The Indiana Hoosiers head into the 2020-21 season with the most talent it has had since Archie Miller's arrival. A roster with a good mixture of veterans and young talent, but either way experience, resides in Bloomington and has a leader who has spent just one year on campus.
Though Joey Brunk has been in Bloomington for just a year, you would never know it when you ask his teammates and that's what makes him a great leader for this program.
"Joey's probably going to be our most vocal leader this year. Just the way he attacks every day, the way he's on people – not in a bad way – but just wanting them to be the best they can be. He's going to be a big, big leader," Trayce Jackson-Davis said of Brunk earlier this summer. "I'm probably going to feed off his energy a lot this year."
"Joey has always been a great leader (for us), he's done a great job," Al Durham added.
TheHoosier.com starts its 2020-21 player previews with Joey Brunk.
2019-20 Season In Review:
While Brunk was never a consistent member at the top of the list when it came to points, he was a consistent fixture in the lineup, starting 31 of 32 games played. On the season he averaged 6.8 points and 5.2 rebounds in 19.6 minutes per game - rebounds and minutes both career highs.
The 6-foot-10 senior got his IU career off to a good start, having either double-digit points or rebounds in 10 of the first 19 games but faltered after that, hitting a big drought. In the final two months of the season (13 games), Brunk had just one such game. He also saw his minutes drop from 22.6 a game to just 15.1 in that same span, with four games of 10 or less minutes.
Brunk's best stretch of the season came towards the end of that initial two month stretch of quality play when he averaged 9.8 points and 9.1 rebounds per game over an eight-game span.
Despite Brunk's slump towards the end of the season, his energy never fell flat and still provided Indiana with the leadership and toughness it needed no matter how long he was on the floor.
2020-21 Season Expectations:
Taking roster construction and development into play from the rest of the Indiana players, Brunk will still likely play the same role as last year. The career 5.6 point per game scorer is never going to see Indiana's offense run through him but he will still be extremely valuable in what he brings to the locker room and on the floor.
With a year under his belt at IU, Brunk knows expectations for himself on and off of the floor are higher.
"There's a lot of different adjustments being in a new place, even though I had been in school for three years." Brunk said previously. "Just getting to know campus obviously and as far as the basketball point, I feel I have a better understanding of what we want to accomplish and be able to give my input – what I see, what I've been through and my experiences and hopefully make their lives a little bit easier."
Though Race Thompson made a huge step in his progress towards the end of last year, the reason Brunk saw his minutes decrease, look for Brunk to continue to start. Indiana had an extremely difficult time getting going at the start of both halves last season and having Brunk's leadership, now his fifth season, and consistent energy will be needed. With his experiences it should be good for every other member of the roster to follow. While he should be a starter again, I would be surprised to see him in the closing lineup on a consistent basis.
With Trayce Jackson-Davis expected to take a step up in his production and see the offense fully run through him, Al Durham become a more aggressive scorer with a more clear role and multiple playmakers on the floor now, Brunk's points should come strictly off of dump off passes in the paint and rebound-putbacks.
In terms of stats, look for Brunk to remain somewhat consistent with his season last year. Anything around 10-13 points and rebounds combined should be expected from a game-to-game basis.
Overall, it will once again be Brunk's leadership that will help make this team reach and exceed expectations in the 2020-21 season.
"It's kind of my job as a senior leader, take the experiences and hopefully I can help pass those off to our freshmen and to everyone on the team," Brunk added. "Help speed things along and help us develop to the best team we can be."
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