Madison, Wisc. – Earlier this week, the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball program held its annual advanced camp at The Nicholas-Johnson Pavilion – hosting several highly touted prospects on campus for a closer, more intimate evaluation.
Among the notable players in attendance were both 2023 commits John Blackwell and Gus Yalden – and 2024 standouts Daniel Freitag and Jack Robison, who hold Wisconsin offers.
Here are, in no particular order, three storylines from last week’s Wisconsin Advanced Camp according to reports from the Badgers beat writers:
1) Wisconsin is working to establish roots in Milwaukee.
After an impressive showing in front of the Wisconsin coaching staff, Greg Gard extended scholarship offers to forward Davion Hannah and center, Kai Rogers. Both are members of the 2025 recruiting class from the greater Milwaukee area.
Hannah and Rogers are the first two offers for UW in the 2025 recruiting cycle. Each player has an incredibly high ceiling and could become blue-chip prospects down the road - hence the early Power 5 offers.
It’s no secret UW hasn’t recruited Cream City successfully in quite some time, which is a problem because the Milwaukee area has produced several high-caliber division-one athletes in recent years.
Since Coach Gard added Sharif Chambliss to the staff, the Racine native has been working tirelessly to establish relationships and an overall presence within the city of Milwaukee.
Both Hannah and Rogers grew up fans of the Wisconsin men’s basketball program, so the recent offers certainly hold a ton of weight. Coach Gard’s ability to build and maintain those relationships is critical if they’re going to establish roots in the Milwaukee area and have a fighting chance in their recruitments moving forward.
2025 may seem like a long way off, but the potential success in the recruitments of Hannah and Rogers could have significant future implications for the program.
2) 2023 wing Jack Janicki could be a viable plan C for the Badgers if Kaiser and Normand fall through.
The talk of Wisconsin’s Advanced Camp was none other than 2023 wing Jack Janicki out of White Bear Lake, Minnesota. He currently holds offers from Wake Forest, St. Thomas, Loyola (IL), Colorado State, and Harvard.
After putting on a clinic this past week, the 6-foot-4, 180-pound wing may be on the cusp of receiving a scholarship offer if the Badgers miss on top targets, Jamie Kaiser and Gehrig Normand.
Janicki is a sweet-shooting lefty with a very repeatable release and sneaky athleticism. He can also create space with an array of hesitation moves and stepbacks to get his shot off over defenders.
The offer list is certainly beatable if you’re UW, so there is no rush to extend an offer right now. However, he’d make for a viable plan C for a program needing a wing in the 2023 recruiting class. It also helps that Wisconsin has extensive ties with Janicki’s AAU program D1 Minnesota.
Should UW miss on their top-of-the-board prospects, Janicki would be a nice consolation prize that fills two critical needs for the Badgers as a wing who can shoot the three.
Here is a look at Janicki’s highlights from camp courtesy of Evan Flood:
3) 2024 PG Daniel Freitag is a blue-chip talent
Wisconsin was the first Power 5 program to offer 2024-point guard Daniel Freitag a scholarship after their advanced camp in 2021. Since then, the Minnesota native has done nothing but make Coach Gard look good for his initial evaluation.
The fast-rising PG prospect tore it up at Wisconsin’s advanced camp this past week, showing the ability to win games as a scoring threat and facilitator. I’m confident that the 6-foot-2, 180-pound point guard will eventually add a slew of offers from the top programs in the country before his recruitment is closed.
Freitag, a Bloomington, Minnesota native, has everything you could want from a PG prospect. Good size, physicality, well-above-average athleticism, playmaking ability, toughness, plays above the rim, and can shoot from beyond the arc. The kid loves to compete.
He’s my favorite Wisconsin Badgers offer right now, and I firmly believe Freitag will be a star wherever he winds up. Wisconsin will be up against some elite programs for his services, but establishing an early relationship with the Minnesota native certainly doesn’t hurt.
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