Wisconsin basketball head coach Gard Gard had high praise for true freshman point guard Daniel Freitag earlier this week.
His comments come as the Badgers prepare to start their 2024-25 season in less than four weeks. Freitag, who joined the program this offseason as a four-star point guard recruit in the class of 2024, has been one of the early camp standouts.
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“Probably there’s nobody that had a better week of practice than [Freitag],” Gard told reporters in a video shared by 247Sports. “I think the game is, I don’t want to say slowed down, but mentally he’s slowed down a little bit. He’s still playing as aggressive and I think his decision-making. He has some things physically that you can’t teach — does some things physically with his burst. He brings an electricity to us on both ends of the floor.”
Freitag figures to compete for the starting point guard job after Chucky Hepburn’s surprising departure after the 2023-24 season. He, transfer Camren Hunter and veteran Kamari McGee are the primary contenders for the spot.
But regardless of whether he starts each game on the floor, Freitag guarantees to play a significant role immediately.
“Whatever role I get, I’m happy with,” Freitag said. “Although I’m striving to have the biggest role possible. Every team I’ve been on, I haven’t wanted to be the fourth, fifth option. Or even second option. I’ve always wanted to be the guy. And not even the guy that scores the most or gets the most attention. But the guy that people can lean on in big moments…So I want that No. 1 [point guard] spot, kind of like how Anthony Edwards wanted on Team USA. He was probably cool with what he got, but I want to be the guy.”
The Minneapolis, Minnesota native was 247Sports’ No. 127 player in the class of 2024, No. 11 point guard and No. 2 recruit from his home state. He appears on track to surpass what his initial recruiting ranking projected.
Freitag hopes to lead a Wisconsin basketball program in need of a resurgent stretch. The program has not reached the Sweet 16 since 2017, and only has two NCAA Tournament wins in that span. It is fresh off a first-round exit in 2024 at the hands of 12-seed James Madison.
With Hepburn, A.J. Storr and Tyler Wahl all gone from the 2023-24 team, Freitag’s arrival hopes to mark the start of a new era of Badger basketball. That era will begin at the Kohl Center on Nov. 4 against Holy Cross.
It will be worth monitoring whether Freitag is introduced as the Badgers’ starting point guard on that date.
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