
"Obviously, it was a very weird summer," 247 national basketball director Eric Bossi told the Herald-Leader this week.
COVID-19 precautions led to a drastic change in the grassroots basketball calendar in 2020. There were few major camps, and the shoe company leagues were called off. As a result, those under-the-radar high school players that normally would have had a chance to emerge onto the national scene never got that opportunity.
Podziemski — a 6-foot-5 shooting guard from Delafield, Wis. — might be the best example of that. He's getting some attention now, however.
The new 247Sports rankings that were released this week placed Podziemski at No. 74 nationally in the 2021 class, a jump of more than 200 spots. It was the biggest rise, by far, of anyone moving into the top 100.
Bossi said he first started hearing good things about Podziemski in the spring and was able to watch some of his games (online only) during the summer. Those viewings showed "kind of a mixed bag," according to Bossi, who said Podziemski looked like he had a clean shooting stroke but wasn't incredibly consistent.
In early October, Bossi made it to Milwaukee to see Podziemski in person.
"I'm not going to say that the competition he was facing was killer, by any means. But he just dominated people," Bossi said. "And I thought, 'Well if this is who this kid really is, he's at least a top 100ish-type player in the country.' And then going back and watching him online perform in more fall leagues — he only got better."
The week after Bossi's initial writeup of Podziemski, the Wisconsin player landed a Kentucky scholarship offer. The next night, he got one from Kansas.
Podziemski wasn't going up against consistently elite competition in fall league play, but his numbers were impossible to ignore. He averaged 31.7 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game. Perhaps most importantly, he made 33 of 55 3-point attempts, a 60% clip.
"He's got a little bit of athleticism. He definitely plays with a swagger and a confidence about him," Bossi said. "Shooting translates, and I felt that he's shown enough to go ahead and give him some credit and take a chance on him in the rankings."
The Kentucky and Kansas offers generated major attention in recruiting circles, but it's important to note that all sides are taking this process slowly. No commitments sound imminent, and the blue blood programs are hoping to see more of Podziemski over the course of the high school season. Ideally, he'll be able to make some campus visits — if the NCAA lifts its recruiting dead period next spring — before making a college decision.
Analysts like Bossi would also like to see more of Podziemski over the next few months. Despite his rankings rise, he largely remains an unknown commodity in national recruiting circles, and a larger sample size of work will be needed before making any grand predictions on how he might impact a high-major college program as a freshman.
"Assuming what he's been doing these past couple months doesn't go away — and that's who he is — yeah, I think he can come in and be a reliable shooter early on," Bossi said. "Obviously, the level of program he selects and who is or isn't there is going to have a major impact on that. But I think anyone who's recruiting him — they're recruiting him because of that tool, that shooting ability. And they're sure going to hope that he can come in and knock down some shots."
.jpg?w=600)
