Wisconsin Basketball: Remembering Frank Kaminsky’s collegiate career

The Recruit: Frank Kaminsky out of high school

Out of high school, Frank Kaminsky was not a highly sought-out recruit. He ranked 15th in the state of Illinois, was rated 24th at his position and 235th overall in the nation. In fact, Kaminsky was the lowest rated recruit by the Badgers in the class of 2011.

The center from Benet Academy was only recruited by Bradley, DePaul, Northern Illinois, Southern Illinois, Northwestern, and Wisconsin. With the Badgers and Wildcats as the only “Power 5” schools interested, he signed at Madison on April 30, 2011. Wisconsin also landed a pair of guards for the class of 2011 to join Kaminsky in George Marshall and Traevon Jackson. Both were nationally ranked over Kaminsky, shockingly enough.

According to 247Sports, Jarrod Uthoff was a four-star forward from Cedar Rapids, IA who also committed to Wisconsin for that class. Uthoff, however, pulled his commitment and decided to stay at home and attend the University of Iowa. Whatever the reasoning was, Kaminsky moved up one position on the depth chart. Early on, it didn’t mean a whole lot when it came to production.

Bo Ryan had his lineup already set for 2011-12. Senior Jordan Taylor ran the show with Josh Gasser and Ben Brust set for bigger minutes as sophomores. Jared Berggren was the big man at 6’10” while Ryan Evans, Mike Bruesewitz, and Robert Wilson landed positions as role players.

Before the days of top recruiting classes coming to Wisconsin, Bo Ryan rarely played freshman. The year before, Josh Gasser started 30 games a freshman, but Jon Leuer and Jordan Taylor were the stars. The only freshmen to actually log star minutes for Wisconsin under Ryan were Alando Tucker (2002-03) and Devin Harris (2001-02).

Kaminsky knew what his role was going to be in at least his first season. With frontcourt players at Wisconsin, it’s all about learning from who came before you and paying your dues. That’s what Kaminsky was ready to do in Madison.