Lucas: Klesmit brings what box score can’t measure
December 10, 2022 | Men's Basketball, Mike Lucas
Junior transfer from Neenah bring ‘ultimate competitor’ to surging Badgers
BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. – Walking into the Kohl Center on the first day of the off-season program in June, Max Klesmit glanced up at the center court scoreboard and spotted a familiar name. Klesmit. There were some other names he recognized, too. Neenah High School basketball players.
"It was cool to see it," he said. "It was up there for the first couple of weeks of summer."
In March, the Neenah Rockets defeated Brookfield Central, 64-52, to win the WIAA Division-1 state championship, the school's first title in 44 years. The scoreboard reflected the Neenah players who were on the floor when the game ended. It included a Klesmit. Cal Klesmit, the younger brother of Max.
In the closing seconds, Neenah coach Lee Rabas inserted Cal Klesmit, a junior, into the game to dribble out the clock. It was out of respect for Klesmit who had missed the season with a torn ACL. During his rehab, Cal could count on support from his older bro, then a sophomore at Wofford College.
"It was hard on him for sure – it was hard on me too, being away from him in South Carolina and not being able to see him and be there for him," Max Klesmit said. "I'm super proud of how he kept his mentality throughout that whole process. For a 17-year-old kid, at the time, that's pretty tough.
"Your team ends up winning state and you had to watch the whole thing."
Cal Klesmit has bounced back stronger than ever during his senior year at Neenah. On Dec. 2, he scored 45 points against Appleton East matching the school record set by none other than Max Klesmit who also burned Appleton East for 45 during the 2019 season. Max watched Cal's game on live stream.
"It was super nice," he said, "seeing him back out there and having fun playing again."
The following day, Max Klesmit had 13 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals in Wisconsin's 80-77 overtime win against Marquette in Milwaukee. Since transferring from Wofford, he has been a fixture in the starting lineup, an all-around contributor/catalyst and a bona fide team leader.
He also has served as a sounding board for his brother in the recruiting process. During the November signing period, Cal joined Will Ryan's program at UW-Green Bay. Both are looking forward to the day when the Phoenix and Badgers play, and they can matchup against each other as in-state rivals.
"There was a ton of playing one-on-one in the driveway," Max said of their competitiveness. "He's a lefty. Naturally, I think lefties are a little harder to guard which helped me at a young age. He shoots it pretty well and I learned his shooting mechanics and tried to intertwine them with mine."
When Max was a Neenah senior, Cal split time between the JV team and Rockets varsity.
"He's like my best friend off the court," Cal told NBC 26 in Green Bay. "And then on the court, I don't think I've ever liked him when I played him. It's just a good in-between there. But he's helped me a lot. I wouldn't be the basketball player I am today without him. He's really made me the person I am …"
When relayed that quote about Cal not liking him on the court, Max smirked.
"I try to make life hard for the other guy – and all the other guys on the floor," he said of his playing style. "I'm not necessarily trying to frustrate them, but make them uncomfortable. Make them do something they don't like to do. Or make them counter to a move they don't want to go to."
Unintentionally, he could have been describing Iowa guard, Connor McCaffery, 24, a sixth-year senior. McCaffery and Brad Davison had some spirited battles the last few seasons. McCaffery's younger brother, Patrick, is a 6-9 junior forward for their dad, Hawkeyes head coach Fran McCaffery.
The elder McCaffrey won his 500th game on Thursday, a decisive, 75-56, rout of No. 20 Iowa State in which the Hawks jumped out to a 15-0 lead and expanded it to 26-4 before the Cyclones knew what hit them – all of this despite Iowa playing without its marquee player, the injured Kris Murray.
When the Badgers show up at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday night, McCaffrey will be shooting for another milestone victory: No. 250 on the Iowa sidelines. Wisconsin has split the last 12 meetings with the Hawkeyes in a series that has broken almost dead even with the UW leading, 86-85.
