Penn State basketball recruiting: High School coach David Wood analyzes new commit Braeden Shrewsberry's game

Penn State basketball received a commitment from guard Braeden Shrewsberry on Wednesday afternoon, its first Class of 2023 pledge.

Shrewsberry, the son of current Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry, stands at 6-foot-2, 170 pounds and also held offers from the likes of Xavier and St. Joe’s.

Blue White Illustrated caught up with David Wood, his former high school coach at West Lafayette, to learn more about Shrewsberry’s game.

BWI: Just to start generally, what kind of player is Braeden? What did he do for you guys while he was there?

Wood: A lot. He’s the best player I coached in 27 years here, first of all. His stats as a sophomore last year, he averaged 20.9 points a game, shot 39 percent from 3-point range, shot 89 percent from the free-throw line, and got all of those points and shot well while being double-teamed. Everybody knew they had to stop him. In spite of all that, he had a lot of big games. He had 42 in a game last year. He had 29 in a game as a freshman.

In his first game as a freshman, he played like two quarters of JV and he couldn’t have played any worse if he tried. I thought, ‘Oh, dear.’ But he got better daily and got more comfortable with us and became a starter and a really good player for us as a freshman, by far our best player as a sophomore. He grew about four inches and got stronger. Through COVID, we didn’t have any workouts at all. He has a dad who’s a basketball coach so he got in the arena at Purdue I think and did a lot of work on his own and has become a very, very, very good player and very deserving of this honor.

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BWI: I was just talking to him, and I asked him to describe himself as a player, and he sounds very much like he plays like a coach’s kid. Did you get that sense as well?

Wood: Well, certainly he’s been around the game a lot. You know, he came in, guys are asking questions about the Boston Celtics. He hung out with some of the Boston Celtics. So he’s been around the game. If I describe him, he’s a scoring guard. I don’t know if he’s a one or a two, but he’s a scoring guard. As a freshman, he was a shooter, almost exclusively a shooter stood outside the line.

As a sophomore, he obviously had put a lot of time in developing his game and he became not just a shooter — with range, by the way. He has excellent range. I think his range is 28 feet, the last time I saw him. When teams tried to take that away, he showed last year that he’s more than just a shooter. He got to the rim. He’s a good ball-handler. He can get his own shot off the dribble and make it and he can catch it and shoot it. As he gets stronger and bigger I think he can blossom as a scoring guard in the Big Ten.

BWI: What kind of kid is he? What is he like around his teammates?

Wood: He’s an outstanding kid. You’ve talked to Micah, it’s a great family. Great grandparents. He’s a solid kid. He’s got a stubborn streak that most good players have (laughs). But he’s a solid kid. He’s going to make Penn State very proud.

BWI: If you had to point out an area of growth that you would like to see from him, is there something you can put your finger on?

Wood: Sure, I think he’d be disappointed if I didn’t say he’s got to make strides defensively. We had that talk more than twice. As he gets stronger, that’s going to be better because he’s way more athletic now than he was when we got him two years ago at this time. On our team, he was that guy that really couldn’t get in foul trouble.

I think there’s two places he’s got to make strides. He’s got to make strides defensively, and I think he’s got to make strides as a passer, as a setup guy for other guys. But I think when he plays with better players, he’s going to get naturally better at that because he does see the floor pretty well.

BWI: You mentioned how he improved as a scorer from year one to year two. Does that give you confidence that he can make those jumps in other areas in high school and while at Penn State?

Wood: Yeah. That first game, I thought, ‘Oh dear, everybody’s wrong about this kid.’ But that didn’t last long. I think that he loves to play and he loves to get better. He’s a gym rat. He’s gonna do what he needs to do to get better and I think that he will do what he needs to do. If he doesn’t, I think there’s a guy coaching Penn State that will convince him to do that (laughs).

BWI: Was there a moment where you think everything kind of clicked for him?

Wood: I just think the more comfortable he got, the better he played. It takes time to adjust, brand new system, brand new teammates, brand new coach, brand new city. He was a baby when [the Shrewsberry family] left here the first time. The one thing I remember most is that we had a Friday night game where he couldn’t hit water standing in a boat. He had a bad shooting game. He had a three to tie, a wide-open three to tie, and missed. We lost and he was very disappointed. The next night, he got 29. I think there’s some maturity there. He had a bad night, but he didn’t lose confidence. And that’s very rare for a freshman. A freshman has a really bad night, that sometimes takes a month to get him back. It took him 24 hours.

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BWI: I’ll leave you with this question. Some guys tend to play with different personalities on the floor. What’s he like when he’s out there? What kind of player would you describe him as?

Wood: Very unemotional. And I say that in the best sense of that. You cannot look at his face and know whether he’s scored the last six times down the floor or whether he’s missed five in a row. He’s very even-keeled from that standpoint. And again, that’s very rare for a young guy. I think that’s something that when he’s playing with really good players, that’s going to be a big plus, because you can’t just look at him and know. You can watch him and know that he wants the ball and he believes he can score on anybody, but he’s a very even guy. And yet, there’s a fire in that belly. He wants to win, and if you’re in a timeout with him, you know he wants to win.