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St. John's Northwestern's Brandin Podziemski selected as 2021 Mr. Basketball by WBCA

03/06/2021, 8:15am CST
By Mark Miller

Brandin Podziemski

Delafield St. John’s Northwestern Academies' Brandin Podziemski has been named the 2021 Mr. Basketball award-winner by the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association, sponsored by JustAgame Fieldhouse in Wisconsin Dells.

"My goal was to win the award, but I was actually surprised when my coach (DJ Mlachnik) told me I won Mr. Basketball," Podziemski said. 

The 6-foot-6 senior, who transferred to St. John's Northwestern after spending his freshman year at Muskego, scored a whopping 2,154 points in three seasons with the Lancers.

He averaged 35.1 points, 10.0 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 4.0 steals and 1.4 blocked shots while helping the Lancers to a 21-7 record. Along the way, the talented combination guard shot 60 percent from the field, 82 percent from the foul line and 43 percent from three-point range.

Podziemski made 108 of 249 attempts from beyond the arc and leads the state in made three-point baskets.

He recently trimmed his list of potential colleges to Illinois, Kentucky, Miami (Fla.), Vanderbilt and Wake Forest, and said he will make a decision by mid April at the latest. 

"I am going through everything right now and trying to sort things out with my dad and Antonio (Curro)," he said. "I am talking to all the schools involved and will make a decision by April 14 and the spring signing period."

After playing on the wing as a sophomore and junior, Mlachnik moved Podziemski to point guard for the 2020-21 season. 

Gerald Gittens, the Lancers' starting point guard during Podziemski's sophomore and junior seasons, graduated last spring, leaving a big hole in the ball handling/passing department.

"I knew Gerald was graduating and that we'd need a point guard," Podziemski said. "I did play on the wing last summer with the Phenom on the club circuit, but DJ and I talked about it and decided playing point would be best for our team this season.

"I worked on point-guard skills all fall and playing that position this year really helped to diversity my game," he said. "I has helped me with learning how to read defenses and find the open man. I feel very confident playing either point guard or the wing when I get to college."

Podziemski, who maintains a 4.0 grade-point average and hopes to study Sports Management or Sports Medicine in college, was thrilled his team was able to play 28 games this season.

"Living on campus at St. John's, when one person gets COVID the entire dorm is really subject to getting it," he said. "Our basketball team went through getting COVID in early November, but by the time the season started, we were all healthy and remained healthy all season. I was great to get in 28 games."

Podziemski is the first player from St. John's Northwestern to win Mr. Basketball, but he follows in a very long line of stellar players to attend the school, including Dwayne Johnson, Eddie Lee, Walter Mosely, Ronnie Williams, Ulysses Moran and Trevon Hughes, among many others. 

To view a list of past Mr. Basketball-award winners, please click here

For the latest and most up to date boys' basketball news and recruiting information, follow Mark on Twitter @wisbbyearbook. Email story ideas, recruiting info, etc. to Mark by clicking here.

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