Elite three-point shooter Brandin Podziemski cuts college list. Kentucky still on it.
Sharpshooting Wisconsin basketball prospect Brandin Podziemski has taken the next step in his college recruitment.
Podziemski — a 6-foot-5 shooting guard and one of the top uncommitted prospects in the 2021 class — narrowed his list of options to five schools Thursday. He’s now considering Kentucky, Illinois, Miami, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest.
Kentucky extended a scholarship offer to Podziemski in October, and Kansas did the same the following day. At the time, he wasn’t even listed among the top 250 players in his class, according to the 247Sports composite rankings. Now, 247Sports ranks him as the No. 72 overall player in the 2021 class, and Rivals.com analysts have acknowledged that he belongs in their national rankings.
Podziemski is averaging 35.0 points, 10.1 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 4.1 steals through 25 games so far in his senior season. He’s made 97 of 224 three-point attempts — hitting at 43.3 percent — while shooting 83.0 percent from the free-throw line.
“He’s been exceptional with his individual performances,” Antonio Curro, the team director of his Nike-affiliated grassroots team, told the Herald-Leader this month. “I think he’s done a great job of elevating his team, doing what he needs to do, game in and game out, to help his team win games, help other guys on the team be the best they can be, while also performing. I think he’s had an excellent year, all things considered.”
Curro said that Podziemski’s next step — now that his list of college options has been trimmed to a more manageable number — will be to continue to develop closer relationships with coaches at each of his finalists.
Since the NCAA recently extended its recruiting “dead period” — essentially banning all recruiting travel — through the end of May, it will be impossible for Podziemski to take any official visits before making a college decision.
It also means that coaches from many of the schools still recruiting him, including Kentucky, won’t be able to see him play in person before it’s time to make a college commitment.
“It’s an unfortunate situation for a kid like that,” Curro said. “But he’s very, very good, and someone is going to get a very, very good basketball player.”
Kentucky has only one backcourt commitment for next season — McDonald’s All-American point guard Nolan Hickman — and there’s still plenty of uncertainty over which perimeter players from the current UK team will return.
The Wildcats also have scholarship offers out to three other guards in the 2021 class: Jaden Hardy, Trevor Keels and Hunter Sallis.
Hardy and Sallis are increasingly viewed as longer shots to end up at Kentucky, which is battling the professional route for Hardy, while Gonzaga has become the consensus favorite for Sallis.
Keels is still considering UK, Duke, Villanova and Virginia, with the Blue Devils picking up some recent predictions on his national recruiting pages, though he still seems open with his process.
All three of those players are long-established, top 20 national recruits, while Podziemski, whose rankings rise came during the NCAA’s dead period, has been widely viewed as more of an uncertainty at the blue-blood level.
“At this point, for what he’s capable of doing, I have no reason to believe he won’t produce at any level,” Curro said. “Now, you have to pick the right system, too. You have to pick the right situation. You have to do your due diligence as a student-athlete and as a family, and it’s got to fit.”
This story was originally published February 25, 2021 at 12:11 PM.
