As is the case nowadays with most of the top traveling teams, Brandon Bradley

has built his Spiece Gym Rats team over a long period of time.

"We are going into our fifth summer," said Bradley.

The Gym Rats have been good from the start with a long list of

accomplishments.

"We have won consecutive U.S.S.A. national championships during the summer of

2005 and 2006," said Bradley. "Two summers ago we were 57-11 in 14

tournaments. Of those 14 tournaments we played up (one age class) in 10 of

them and of the 14 tournaments we won nine of them."

Last summer the team took home the 16U title in the Spiece Run 'N Slam and

made the Final Four of the Reebok Summer Championships (High School Division) in

Las Vegas and the Kentucky Hoopfest in Louisville. In the latter the team

played up a year.

The big headliner for the Gym Rats is big 6-foot-9, 210-pound Jeff

Robinson from Lawrence North in Indianapolis. He recently committed early to

Purdue.

"His whole point to this summer is that he wants to be a top 25-50 player,"

said Bradley. "Last year he really picked it up in mid-May. Then the first

game in July he played 19 minutes and had 17 points and was playing outstanding

and then broke his foot and missed the rest of the summer."

Robinson will play on the front line with Lawrence North teammate Chris

Read.

"Chris is a blue coller, hard worker who is an underrated athlete," said

Bradley. "He's 6-foot-7 and 215 right now and everyone says if he were two

inches taller he would be getting the attention that (LN) teammates Jeff and

Stephan Van Treese are getting. His perimeter shooting has gotten much

better."

The biggest player to go to inside will be Blake Metcalf out of

Plainfield.

"Blake is about 6-foot-9 and 245 (pounds)," said Bradley. "Another blue

collar guy who understands his role. Very intelligent rebounder. Kind of

the way Bill Laimbeer was. Against Lawrence North he had 16 points and 14

rebounds and Plainfield won that game at Lawrence North."

Complementing those big guys will be new addition Mikel Brigham from

Danville, Illinois. Indiana AAU rules allow teams to add players from

adjacent states.

"Mikel is a 6-foot-6, 195-pound leaper," said Bradley. "Still very raw

but an incredible athlete."

The last guy with serious size is 6-foot-6, 285-pound Kyle Koehne

from Indianapolis Cathedral. He is an offensive tackle for the Irish with

football scholarship offers from Indiana, Iowa, Cincinnati and NC State.

"This will be his fifth year playing for me," said Bradley. "He has

actually lost about 25-pounds. He was already defensively quick for a guy with

his size. Hard worker with the best attitude."

Still on the team but not able to play right now is 6-foot-8 Dominic

Nicholson from Warren Central. Bradley says he has had a couple

surgeries the past year related to a patella tendon injury suffered last May.

The coach is not sure if Nicholson will be able to return before summer play

ends in July.

"Valparaiso is very high on him as long as he can prove that he is healthy,"

said Bradley.

6-foot-4 Drew Schauss from Centerville will help on the wings.

"He is as hard of a worker as I have ever coached," said Bradley. "I

know Furman has contacted him. He has been over to Miami-Ohio twice."

Schauss will play small forward along with 6-foot-7 Lawrence North sophomore

Justin Martin.

"He is going to have a big summer," said Bradley. "He just needs to be more

consistent. When we played the Playground Warriors he wanted to guard Jamil

Wilson and did an excellent job on him. When we played the Rising Stars

with Jeremy Richmond he held him to six points and Justin had 17 points and

eight rebounds. I have seen him anywhere from top 25 to top 50 nationally

in that 2010 class on various web sites. Smooth shooter and I think Van

Coleman described him as a young Glen Rice."

At guard much of the scoring will again come from 6-foot-3 D'Mitri Riggs

from Bloomington, Illinois.

"The kid who he reminds me of in terms of what kind of summer he might have

is Jeff Teague," said Bradley. "Jeff came in with a chip on his shoulder

being labeled as a guy who didn't really work very hard and D'Mitri has kind of

that same label. He just has to be more consistent. One Big Ten

assistant coach told me if they could see him play five or six consistent games

they would offer him."

Also back on the outside is 5-foot-10 Skyler Case from Delta.

"Very good athlete who I have seen windmill dunk in warm-ups even though he

is short," said Bradley. "Very good shooter and heady kid. Had a

great season for Delta and they lost in the regional finals on a last second

tip-in"

There are two additions to this year's team on the perimeter led by 6-foot-1

point guard Tommy Kurth from Penn High School in Mishawaka. Kurth

is a Valparaiso commitment.

"He is kind of the epitome of fundamental when you talk about Indiana point

guards," said Bradley. "Very smooth, structured. Shoots, defends and

knows where to be and he is a leader. First guy to pick someone off the floor.

First guy to call everyone together during a dead ball."

The other addition is 5-foot-10 Landon Booker from South Bend Adams.

"He has always had the reputation for being the best guard in South Bend in

the '09 class but he has never played in the summer," said Bradley. "He is

about 185-pounds, very put together and really quick. Instinctive defender

who uses his strength. Should do a great job of being a good on-ball

defender for us."

The Gym Rats will head first to the Real Deal on the Hill tourney coming up

this weekend in the Fayetteville, Arkansas area. After that it will be to

the King James event in Akron the next weekend followed by the Spiece Run 'N

Slam tourney in Fort Wayne. During the July evaluation period Bradley will

take his team to five different events including the Main Event in Las Vegas.

Outlook

If the Gym Rats can stay healthy look for big things from them this spring

and summer.

"Last year we struggled a bit after we lost our three best big kids," says

Bradley. "But we still did well and showed our perimeter guys were just as

good as our big kids."

Now some of what happened a couple years ago may be on the horizon again.

"Two years ago we lost 11 games in 14 tournaments and we are twice as

talented and twice as deep this year."