Brunk visited by IU coaches today
- Thread starter Tegray1
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I'd love to see us pick up him and Kyra Lewis the PG from Alabama.
Brunk has two years to play (immediately), and Lewis has 3 years to play after sitting out one (unless he gets a waiver).
Both would be great fits (in my opinion)...
I'm curious to see who else hits the Transfer Portal...
I hope RL does go pro. I know its blasphemy, but I felt he was more of a distraction than a positive...(and he appeared more than a bit overrated at times)...
Brunk has two years to play (immediately), and Lewis has 3 years to play after sitting out one (unless he gets a waiver).
Both would be great fits (in my opinion)...
I'm curious to see who else hits the Transfer Portal...
I hope RL does go pro. I know its blasphemy, but I felt he was more of a distraction than a positive...(and he appeared more than a bit overrated at times)...
I'm assuming he will go pro, but again, you're talking about a freshman who played through injury all season. Let's stop attacking our own?
Part of me likes the idea of Brunk and part of me isn't sold. Eligible immediately. Tall and experienced. But I guess it depends on what our other options are.
How much does he really help us? He was just ok playing in a weaker conference.
We really need outside shooting and another ball handler in my humble opinion and Brunk brings neither of these.
He is a decent player and 6'11" and you can't coach size as they say.
How much does he really help us? He was just ok playing in a weaker conference.
We really need outside shooting and another ball handler in my humble opinion and Brunk brings neither of these.
He is a decent player and 6'11" and you can't coach size as they say.
I think he's worthwhile. Every final 8 team has a lot more big depth than we had last year. This guy's smart, and he'll work at it.
As for another ball handler.....there are a lot more 6'4". 6'5" guys out there who shot 35-38% on 3s than there are capable PGs. We need 1. For next year, not a freshman project. We're not going to get a capable PG unless its Lewis, which won't happen.
The Big East is a pretty good conference. Not like he was playing against the Horizon League all year.
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I'd say we're needing some immediate help in the post, too. This isn't a mutually exclusive thing.
IU can certainly use an experienced big body who can stand their ground inside against the size they face in conference. If he gives you more than a few minutes every 10 games it's an improvement over Moore. He's not going to replace Morgan but he's an upgrade to the current bigs on the bench with the possible exception of a healthy DD. Hopefully TJD can step in and have an impact.
I am hoping about 20 minutes for him and about 20 for Davis at the 5 and then see TJD at the 4.
Losing your only NBA talent may not be a good thing. Especially considering the improvement players often make from freshman to sophomore season.
I hope we get this guy. Hes not going to pushed around in the BIG. And he plays with passion and fire.
I haven't followed Brunk much in college, but I remember him being a tough player. That would help address a weakness of this team. I don't think Archie was very happy with Davis in the NIT. Brunk would push Davis and give him a big body to practice against for the first time. Trading Moore for Brunk for the next 2 years would be huge.
We will still have a spot for a shooting guard. I believe we will see Rob and potentially Hunter help in that area next year. I don't want to mortgage our future to pick up just any shooter. It has to be someone that will legitimate skills.
Brunk leaving will be hard for Butler. I am curious why he decided to leave.
We will still have a spot for a shooting guard. I believe we will see Rob and potentially Hunter help in that area next year. I don't want to mortgage our future to pick up just any shooter. It has to be someone that will legitimate skills.
Brunk leaving will be hard for Butler. I am curious why he decided to leave.
I don't see how anyone can have this opinion after all of Deron Davis' injury issues. Yes, we need a backup PG (or do we if we have Phinisee, Green and Franklin?), shooting without a doubt, but we also need post depth. Honestly if Green is back, I don't think a PG is as much a priority as the other two. If he were to leave, then we have a spot to try and find a PG. The exception would probably be Lewis who is probably good enough to sign and wait on as a PG.
I think all those years of Crean and living with a single post player or single PG, has made IU fans forget what a well-constructed roster looks like!
I don't have any hard insight, but any of the following might be factors:
1. He was recruited by Holtmann. Maybe he wasn't entirely happy playing for Jordan.
2. He split time the last two years with Fowler. He might be frustrated by that - or he might have been told that his role will be limited the next two years. If Butler plans to run more and push the ball, it wouldn't be a great fit for Brunk's abilities.
3. If he chooses IU, some of the appeal could be style of play - more half-court oriented both on offense and defense. It could also be influenced by the presence of Schilling who has a reputation as a guy who develops bigs. He may even have a relationship through Schilling's academy from his youth.
Whatever the reason, he's a big body. I always thought he was a cerebral player and a good passer going back to high school. He's experienced and contributed at the P5 level so he's used to top competition. He isn't a great athlete and he doesn't have perimeter skills but I think without question he could help. I hope he picks IU
Brunk was incapable of stopping Juwan Morgan. I recall while watching that he was at Juwan's mercy and could only hope to get a hand on the ball to effect a shot, or get a loose rebound.
I think he is better than Fitzner and has played more than Clifton, but... there are questions. He is a big guy though. IU needs big guys.
I think he is better than Fitzner and has played more than Clifton, but... there are questions. He is a big guy though. IU needs big guys.
so did alot of the B10 bigs. Juwan is incredibly effective around the basket, especially if someone didn't double him.
He only played 46% of the minutes and shot 61% which means he took good shots. He should have never been guarding Morgan.
Actually, Brunk did a pretty good job on Morgan. Just rewatched the Morgan's highlights from that game and Morgan only scored 6 of his 35 pts when guarded by Brunk. Morgan scored most of his points either when Brunk wasn't on the floor and guarded by Fowler or when Butler was in a zone and Morgan wasn't in the vicinity of Brunk. Also, Brunk spent a large chunk of the game guarding Davis (0 pts).
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That's a good way to look at it and in that case it's a good trade for us.
On the surface the main reason would be that he's graduated in two years with his undergraduate degree and wants free/scholarship grad school.
As far as other reasons: I have no information...
He could have had that at Butler, couldn't he? That said, I've seen mention that he was interested in a grad program that Butler didn't offer (Law?).
His rebounding numbers are suspect if you use per game stats...but the efficiency numbers suggest he was underutilized at Butler, splitting time about 50/50 with a lesser player in Fowler. It was in a weaker conference, for sure. His efficiency number suggest he's a touch worse than De'ron Davis and Justin Smith at rebounding, but better than Smith in all the other categories that make Smith a problem (turnovers, shooting %).
In the BIG, his efficiency numbers suggest he'd probably serve as a capable rotation player and insurance policy for the hopefully not inevitable Deron Davis injury, or ineffectiveness of Freshman TJD. Either way, it has the potential to push Justin Smith out of the rotation at the 4, which is probably best for everyone, including Smith. We also then don't have to rely on Race Thompson as much, as a RS sophomore.
Last season, in the games Davis was hurt, we only had one effective big. Next year, we'd potentially have 3 if Brunk wants in and everyone is healthy. It's an under the radar useful addition, potentially. Brunk is probably a capable starter in his senior year, depending on how the roster shakes out.
I think Brunk would have been a capable starter this year, and would have replaced Smith. Even Smith/Brunk individually were an equivalent swap, the team would have benefited more with Brunk because Morgan would have been able to play the 4 instead of the 5. Morgan played so much better when Davis was available more than just 3 or 4 minutes, unfortunately that was only about half the season.
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