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Recruiting is the lifeblood of any major college athletics team, but following it closely as a fan can sometimes be difficult and can often be time consuming. We’ll try and condense all the recruiting news you can use into this bi-weekly (or more often since we are in Uncertain Times and there aren’t actual sports going on) post. It’ll include updates on current commits, including stats from their high school games, as well as news on players the Badgers are still pursuing. Let’s get down to business!
New offer
- 2023 3-star (Rivals only) big man Owen Freeman (Bradley, Ill.) out of Bradley-Bourbonnais High School received an offer from Greg Gard and the Wisconsin Badgers on Wednesday after taking an unofficial visit to Madison. Butler, Illinois, Iowa, Marquette, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue, Wake Forest and Western Illinois have all offered Freeman as well, with many of the offers coming in the past month.
After a great visit with Coach Oliver, Coach Gard, and the coaching staff, I am blessed to announce that I have received an offer from the University of Wisconsin! #gobadgers pic.twitter.com/loLUxYCkld
— Owen Freeman (@_OwenFreeman) June 16, 2021
Freeman stands at 6-foot-9 and weighs 220 pounds and Rivals has him rated as the No. 93 player in the country for the 2023 class. “I like how Wisconsin has a history with types of players like me. The posts that can move. They give those guys a lot of freedom. I like that,” Freeman told Evan Flood of Badger247 ($).
Freeman shows some solid footwork and athleticism for a player his size. He is able to protect the rim and finish with authority too, although both of those qualities are more because he appears to be one of the biggest players in his conference. What I’m sure is more intriguing to Gard and company is his outside shot. There aren’t a ton of jumper highlights in his Hudl tape, but of the ones we can see Freeman has a repeatable stroke and high release that will serve him well at the next level.
He is a prototypical Wisconsin big man if ever there was one and it will be interesting to follow his recruitment. As of now, Wisconsin only has two offers out in the 2023 class. This one and one to big man Gus Yalden (Appleton) out of IMG (Bradenton, Fla.) Academy. The Badgers will not have a big 2023 class so we probably won’t see too many more offers go out.