All it took was one recruiting visit for Bjorn Broman to find the right fit.
“Blessed to announce I have committed to Winthrop University,” the Lakeview Christian Academy senior tweeted after visiting the Rock Hill, S.C., school over the weekend.
Division I Winthrop, a member of the Big South Conference, blew Broman away, so much so that the nation’s leading high school basketball scorer of a year ago called off upcoming visits to the University of Maryland-Baltimore County and St. Francis (Pa.).
In doing so, he followed the advice of his older brother, Anders Broman, also a Division I basketball player who will be a sophomore at South Dakota State this season.
“I did tell him to go wherever they want you the most,” the 2013 LCA graduate said. “You want to go somewhere where the team absolutely loves you.”
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Pat Kelsey, the Eagles’ head coach, and his assistants didn’t mask their affection for the 5-foot-11 playmaker who has scored 2,720 career points. According to Winthrop coaches, Broman was the program’s No. 1 recruit.
A strong first impression Friday night only improved as the Labor Day weekend progressed.
“Saturday night I talked with my parents and I told them, ‘I really like this one,’ ” Broman recounted. “And they did, too. I texted my brother, and we all just agreed that it felt like the right fit, so we decided I should commit Sunday morning.”
Broman averaged almost 40 points per game as a junior while producing just the ninth 1,000-point season in Minnesota high school history - his brother has three of the others. Broman, though, isn’t a one-tool talent. While he’s remarkably adept at piling up points, he also is poised to become the state’s all-time leader in assists. He has almost 1,100 entering his final prep campaign. The record, held by Ely’s Mark Heiman, is 1,274.
At Winthrop, he will have a chance to play right away.
“I’m thinking I’m going to play the 1 (point guard), but they told me they’ll play me where they need me,” he said.
The Eagles were 20-13 a year ago. They narrowly missed the NCAA tournament when they fell to Coastal Carolina in the championship game of the Big South tournament.
Broman will be a fifth-year starter for the Lions this season. Playing for the Twin Cities-based Howard Pulley AAU team has raised his profile, and Winthrop was the first DI school to offer him a scholarship.
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Anders Broman said that was part of an eye-grabbing summer for his younger sibling.
“I think people have overlooked him, but he had a tremendous summer this year - he played out of his mind - and it really shows that he’s a Division I player and that he can’t be overlooked anymore,” Anders Broman said.
Tuesday, Bjorn Broman was reached after some light shooting at St. Scholastica. A normal workout is about 300 shots, he said. All that hard work is paying dividends for a player who has an excellent chance to graduate from high school with Minnesota’s third-highest career point tally.
Then, it’s off to sunny South Carolina. Broman was told the coldest it gets in Rock Hill, during the dead of winter, is about 30 degrees.
“I’m in a T-shirt at 30 degrees!” he said.
