'Green Bay was, by far, No. 1': UWGB men's basketball adds former Oshkosh Lourdes point guard Preston Ruedinger
When Preston Ruedinger entered the NCAA transfer portal last week after two seasons with the Valparaiso men's basketball team, the former Oshkosh Lourdes star had one school in mind.
“I made a list going into the portal of the schools I wanted to go to,” Ruedinger said. “Green Bay was, by far, No. 1. It was going to take a lot for anyone to offer for me to go (someplace else).”
The feeling was mutual.
About an hour or two after his name was in the portal, he said he was on the phone with new Phoenix coach Sundance Wicks.
The 6-foot-2 point guard loved Wicks’ message, enthusiasm and vision for the future of the program.
He enjoyed it so much that he announced his commitment to UWGB on Friday, becoming the second recruit in the Wicks era after Yorkville Christian (Illinois) senior guard David Douglas Jr. committed March 27.
The Phoenix received a third commitment Saturday from Missouri Western State University forward and graduate transfer Will Eames.
Per NCAA rules, Wicks is not allowed to comment on potential recruits until all paperwork has been complete.
Preston Ruedinger scored 2,349 points at Lourdes
Ruedinger should be familiar to prep basketball fans in Wisconsin. He finished his career at Lourdes with 2,349 points, which ranks 12th all-time in state history.
He was instrumental in leading a team coached by his father, Dennis, to the WIAA Division 4 state championship as a senior in 2021. He had 13 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds in a 43-41 win over The Prairie School in the title game, helping his team come back in thrilling fashion from a 20-point deficit.
Ruedinger averaged 25.8 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5 assists his senior year, one season after averaging a career-high 27.2 points.
He averaged 15.1 points or more in each of his four seasons while shooting 52.2% overall and 45.3% from 3. He also had 530 career rebounds, 462 assists and 243 steals.
Ruedinger hoped to play at UWGB out of high school. Despite a few conversations with former coach Will Ryan and his staff, he never received an offer.
He did have a DI offer from North Dakota along with DII offers that included Michigan Tech, West Texas A&M and St. Leo, but he decided to bet on himself by accepting a preferred walk-on opportunity at Valpo.
Ruedinger planned to redshirt his freshman season but instead made his collegiate debut against Eastern Michigan in December 2021.
He appeared in 19 games and started 13, becoming just the second walk-on during the Matt Lottich era to start a game.
Ruedinger averaged 3.3 points, 1.7 assists and 1.5 rebounds and was named to the Missouri Valley Conference all-freshman team.
It was enough to earn him both a scholarship and team captain status entering his sophomore campaign, but it wasn’t all good news.
Ruedinger injured a shoulder last summer. He took cortisone shots and attempted to play through the injury early in the season, making six starts and playing nine games.
The pain turned out to be too much, resulting in season-ending surgery. He stopped playing in time to maintain three seasons of eligibility.
“Recovery is great,” said Ruedinger, who averaged 2.1 points and 2.3 rebounds in 20.6 minutes per game. “I’m actually cleared. I’ve been doing full basketball workouts and been lifting for almost three weeks now. I can’t play live yet for another week, but the surgery was a lot less than we thought it was going to be. Which was amazing news.
“Hopefully, soon, I can get up to Green Bay and start working out with the guys.”
Ruedinger wasn’t unhappy at Valpo, but he was uncertain what his future was after the school parted ways with Lottich last month.
“Not being able to pick my coach concerned me a little bit, and pick who that staff was going to be,” Ruedinger said. “If I waited for a new coach, and I’m sure the coach there that just got hired is great, but just in case I didn’t like him, I was just going to hopefully go somewhere where I liked the coach.”
Valpo hired Gonzaga assistant Roger Powell Jr. on the same day Ruedinger committed to UWGB.
Returning to his home state is exciting for Ruedinger, who will get to play in front of more family and friends.
His mother, Kellie, didn’t get the chance to make it to Valpo often. It also means a great deal to him that his younger sister, Delaney, will get to attend games. She recently completed her sophomore basketball season at Lourdes.
“Just the opportunity to change Green Bay basketball around,” Ruedinger said. “Bring it back to where it should be. I couldn’t pass up that opportunity.”
Ruedinger will help fill point guard hole for Phoenix
UWGB needs point guards, so it would appear Ruedinger should have the chance to play important minutes his first season with the Phoenix.
But he doesn’t want to be promised anything. He has grown up believing he must work hard to achieve his goals, which is why there were no conversations between Wicks and Ruedinger about playing time.
“I didn’t even want that,” Ruedinger said. “I am just going to go in there hoping to earn my way, to get the starting point guard job.”
Ruedinger already has gone from being recruited to being a recruiter. He has some future teammates in mind and will do his best to help get them here.
He didn’t name any names, but he did have a teammate in 6-8 freshman forward Maximus Nelson at Valpo this season who is in the portal, played at Appleton North and is someone UWGB could be interested in.
“Hopefully, there are some guys in the portal that will want to take on this challenge with Green Bay basketball and I,” Ruedinger said. “I look forward to the opportunity and playing with some guys that I’ve maybe even played with.
“At the end of the day, we need great players to be successful in the Horizon (League). I think we can get some, and I’m going to do my best to recruit some of my guys.”
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: UWGB basketball adds former Oshkosh Lourdes point guard Preston Ruedinger
