Chris Holtmann and Ohio State have their middle for the 2021-22 season. Former Butler and Indiana center Joey Brunk posted on Twitter on Saturday night that he was transferring to the Buckeyes. “Embrace your journey #gobucks” was the message from Brunk, alongside a realistic of the Indianapolis, Indiana local in a Scarlet and Gray shirt.
Brunk, 6-foot-11, 245 pounds, is entering his 6th year of school b-ball subsequent to playing three seasons at Butler from 2016-2019 preceding moving to Indiana for the last two seasons. Brunk was enrolled to the Bulldog program by Holtmann and played for the momentum Ohio State mentor during his green bean season.
A four-star prospect and the nation’s No. 14 focus in the 2016 enrolling class, per the 247Sports Composite, Brunk focused on Butler out of Southport High School. As a first year recruit in 2016-17, Brunt played in only seven games, averaging 3.1 focuses and one bounce back per game. As a sophomore, Brunt offered more for the Bulldogs, averaging 5.5 minutes per game in 20 challenges and scoring 1.3 focuses while pulling in 1.1 bounce back per game.
It was in Brunk’s lesser year that he started to emerge. The middle began 13 of 33 games played at Butler that year, scoring a vocation high 7.6 focuses per game and acquiring 3.6 bounce back per challenge. After the season, Brunk moved across the state to play for the Hoosiers.
In 2019-20 Brunk was a vital donor for IU, beginning 31 of 32 games played for the 12-15 Hoosiers. The middle arrived at the midpoint of 6.8 focuses and 5.2 bounce back in his first year in the Big Ten. Brunk didn’t play for Indiana this previous season because of a back physical issue which made him have a medical procedure in January.
Handling a middle was a need for Holtmann and his staff this offseason. A year ago, the Scarlet and Gray played without a genuine focus more often than not, beginning advances EJ Liddell (6-foot-7) and Kyle Young (6-foot-8) in the backcourt with rookie Zed Key (6-foot-8) falling off the seat for Ohio State. Liddell entered his name in the NBA Draft toward the finish of March, albeit the assumption is he will return for his lesser season. Youthful declared on Friday that he will exploit an additional year permitted by the NCAA and get back to Columbus for a fifth season.
Brunk, who will rejoin with Holtmann at Ohio State, is required to battle with Key for the beginning place spot in his one year with the Buckeyes. All through his vocation, Brunk is yet to average more than 19.6 minutes per game.
In the wake of arriving at the Big Ten Tournament title game and acquiring a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament last season, the Scarlet and Gray were at that point prepared for a major year in 2021-22. Adding Brunk, the genuine focus that the group needed, just makes Ohio State considerably more of a danger heading into next season.
Brunk will take the last accessible program spot for Ohio State. The Buckeyes were a finalist for five-star focus Efton Reid out of the IMG Academy. Reid was required to declare his school choice on Thursday however his mom reported on Twitter that the choice was pushed back.