The time of yr has come when the highest prospects of school basketball dare to take the following steps of their younger careers. Whereas most easily finish their scholarships with a level and transfer on from the game world, a choose group of skills resolve to try to make it within the massive leagues as professionals.
That is the case of BJ Freeman, a younger guard who declared for the 2024 NBA Draft after producing the most effective two-year shows by an athlete in UMW’s historical past. The star solely wanted two campaigns in Milwaukee to show his value, as he’ll be coming into the switch portal.
The junior wing made his announcement this Tuesday on his personal social media account with a sentimental message for everybody who’s supported him these previous two years, as he’s basically ended his run with the Panthers.
10 loves you eternally💔🫂 pic.twitter.com/dLydVYBg4V
— Bj freeman (@B_greatb) March 26, 2024
His coach Bart Lundy at all times knew his goal was to go professional.”BJ’s final purpose is to be an expert basketball participant on the highest stage, and a part of his rights as a university basketball participant is to rent an agent. They thought at the moment he was in place to pursue skilled basketball,” he stated. “I believe that’s his at the start purpose.
“And if he doesn’t get the suggestions that he needs from skilled basketball, clearly he’s able the place lots of school groups which have lots of NIL cash will become involved. My dialog with BJ was, in the event you’re going to pursue skilled basketball it’s best to go into the portal and put all the pieces above board and above the desk.”
The faculty tactician doesn’t rule out the participant’s return. “That doesn’t imply that he wouldn’t think about coming again right here. However in some unspecified time in the future, the NIL cash turns into an element and at Milwaukee we’re doing fairly nicely with NIL cash relative to our league (UWM just lately began the Panther Future Fund — run by Corridor of Famer Joah Tucker — because the official collective for males’s basketball). However we aren’t going to have the ability to compete with a few of the main cash,” he assured.
Freeman, who’s a local of Selma, North Carolina, was a part of Lundy’s first recruiting class on the College of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, as he signed to play for the Panthers after a single season at Dodge Metropolis Neighborhood Faculty in Kansas.
His UWM coach admits that his absence will likely be an enormous blow, however trusts they’ll recruit high expertise in the course of the summer season
The Milwaukee roster hopes so as to add at the very least two new gamers from the portal within the coming months, as coach Lundy believes they will use Freeman’s instance as bait to lure high expertise to their group.
“I’d say that we’re able the place we’ve got a greater nucleus of expertise and expertise than most groups in school basketball sitting right here on March 26,” he defined. “Dropping BJ is clearly a blow, however we anticipate having a championship-level group for subsequent season.”
Nonetheless, the tactician is nicely conscious that BJ will likely be sorely missed, particularly after his two-year run the place he averaged 18.2 factors, 5.1 rebounds and a couple of.9 assists per match. “He’s relatable to Milwaukee. Our Milwaukee followers love him, and he loves them again. If there was a world the place all the pieces was equal with NIL alternatives, there isn’t any doubt in my thoughts that BJ would wish to be keep right here in Milwaukee over some other place, some other college,” he stated.
Lundy recalled making the Horizon League finals led by Freeman. “With BJ we’ve received 42 video games. We’ve made the Horizon League semis and finals,” his coach shared. “He’s rewritten a lot of the file e-book right here, particularly within the scoring class, but in addition with double-doubles and triple-doubles and all of the whereas embracing our mannequin of being the town’s group in school basketball.”