Sky’s the limit for Denmark’s Suemnick
6-foot-6 1/2, 205-pound frame, athleticism and drive give 2019 graduate a high ceiling
April 13, 2018
By ScoutU staff
There are two intangibles that can’t be taught to a basketball player: height and athleticism. Denmark 2019 grad Patrick Suemnick has both.
Suemnick is 6-foot-6½, 205 pounds and features the athleticism that often drops the jaws of spectators watching him. A dunk following up a missed shot? It’s almost routine for Suemnick. You can see it in his ScoutU highlight video.
“He’s very athletic,” said Harry Boyce, Suemnick’s AAU coach with Team 1848. “Long arms, good intangibles.
“He could play at a high D2 level and maybe a low Division I level as a pick-pop guy, athletic guy, block shots, good energy guy. Now I have to get him to be tough and play bigger than he is. He’s got a good motor, too.”
Boyce is a good source on determining college talent as he played in college himself before playing professionally in Europe. Boyce played at Division-I North Dakota and Division-II Minnesota State Mankato.
“He’s extremely, extremely coachable,” Boyce said. “He wants to get better. … He listens. He’s a sponge.”
Suemnick averaged 13 points, 9.9 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game as a junior, earning Honorable Mention North East All-Conference honors. He led the conference in blocks and his team in rebounds.
Suemnick credits many to helping him improve, from coaches to family members to former college players who he works out with on a regular basis.
“I don’t want to be a wasted talent,” said Suemnick, who has a 3.85 GPA and plans on majoring in psychology. “I need to show them that what they taught me is worth something and got me somewhere.”
Suemnick wakes up at 5:30 a.m. to get a workout in from 6-7 a.m. before school. Then, he plays 5-on-5 after school to implement the skills he worked on in the morning.
“I want to be the best, and I want to make it somewhere,” Suemnick said. “You gotta work when other people aren’t working to get better. I’m coming from behind. I didn’t start playing basketball until 6th grade. I have a lot of work to do to catch up.”
Suemnick’s drive to play in college is something ScoutU Head Scout Jason Lauren has noticed, too. Lauren is helping Suemnick with his college recruiting.
“When you talk to Patrick about playing in college, you can see how excited and driven he is in his eyes,” said Lauren, who has helped 177 athletes go on to play in college in the last 10 years. “He’s willing to do whatever it takes to get to the next level.”
Along with his drive, Suemnick’s size and athleticism give him a very high ceiling.
“We have to get him more polished,” Boyce said. “That’s what we’re working on, being able to make a right hook, left hook, face up, make a post move and not just rely on athleticism. That’s the evolution to his game. He’s skilled, but he needs to go play down low, learn how to pick and roll and then finish.
“He is determined. He doesn’t even realize how good he actually can be if he’s doing it the right way.”