Martin Luther’s Brazziel waiting to play
All Jeffery Brazziel could do was look on.
Stationed in a chair on the bench along the sideline, Brazziel observed as his Martin Luther teammates built a 16-point lead well into the second half against top-ranked Racine St. Catherine’s last Friday night.
Then, helplessly, he watched as the Spartans saw that lead slip away possession by possession over the final six minutes, resulting in a bitter loss.
Brazziel wasn’t confined to the sideline by foul trouble. Nor, as one of the best junior players in the state, has he been unable to crack head coach Paul Wollersheim’s rotation due to talent or work ethic.
Instead, Brazziel is sitting out for the second straight season after the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association deemed him ineligible due to transferring to Martin Luther before the beginning of his junior year this fall.
The 6-foot-5 left-hander, in fact, hasn’t seen the floor in a varsity game since January 2019, when he was a freshman at Milwaukee Bradley Tech.
And if Brazziel’s ongoing appeal of the WIAA’s decision from earlier this month that deemed him ineligible to play in varsity games isn’t successful, it will have been 34 months between high school games for one of the top recruits in the state when next season begins.
“I feel like it’s unfair,” Brazziel said. “There’s other people that got cleared that are juniors and seniors and we all transferred at the same time. Everybody has a different reason, but it’s
not like anybody's reason should be seen as better than mine.”
From Bradley Tech to Martin Luther
Brazziel started out at Bradley Tech, where he played in 12 games and averaged 15.5 points per game before a car accident injured his knee and forced him to miss the remainder of the season.
He transferred to Milwaukee Madison before the start of his sophomore year, hoping the school would be a better fit, but it wasn't. Brazziel transferred to Destiny, doing so knowing that it meant he wouldn't be able to play basketball because of it.
This year, Brazziel would have been at Destiny once again had there not been a pandemic.
Already loaded with reported scholarship offers from the likes of Arizona State, Auburn, Georgetown, Maryland, Marquette and more, Brazziel wanted to place an emphasis on his academics to become a more well-rounded prospect. When the coronavirus began to surge in the spring and into the summer, Brazziel looked into attending Martin Luther, which was proceeding with in-person learning in the fall semester.
“Everybody was going virtual and I wanted to come here because it was inperson for a better education, just to learn easier,” Brazziel said. “I wasn't really even thinking about (basketball). I was just thinking about getting into an in-person school before the year started.”
From the outside, the optics, Martin Luther head coach Paul Wollersheim admits, of attending four high schools in three years aren't ideal. He, however, also believes those numbers don't paint the whole picture.
“If you look at it on the surface, it's easy to say,” Wollersheim said. “When you go below the surface and look at some of the personal struggles he's had, you see a different story.
"With his grandfather passed away and some of the issues he ran into at Madison, when you take a look closer, you can kind of understand his story. I don't think people that live in the city can always understand some of the struggles that single-parent moms and kids can have. You get to know him and his family and you can realize this is not somebody trying to take advantage of the system. This is somebody trying to get Jeff in a situation where he can succeed."
The appeal to play
The WIAA has a residence and transfer requirement to allow student-athletes to participate in varsity competition immediately following a school transfer; for example, in recent memory, basketball standouts Jalen and Kobe Johnson became immediately eligible at Nicolet after their family made a complete move from Sun Prairie.
This didn't make sense for Brazziel, since he already lived in Milwaukee County and Martin Luther, located in Greendale and the second-most diverse private high school in Wisconsin, takes students from all across the area.
“If you do pick up and move, you're able to play again,” said DeShaun Robinson, Brazziel's mentor. “But for his situation, financially and circumstances, he probably wasn't fit to do so at the moment.”
There, however, is an extenuating circumstances clause in the WIAA's transfer policies that deems “the residence and transfer requirement may be waived, if requested in advance (of student participation at new school), by a member school on behalf of one of its students and upon presentation of documentation detailing extenuating circumstances.”
Brazziel and those close to him believed his situation would fit under that category.
“You're talking about a kid who already has the basketball part lined up, who knows he has an opportunity to graduate and go to college,” Robinson said. “A lot of his friends were struggling with virtual school, so he knew he would struggle, so, for him, it's time to go to an in-person school so I have the best chance of succeeding. His mom, him and myself, we went to administration and said we were strictly focused on coming here for the learning.”
Their hope was that the WIAA would give Brazziel an eligibility waiver due to the unforeseen rise of the coronavirus this year. After being initially denied, a group consisting of Martin Luther athletic director Corey Scheel, a guidance counselor, Robinson, Brazziel and his mother went to Stevens Point to appeal the decision.
“You use extenuating circumstances and when you hear the story, what about that is not extenuating?” Robinson said. “What about COVID and the things that happened last year with transferring and the city schools unfortunately not having the resources that most suburban schools do in a time like this? Those, to me, are extenuating things."
It didn't work, sending Brazziel to the sideline once again.
“The WIAA made the point that they're going to open a can of worms if we allow this,” Wollersheim said. “I don't see that argument because Jeff came here before he knew the season was going to be canceled or delayed in the city. This is not a typical situation.”
Said Robinson: “We plan to continue to fight it because he deserves to play."
Sticking with it
The inability to play in games wears on Brazziel, even if he doesn't always show it.
A reserved but poised student, Brazziel makes the trip out to Greendale for school every day, works on the scout team in every practice and offers tips from the sideline during every game.
“You don't really see the frustration or the disappointment in him too much,” Wollersheim said.
It isn't that simple all the time, however.
“Jeff, he wants to be a good teammate, a good classmate,” Robinson said. “He doesn't want to make it about him. But at the end of the day, it's tough. It's tough to not be able to go out there with your teammates and get that feeling you get when you're doing what you love. He's still confused and hurt.”
Brazziel is allowed to play in junior varsity games, which he did last week for one half. He scored 25 points in 18 minutes and reached the conclusion that it wasn't doing any good for him or the other players on the floor to have him play at that level.
Save for the basketball element, and the transfer to Martin Luther has been a complete positive for Brazziel.
“Big picture for Jeff, the academic piece this year and taking care of his business, getting credits and good grades is real,” Wollersheim said. “He's got offers already, so it's not like he's got to go on the court and get noticed by colleges.”
Brazziel feels bolstered by the teachers, staff, teammates and their parents, who made t-shirts in support of his appeal process.
“It means a lot and shows they care,” he said. “It feels good. It's just a better environment here. Everyone really cares for you and supports you. They're not going to let you fall behind.”
Brazziel says he has no regrets from transferring because, if he hadn't transferred, he still wouldn't be able to play right now as Milwaukee Public Schools postponed the start of the winter sports season indefinitely. He wouldn't have the benefit of in-person school at the moment, either.
“It is frustrating, but I just try to think ahead and focus on school,” Brazziel said. “If I can't play, I just still got to go to school and keep my grades up and be eligible.”
The Martin Luther administration and Brazziel's circle will continue to try to prove that his extenuating circumstances are extenuating enough to receive an eligibility waiver sometime this season. In the meantime, he will be in the gym, still working on his craft and waiting to display how much his game has grown since he last touched the ball in a varsity game nearly two years ago.
“It's been a positive situation for him this year,” Wollersheim said. “I just wish he could be allowed to play basketball. It just seems like the right thing to do.”