Klesmit has some history with rivalries. Just on a different scale. Wofford and Furman University square off annually on the hardwood in what is billed as the "Deep South's Oldest Football Rivalry (since 1889)." The campuses in Spartanburg and Greenville are separated by 30 miles in South Carolina.
"That game was always super loud – just not necessarily a crazy amount of people – nothing compared to the Wisconsin-Marquette rivalry," Klesmit said. "I was telling everyone that was the greatest atmosphere you could ask for as a basketball player. It's something you dream about as a kid."
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Tyler Wahl is the only Badger player to have seen game action in Carver-Hawkeye. And he has been trying to share his experience with his teammates. Especially with the on-set of Big Ten competition. On Tuesday night, UW won its league opener, 64-59, over Maryland in Madison.
"T-Wahl has told us we're going to need to have the same mentality every day in practice and the weight room regardless of where we are," Klesmit said of handling the rigors of conference play. "You have to have the same approach, the same mentality. Keep the head down and stay focused."
By his own admission, the 20-year-old Klesmit is still in a personal adjustment stage after nine games at Wisconsin. "I'm getting a lot more comfortable playing in the system," he said. "It has just taken some time adjusting to the different styles of play between Wofford and here."
On what has stood out the most to him, he said, "I would say the amount of intensity that you have to come to play with every night. We've obviously had only one (Big Ten) game. But you hear about how there's not an off-night. It's going to be a dog fight, a rock fight every night in this league.
"The physicality and intensity part of that has been the biggest difference for me so far."
Klesmit has adapted well to the leadership demands. Some of it just comes naturally. But it certainly helps, he suggested, to be part of a strong culture. Or as he put it, "Having 16 guys on the team who are all really good listeners and can take advice and give advice as well if they need to."
After Wahl picked up his fourth foul against Maryland, he was visibly upset. Klesmit was the first player to approach him. "I was just telling him, 'We need you on the floor, we need you engaged in the game still – regardless if coach pulls you out here for a little bit,'" Klesmit recounted.
More than anything, he was reinforcing what he has come to admire in Wahl who tends to wear his emotions. "He's working on toning it down a little bit," Klesmit observed. "But we love it when he shows it a little bit. When something good or beneficial happens for us, we feed off that as well."
It's hard to measure Klesmit's impact by statistics alone. Whereas he's averaging 31.6 minutes (the most on the team) and 6.4 points (the sixth most), and he has the second-most steals (14), he does so many other things that generally go unnoticed by the fans, not the coaches. Positive things.
"He brings a lot of fire," said Wisconsin assistant Dean Oliver, a 124-game starter for the Hawkeyes as a collegian (1997-2001). "We've noticed when he's not in the game – and he's had a few games where he got into a little bit of foul trouble – there's not the same fire out there at both ends.
"The way he cuts, the way he plays hard, and just his overall competitiveness is contagious to the rest of the team. He really cuts extremely well. Those are things that don't show up on the stat sheet. But he opens the floor for a lot of guys. He can also really knock shots down.
"And then defensively, he's just an ultimate competitor. He's a versatile defender. He can really be a pest for the other team. He does a great job of finding whatever we need in that game – the little roles that are out there. He doesn't care about stats. He just tries to do things that help us win."
What's the first thing that Klesmit looks at in a box score? "Did we win the game?" he posed.
From there, he focuses on turnovers. "How many did we have? Did we hold our threshold in terms of wanting to be in single digits? Because really I think that's how you win the game."
It's about protecting the rock and possessions. Getting extra ones by turning over the opponent. Defensively, Klesmit pays attention to details, "Helping somebody in a gap. Coming over on a baseline drive. Stopping the ball. Things like that – that don't show up in a box score. Diving for a loose ball.
"We've got everybody on the floor. All five guys are willing to do it at all times."
To which, he added, "All the other dudes feed off of it as well. Energy plays."
Most assuredly so in Carver-Hawkeye. On a Sunday night in December.
