MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State head coach Bruce Weber announced the signing of Wisconsin prep standout Logan Landers (Cedarburg, Wisconsin/Cedarburg) to a National Letter of Intent on the first day of the Fall National Signing Period on Wednesday (November 11).
A 6-foot-10, 230-pound center, Landers is considered one of the top high school players in the state of Wisconsin as he enters his senior season at Cedarburg High School, which currently ranks No. 8 in the preseason poll of Division 2 schools. He is rated as the 30th-best center in the country as well as the fifth-best player in Wisconsin by 247Sports. He is a consensus 3-star prospect by both 247Sports and Rivals. In addition, he is a highly-regarded baseball pitching prospect who had a career 1.94 ERA in high school.
“Obviously, we are really excited to welcome Logan and his family to K-State,” said Weber. “One of our main areas of focus in this recruiting period was getting another skilled big man – one that can give us some different options, alongside (sophomore transfer) Kaosi (Ezeagu), (freshman) Davion (Bradford) and (sophomore tranfer) Carlton (Linguard, Jr.). Logan is a very, very skilled player. He is a good passer and can do a lot of things with the basketball. He has really developed into a very good 3-pointer shooter, which will give us even more versatility on the court.”
Landers transferred to Cedarburg in the Spring of 2020 after three standout seasons (2017-20) at Brookfield Academy in Brookfield, Wisconsin, helping the Blue Knights to a 56-18 (.757) overall record and two appearances in the WIAA Regional Final (2018, 2020). He scored more than 1,000 points (1,082) in his career on 50 percent shooting (417-of-834) and averaged a near double-double (14.8 ppg., 9.4 rpg.) in 73 games played.
In addition, Landers collected 28 double-double (points-rebounds) in his career at Brookfield Academy, including 18 as a sophomore in 2018-19. He also had 14 games of at least 20 points, including a career-high 32 points against powerhouse Milwaukee King in the first game of the 2019-20 season.
Landers is a three-time Second Team All-Midwest Classic Conference selection (2018, 2019, 2020), while he was an honorable mention pick to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel All-Area team in 2019.
“In my heart, it was K-State,” said Landers. “I need to follow what I want to do in my heart. K-State is an elite top-level school, and they are in my heart, so that’s the school that I want to be and where I want to win.
“College is going to be grind no matter where you go, whether you are playing Division I sports or not. The guys (at K-State) are going to be there for you – they are great teammates – and you have a great coaching staff, so I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity. There is ‘no lose’ in this situation. I just had to get on to this opportunity while I had the chance.”
As a junior in 2019-20, Landers led Brookfield Academy to the WIAA Regional Final, where they lost to The Prairie School, 76-71, on March 7 to finish the season with a 16-8 record. He averaged 18.8 points on 46.1 percent shooting (166-of-360), including 35.8 percent (49-of-137) from 3-point range, with a team-best 9.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 24 games played. He posted nine double-doubles on the season to go with nine games of 20 or more points, including a 26-point, 14-rebound, 5-assist performance against The Prairie School in the Regional Final.
His junior season came on the heels of stellar sophomore season in 2018-19, in which, he averaged a double-double in helping the Blue Knights to a 20-6 overall record. He averaged 14.2 points on 48.1 percent shooting (143-of-297) with a team-best 12.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.1 blocks in 25 games played. His 12.5 rebounds per game ranked 10th in the state. He collected 18 double-doubles on the season and had four games of 20 or more points.
Among his biggest games as a sophomore was a season-high 29-point effort on 13-of-18 shooting against HOPE Christian on February 15, 2019 that came with 15 rebounds, along with an all-around effort of 13 points, 16 rebounds, 5 steals and 4 assists against conference champion St. John’s NW on February 2, 2019.
“The thing that I want to develop the most (in college) is that ruthless mindset of grabbing every single rebound that I can and when I get it in the post just being an absolute bully,” said Landers. “I want to do all the stuff that most people don’t like to do. I want to get the rebounds. I want to do the dirty stuff that a lot of people don’t like to do that will make me a better player and a better teammate to help us win games.”
Landers continued his development on the basketball court during the Summer of 2020 when he played for one of the top AAU programs in the country in Phenom Team Herro EYBL led by head coach Antonio Curro. He played in several events for Phenom, including the NY2LA Sports Grassroots Showdown Series in August and the Grassroots Showcase in September. His Phenom team included some of the top players in the country, including fellow Big 12 signee Tyrese Hunter of Iowa State.
“We recruit all across the country and (associate head coach) Chris Lowery got a call from Coach (Antonio) Curro telling us about Logan,” said Weber. “Logan played for Coach Curro’s Phenom squad, which is one of the most talented AAU teams in the country, and that experience has helped continue his development as a basketball player. Logan ended up being one of our first (recruiting) Zoom calls this Spring and we really think he is great fit for our team and what we continue to build here at K-State.”
In addition to his basketball abilities, Landers is also a talented baseball pitcher, posting a career 1.94 ERA in 68.2 innings pitched with 83 strikeouts in his two seasons (2017-19) at Brookfield Academy. He also had a career .505 batting average in 34 games played with the Blue Knights with 42 RBI, 25 runs scored, nine doubles, two triples and four home runs.
“He is a highly-regarded baseball pitcher and many thought he would go to college for baseball before his development into a standout basketball player,” said Weber. “His background as a pitcher has given him great hand-eye coordinator that you don’t see in a lot of basketball players, especially big men.”
In his latest prep season in 2018-19, he collected a 4-3 record in 11 appearances on the mound with 64 strikeouts and 26 walks while tallying a 1.87 ERA. He hit .462 as a sophomore in 19 games with 21 RBI, 10 runs scored, five doubles, two triples and four home runs. He missed his entire junior season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Landers is expected to debut with his new Cedarburg team on the basketball court in early January 2021.
