Recruiting Report: Garrett Franken (2017)
A 6-foot-6 point guard, Garrett Franken is certainly one of the more intriguing prospects from the 2017 class – and a Division I prospect at that. He plays with nationally renowned St. Louis grassroots program Gateway Basketball Club in…
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Continue ReadingA 6-foot-6 point guard, Garrett Franken is certainly one of the more intriguing prospects from the 2017 class – and a Division I prospect at that.
He plays with nationally renowned St. Louis grassroots program Gateway Basketball Club in the offseasons, and he could potentially receive a high volume of offers this summer.
But right now, he just has interest.
“I’m getting looked at by Drake, LeHigh, South Dakota, North Dakota, and then Dordt, Sioux Falls, and Briar Cliff,” said the rangy Atlantic junior.
“I have some stuff from UNI, but since Austin Phyfe committed there I haven’t heard much from them. And Western Illinois is another I’ve heard a lot from.”
He says the schools are recruiting him at different stages right now.
“Drake I’ve gotten letters from, the Western Illinois coach I’ve talked to him on the phone a couple times. Definitely a lot of text messages from North Dakota, and letters from South Dakota, and Lehigh,” said Franken, who says a good fit and a winning program will be key when it comes time to make a commitment.
“Going to a school that fits me the best, and a place where we can be competitive and win will be my two big keys,” he said. “Hopefully if I do what I can do this summer the offers will come in, and I can get somewhere where I’m happy and where I belong.”
Franken dazzled last June at the Drake Team Camp as a huge and lengthy point guard, and since then he’s been working on his ability create for himself.
“I’m definitely playing at a faster pace, and being able to attack the basket more and create my own shot offensively,” he said.
“I’m working on playing with my back to the basket and my post-moves, just facing up and being able to hit jumpers consistently.”
He added: “I see myself being a big three, a tall, lanky three is what I kind of want to be. I want to be able to play on the perimeter and go into the post if I need to. And being able to handle the ball out front is important, I like doing that, but I want to be able to play every position.”
This season with Atlantic, Franken is averaging 17.7 points, 4.3 assists, and 6.7 rebounds per game.
“Part of my role is to get our offense into a flow, get a rebound on the defensive end, and push in transition,” he said. “We want to get as many transition buckets as we can, but if we can’t, we’re able to run our sets. My job as point guard is to make sure everyone is where they need to be, and keep our offense flowing.”