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. – Walking into the Kohl Center on the first day of the off-season program in June, Max Klesmit glanced up at the center court scoreboard and spotted a familiar name. Klesmit. There were some other names he recognized, too. Neenah High School basketball players.
"It was cool to see it," he said. "It was up there for the first couple of weeks of summer."
In March, the Neenah Rockets defeated Brookfield Central, 64-52, to win the WIAA Division-1 state championship, the school's first title in 44 years. The scoreboard reflected the Neenah players who were on the floor when the game ended. It included a Klesmit. Cal Klesmit, the younger brother of Max.
In the closing seconds, Neenah coach Lee Rabas inserted Cal Klesmit, a junior, into the game to dribble out the clock. It was out of respect for Klesmit who had missed the season with a torn ACL. During his rehab, Cal could count on support from his older bro, then a sophomore at Wofford College.
"It was hard on him for sure – it was hard on me too, being away from him in South Carolina and not being able to see him and be there for him," Max Klesmit said. "I'm super proud of how he kept his mentality throughout that whole process. For a 17-year-old kid, at the time, that's pretty tough.
"Your team ends up winning state and you had to watch the whole thing."
Cal Klesmit has bounced back stronger than ever during his senior year at Neenah. On Dec. 2, he scored 45 points against Appleton East matching the school record set by none other than Max Klesmit who also burned Appleton East for 45 during the 2019 season. Max watched Cal's game on live stream.
"It was super nice," he said, "seeing him back out there and having fun playing again."
The following day, Max Klesmit had 13 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals in Wisconsin's 80-77 overtime win against Marquette in Milwaukee. Since transferring from Wofford, he has been a fixture in the starting lineup, an all-around contributor/catalyst and a bona fide team leader.
He also has served as a sounding board for his brother in the recruiting process. During the November signing period, Cal joined Will Ryan's program at UW-Green Bay. Both are looking forward to the day when the Phoenix and Badgers play, and they can matchup against each other as in-state rivals.
"There was a ton of playing one-on-one in the driveway," Max said of their competitiveness. "He's a lefty. Naturally, I think lefties are a little harder to guard which helped me at a young age. He shoots it pretty well and I learned his shooting mechanics and tried to intertwine them with mine."
When Max was a Neenah senior, Cal split time between the JV team and Rockets varsity.
"He's like my best friend off the court," Cal told NBC 26 in Green Bay. "And then on the court, I don't think I've ever liked him when I played him. It's just a good in-between there. But he's helped me a lot. I wouldn't be the basketball player I am today without him. He's really made me the person I am …"
When relayed that quote about Cal not liking him on the court, Max smirked.
"I try to make life hard for the other guy – and all the other guys on the floor," he said of his playing style. "I'm not necessarily trying to frustrate them, but make them uncomfortable. Make them do something they don't like to do. Or make them counter to a move they don't want to go to."
Unintentionally, he could have been describing Iowa guard, Connor McCaffery, 24, a sixth-year senior. McCaffery and Brad Davison had some spirited battles the last few seasons. McCaffery's younger brother, Patrick, is a 6-9 junior forward for their dad, Hawkeyes head coach Fran McCaffery.
The elder McCaffrey won his 500th game on Thursday, a decisive, 75-56, rout of No. 20 Iowa State in which the Hawks jumped out to a 15-0 lead and expanded it to 26-4 before the Cyclones knew what hit them – all of this despite Iowa playing without its marquee player, the injured Kris Murray.
When the Badgers show up at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday night, McCaffrey will be shooting for another milestone victory: No. 250 on the Iowa sidelines. Wisconsin has split the last 12 meetings with the Hawkeyes in a series that has broken almost dead even with the UW leading, 86-85.
Klesmit has some history with rivalries. Just on a different scale. Wofford and Furman University square off annually on the hardwood in what is billed as the "Deep South's Oldest Football Rivalry (since 1889)." The campuses in Spartanburg and Greenville are separated by 30 miles in South Carolina.
