The Wisconsin Badgers defeated the Holy Cross Crusaders last night, 85-61, in a game that left many fans confused instead of happy.
The Badgers announce before the game that guard Camren Hunter would be out, which many fans thought would give way to freshman Daniel Freitag playing significant time. Instead, veteran guard Kamari McGee picked up the minutes, finishing the game tied with Max Klesmit for the second-most minutes with 28. However, Freitag recorded just two minutes of play as time expired for the Wisconsin Badgers in the win.
Freitag was a four-star composite recruit in the 2024 recruiting class and the 127th overall recruit in the country. The guard signed on with the Wisconsin Badgers as the top-ranked recruit in the class and was expected to take over the team. However, that might not be the case this season as other players have appeared to take his minutes away.
McGee played nearly 30-minutes without Hunter playing, which means there will likely be even less time to play for Freitag when Hunter is back. Along with this, the Wisconsin staff also loves what another player has to offer, and likely will continue to play him first off of the bench.
Wisconsin Badgers Staff Opting to Play McGee, Janicki Over Daniel Freitag
While it is just one game for the Wisconsin Badgers, there is also a strong possibility that the staff utilized the likely group of players they will rely on moving forward.
McGee stole the show with the amount of time he played, but another guard that found himself on the court over Freitag was Jack Janicki. The former walk-on redshirt freshman earned the respect of the staff and the team throughout the preseason. Janicki played 11 minutes against the Holy Cross Crusaders and recorded two assists and rebounds for the Wisconsin Badgers.
While Janicki and Freitag are not the same style of player, Janicki is more of the style of basketball player that the Badgers staff are looking for this season. The Badgers have made it known that the team intends on shooting plenty of three-point shots. Janicki is an accomplished shooter and was quite the prolific scorer in high school before walking onto the program.
The 6-foot-5-inch guard provides just what the Wisconsin Badgers staff needs this season to play long-range basketball. Along with his scoring ability, Janicki is also a great distributor of the basketball and is not afraid to pass first before shooting. With everything that Janicki can offer the team on the court taken into account, it only makes sense to play the guard over Freitag.
In defense of Freitag, however, coach Greg Gard is someone who is known for playing his players dependent upon their performance in practice. With just weeks of preparation and one game under his belt, there is still plenty of time for Freitag to make noise. The guard is an accomplished slasher and a freak athlete that could offer a different dynamic to the team that the Badgers arguably lack since the departure of guard AJ Storr.
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