The time of year has come when the top prospects of college basketball dare to take the next steps in their young careers. While most simply end their scholarships with a degree and move on from the sport world, a select group of talents decide to try and make it in the big leagues as professionals.
This is the case of BJ Freeman, a young guard who declared for the 2024 NBA Draft after producing one of the best two-year displays by an athlete in UMW’s history. The star only needed two campaigns in Milwaukee to prove his worth, as he’ll be entering the transfer portal.
The junior wing made his announcement this Tuesday on his own social media account with a sentimental message for everyone who’s supported him these past two years, as he’s essentially ended his run with the Panthers.
10 loves you forever💔🫂 pic.twitter.com/dLydVYBg4V
— Bj freeman (@B_greatb) March 26, 2024
His coach Bart Lundy always knew his objective was to go pro.”BJ’s ultimate goal is to be a professional basketball player at the highest level, and part of his rights as a college basketball player is to hire an agent. They thought at this time he was in position to pursue professional basketball,” he said. “I think that’s his first and foremost goal.
“And if he doesn’t get the feedback that he wants from professional basketball, obviously he’s in a position where a lot of college teams that have a lot of NIL money will get involved. My conversation with BJ was, if you’re going to pursue professional basketball you should go into the portal and put everything above board and above the table.”
The college tactician doesn’t rule out the player’s return. “That doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t consider coming back here. But at some point, the NIL money becomes a factor and at Milwaukee we’re doing pretty well with NIL money relative to our league (UWM recently started the Panther Future Fund — run by Hall of Famer Joah Tucker — as the official collective for men’s basketball). But we are not going to be able to compete with some of the major money,” he assured.
Freeman, who is a native of Selma, North Carolina, was part of Lundy’s first recruiting class at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, as he signed to play for the Panthers after a single season at Dodge City Community College in Kansas.
His UWM coach admits that his absence will be a huge blow, but trusts they will recruit top talent during the summer
The Milwaukee roster hopes to add at least two new players from the portal in the coming months, as coach Lundy believes they can use Freeman’s example as bait to lure top talent to their team.
“I would say that we are in a position where we have a better nucleus of experience and talent than most teams in college basketball sitting here on March 26,” he explained. “Losing BJ is obviously a blow, but we anticipate having a championship-level team for next season.”
However, the tactician is well aware that BJ will be sorely missed, especially after his two-year run where he averaged 18.2 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists per match. “He’s relatable to Milwaukee. Our Milwaukee fans love him, and he loves them back. If there was a world where everything was equal with NIL opportunities, there is no doubt in my mind that BJ would want to be stay here in Milwaukee over any other place, any other university,” he said.
Lundy recalled making the Horizon League finals led by Freeman. “With BJ we’ve won 42 games. We’ve made the Horizon League semis and finals,” his coach shared. “He’s rewritten much of the record book here, especially in the scoring category, but also with double-doubles and triple-doubles and all the while embracing our model of being the city’s team in college basketball.”