"That game was always super loud – just not necessarily a crazy amount of people – nothing compared to the Wisconsin-Marquette rivalry," Klesmit said. "I was telling everyone that was the greatest atmosphere you could ask for as a basketball player. It's something you dream about as a kid."
&&&
Tyler Wahl is the only Badger player to have seen game action in Carver-Hawkeye. And he has been trying to share his experience with his teammates. Especially with the on-set of Big Ten competition. On Tuesday night, UW won its league opener, 64-59, over Maryland in Madison.
"T-Wahl has told us we're going to need to have the same mentality every day in practice and the weight room regardless of where we are," Klesmit said of handling the rigors of conference play. "You have to have the same approach, the same mentality. Keep the head down and stay focused."
By his own admission, the 20-year-old Klesmit is still in a personal adjustment stage after nine games at Wisconsin. "I'm getting a lot more comfortable playing in the system," he said. "It has just taken some time adjusting to the different styles of play between Wofford and here."
On what has stood out the most to him, he said, "I would say the amount of intensity that you have to come to play with every night. We've obviously had only one (Big Ten) game. But you hear about how there's not an off-night. It's going to be a dog fight, a rock fight every night in this league.
"The physicality and intensity part of that has been the biggest difference for me so far."
Klesmit has adapted well to the leadership demands. Some of it just comes naturally. But it certainly helps, he suggested, to be part of a strong culture. Or as he put it, "Having 16 guys on the team who are all really good listeners and can take advice and give advice as well if they need to."
After Wahl picked up his fourth foul against Maryland, he was visibly upset. Klesmit was the first player to approach him. "I was just telling him, 'We need you on the floor, we need you engaged in the game still – regardless if coach pulls you out here for a little bit,'" Klesmit recounted.
More than anything, he was reinforcing what he has come to admire in Wahl who tends to wear his emotions. "He's working on toning it down a little bit," Klesmit observed. "But we love it when he shows it a little bit. When something good or beneficial happens for us, we feed off that as well."
It's hard to measure Klesmit's impact by statistics alone. Whereas he's averaging 31.6 minutes (the most on the team) and 6.4 points (the sixth most), and he has the second-most steals (14), he does so many other things that generally go unnoticed by the fans, not the coaches. Positive things.
"He brings a lot of fire," said Wisconsin assistant Dean Oliver, a 124-game starter for the Hawkeyes as a collegian (1997-2001). "We've noticed when he's not in the game – and he's had a few games where he got into a little bit of foul trouble – there's not the same fire out there at both ends.
"The way he cuts, the way he plays hard, and just his overall competitiveness is contagious to the rest of the team. He really cuts extremely well. Those are things that don't show up on the stat sheet. But he opens the floor for a lot of guys. He can also really knock shots down.
"And then defensively, he's just an ultimate competitor. He's a versatile defender. He can really be a pest for the other team. He does a great job of finding whatever we need in that game – the little roles that are out there. He doesn't care about stats. He just tries to do things that help us win."
What's the first thing that Klesmit looks at in a box score? "Did we win the game?" he posed.
From there, he focuses on turnovers. "How many did we have? Did we hold our threshold in terms of wanting to be in single digits? Because really I think that's how you win the game."
It's about protecting the rock and possessions. Getting extra ones by turning over the opponent. Defensively, Klesmit pays attention to details, "Helping somebody in a gap. Coming over on a baseline drive. Stopping the ball. Things like that – that don't show up in a box score. Diving for a loose ball.
"We've got everybody on the floor. All five guys are willing to do it at all times."
To which, he added, "All the other dudes feed off of it as well. Energy plays."
Most assuredly so in Carver-Hawkeye. On a Sunday night in December.
Players Mentioned
Media Availability || NCAA Round 1
Wednesday, March 18
Media Availability || Selection Show
Sunday, March 15
Postgame Media Conference || Michigan
Saturday, March 14
Postgame Media Conference || Illinois
Friday, March 13
