By Peter Cameron, BADGER STRIPES
Last year, Greg Gard and staff found a pearl who, inexplicably, had no high major offers in sharpshooter Connor Essegian. Now, they’ve found another pearl who’s playing better than Essegian – taking most of his minutes in part because he’s so damn good on both ends of the floor.
That would be 18-year-old John Blackwell.
For many, the freshman from the Detroit suburbs has come out of nowhere, the lowest-rated recruit in the three-man class this year, behind blue chip big men Gus Yalden and Nolan Winter.
Even Gard, who must have had a pretty good idea of what he was getting, expressed some surprise at the kid’s play after the first few team practices of the summer.
“John Blackwell has probably opened the most eyes of any of the freshmen,” Gard said during a radio interview back in June. “Not that we didn’t think that he wasn’t going to be a good player, but we really see that he’s going to be more ready than what we thought, right out of the gate.”
What has Blackwell done through the first 11 games of the year?
He is shooting a blistering 54% — 12 of 22 — from three.
He is attacking the basket like a wild man, earning 37 free throws and hitting nearly 87% from the stripe.
He is averaging 9.6 points per game, good for fourth on the team.
And perhaps most importantly, he’s defending well, committing only about 1.4 fouls per game while averaging about 19 minutes per game.
When the Badgers were overwhelmed in a 98-73 blowout at #1 Arizona last week, the teenager from Michigan fought to the last whistle, repeatedly blowing past defenders on the baseline and hitting four of five from three en route to scoring a team-leading 17 points.
Blackwell has already been named Big Ten Freshman of the Week twice in the first five weeks of the season. Owen Freeman at Iowa won it the other three times.
With Essegian and now Blackwell, Gard and staff have shown an ability to find talent where other programs haven’t.
After Blackwell scored 10 points — 6-6 from the free throw line — and grabbed four rebounds in 20 minutes of action during a commanding victory at Michigan State earlier this month, a reporter asked Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo during his post-game press conference how familiar he was with Blackwell coming out of his state. The Spartans did not offer him a scholarship.
Izzo said he did know Blackwell, noting he came from a good program at Brother Rice High School in the Detroit suburbs, and remembering that he brought him to campus a few times.
Izzo was extremely complimentary of Blackwell and seemed to express regret in not offering the freshman.
“You know what?” he said. “That happens in recruiting.”
In other news
After injuring his back in the first game of the season, Essegian has struggled to shoot, defend and earn minutes. Gard didn’t put him into the game Thursday against Jackson State until well into the second half. When he trotted onto the floor, the sparse crowd cheered, and Essegian smiled.
But on the first play, Essegian was burned on an inbounds play, and Gard immediately yanked him. The crowd booed.
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