Written by Griffin Greenberg
Class of 2024 star guard Daniel Freitag has built a name for himself around Minnesota and continues to do so around the country. Freitag is deemed by many as the top player in the state for both basketball and football. The 6’3” guard displays his athleticism and versatility on the court and uses those traits to flourish on each end. He's a leader on the court that can get a bucket at will and shows off his impressive speed.
I recently spoke with Freitag discussing an update on his recruitment process, his bond with Minnesota NBA players, success in both sports, and more (the full episode is embedded below and on YouTube.
Freitag currently has offers (in basketball) from Baylor, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa St. He recently visited Baylor and is also familiar with all of the other campuses that he holds offers from. Freitag said that a big part of securing the Baylor offer happened to be testaments to his character from others who thought the Baylor coaching staff would be impressed. They were as they later watched an EYBL game of his where he delivered a powerful performance against Team Griffin scoring 30 points and grabbing eight rebounds.
Freitag plays for Howard Pulley in the EYBL 16U. He averaged 15.4 PPG (51.8%), 4.4 RPG, and 3.8 APG through two EYBL sessions and 26.7 PPG, 7 RPG, and 4 APG for Bloomington Jefferson in his sophomore season of high school. He returned to the basketball court just in time for his sophomore season after suffering a broken collarbone in his first game of the football season. Along with the injury, Freitag and his family have given some consideration to sticking to one sport.
"Yeah, I have been labeled as number one in the both sports and it's definitely something to do it at not a 6'6", 6'7" frame. We've thought a lot about just sticking to basketball, we haven't put any thought into quitting basketball... I definitely want to choose when I go out, I want to go out on my own terms, not let the injury decide that," said Freitag. "I don't see [the collarbone injury] as a very big problem, [I] just got unlucky. I've played football growing up, every year of my life."
The soon-to-be junior mentioned that his ability to play other sports at a high level has helped his basketball game. He also talked about his relationship with players like #5 overall 2021 NBA draft pick Jalen Suggs and how Suggs mentors him with them both being known as the top basketball and football players of their class in Minnesota.
Question: Who is the toughest player you've had to guard?
"We have Tre Hollomon here in Minnesota, he's tough to guard. I played Chet Holmgren two years ago in AAU, so of course, he was the hardest to guard I'd say. A matchup nightmare for whoever's guarding him, especially me at 6-foot [at the time]. I've never played alongside a big man so I was just guarding him cause that was the matchup."
Freitag can play multiple positions on the court and competes at a high level all the time. While he isn't currently ranked nationally, there's plenty of reason to believe that will change soon.
Check out the full talk I had with Daniel below!
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