Recruiting Report: Luke Siwek (2018)
Rosemount only returns one starter from last year’s section runner-up squad. If the Irish are going to have similar success this season, they’ll need Luke Siwek to do a lot of what he did over the summer.
Siwek, a 6-foot guard, was one of the underrated key cogs for Fury Antl this past summer as he was arguably the team’s top perimeter defender, strong distributor and excellent off-ball offensive player.
“We played really well as a team in July,” Siwek said. “Won the Milwaukee tournament, lost to a really good D1 Minnesota team in the D1 tournament and in Vegas we got off to a slow start but ended up winning our bracket.”
Fury Antl was one of the top non-shoe teams in the state and the opportunity to play against great competition and under high-quality coaches played a big role in Siwek’s personal development.
“It was the best decision I’ve made switching over to Fury a couple years ago,” said Siwek. “All the coaches have helped me a ton. I still talk to Brandon quite a bit. They are more than just coaches. I’ve improved a lot. Just working more on being a true point guard and facilitating the ball. I’ve learned to do that a lot more and get guys involved.”
Siwek’s drawing a lot of interest from a number of local colleges.
“I visited Hamline in July and last week I went to their open gym and played with them,” said Siwek. “I’ve got visits at Concordia-Moorhead and Bethany Lutheran coming up in next couple weeks too. Recently heard more from Augsburg and Northland. I’ve heard from Benedictine in Kansas, the school Brandon is at now. I’m not in any rush to make a decision.”
Rosemount’s got a new coach this year as Lance Walsten late in the summer. Walsten comes after spending the previous three seasons as the head coach at Faribault High School. He brings a defense-first mentality and when his teams in Faribault won, it was in gritty style. Siwek plays that same kind of game – which makes the point guard/coach match a great fit on paper.
“I like what he’s doing with the program so far,” said Siwek. “I really like him. It helps that he’s teaching in the school. The stuff he’s doing with scheduling us games and stuff, I really like it so far. I’m the only returning starter, so we’ll be inexperienced but we have some talent. Our junior class has some talent that I think can step up. We have some talented seniors too that just didn’t play a lot because of the guys we had last year. I think it’ll be a fun year.”