Q & A: 2016 big man Joey Brunk updates recruitment

  • 04/29/2015 10:38 am in

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Indiana continues to track class of 2016 Southport big man Joey Brunk closely this spring as both Tom Crean and Tim Buckley were on hand to see the 6-foot-10 center at the Under Armour Association stop at the MidAmerica Sports Center.

Inside the Hall caught up with Brunk on Friday after Crean and Buckley watched him score 11 points and grab seven rebounds in a 81-77 loss to the Houston Defenders.

The No. 109 prospect nationally – according to the 247Composite – discussed a variety of topics, including his interest in Indiana, the schools he’s hearing from most and more. The complete Q & A is below:

On what he’s focusing on this spring and summer:

“Just continuing to get stronger, more athletic, that’s probably the biggest thing. It’s something I’ve been working on a lot for a couple of years. And the other one is continuing to improve my skills all over the floor.”

On which schools have conducted in-home visits recently and who has been to Southport to see him lately:

“This past week I had in-homes with Iowa and IU. And then coach (John) Groce from Illinois was at an open gym.”

On the takeaways from those visits:

“I had good talks with all of them on how they want to use me, how I fit in with their scheme. There are positives to take away from all of them.”

On IU’s addition of Thomas Bryant:

“We watched Huntington Prep play (this past season). They were playing over in Ohio and they played after us. He’s good. He’s really good. He’d be a fun player to play with.”

On what he talked about with Indiana during the in-home visit and how they would utilize him:

“They don’t want me just playing with my back to the basket. They will do other things like catch on the perimeter and do a lot of different things. Coach Crean gave me a lot of pointers to take into next high school season with my leadership and that kind of stuff so it was a productive talk.”

On Indiana’s consistency in recruiting him:

“After they offered me last July, I’ve heard from them from then until now.”

On the other schools who he is hearing from the most:

“I hear a lot still from Butler, I hear a lot still from Xavier. Michigan State, Oklahoma. I still hear a lot from those.”

On the schools scheduled to come in soon:

“It’s going to depend on their schedules. This past week, Missouri came in and watched me work out before school. There have been times here and there when schools have been in to watch Paul (Scruggs) and I and it’s been fun.”

On when he plans to narrow down his list of schools:

“It’s all about talking with my parents. I would say fairly soon I’m going to start to figure it out. I don’t think my decision is going to be too soon, but it is starting to get to that time.”

On whether he wants to take official visits:

“I think I’m going to use my officials, but I’m not 100 percent set on where I’m going to take them. I’ll be taking a couple.”

On his junior season and the highs and lows:

“Probably the highest high was after we won in New Castle (at the Hall of Fame Classic). That was special. We won both games that day and got to cut down the nets. And I’d have to say the low was our season ending against Pike again. That was low. That’s high school basketball, you’re playing a lot of good teams.”

On how long the sectional loss to Pike will stick with him and how much he’ll think about it this offseason:

“Quite a bit. Losing to the same team in sectional again adds some fuel to all of our fire. We want to improve and we have high expectations again for ourselves. Hopefully we get the opportunity to play them again and hopefully we come out on the other side.”

On what he wants to study in college:

“As of right now I haven’t decided. Maybe something with business, but I’m not sure yet.”

Filed to: