Saw Carlton Brundidge play tonight (vs. Brandan Kearney's Southeastern)

Submitted by gebe659 on

Everyone who's a basketball recruiting junkie in this state wanted to see this one, as it featured two of the top Mr. Basketball candidates who just happen to be high-profile verbals for MSU and Michigan.

Brundidge started off hot and scored 7 points in the first 3 minutes, including a crazy fade-away 3 pointer. His handle looked good for the most part, but his shooting wasn't very good and he couldn't create much against bigger players (he was particularly slowed down when Kearney was on him). He had a very, very quiet 2nd half and only ended with 12 pts after putting up 7 in no time. As I said, the handle was good but the shooting (including FTs) was suspect.

I won't go too much into detail on Kearney because he's an MSU commit, but he was easily the best player on the floor tonight. I believe he ended with something like 22 or 25 points, and made a half-court buzzer beater at the end of the 1st half.

Southeastern won the game by 14, if I recall correctly.

mrider

December 19th, 2010 at 2:30 AM ^

Too  bad, but I believe in Brundidge. He seems like he can be a very solid backup guard who can drive and kick for next year. Plus he obviously can score and get to the line.

TNWolverine

December 19th, 2010 at 2:33 AM ^

he could've just had an off day. Im sure the coaches will make some adjustments to his game when he arrives on campus. I love seeing HS basketball games with highly touted recruits. I went to one last year and got pitinos autograph. The kid (kedren johnson) ended up signing with Vanderbilt though as we are only 45 minutes from nashville, but it is exciting to see those players against average highschoolers.

umhero

December 19th, 2010 at 10:06 AM ^

Take the opinion of the original poster with a grain of salt since he is a Spartan.  While Kearney may have been better on this night, Brundidge is having a good start to the season.  After dropping 41 on Mt. Clemens, he played top 5 team Romulus and had 29 points, 8 rebounds, and eight assists in a 78-70 win.

It's a long season and I'm confident Carlton will be a finalist for Mr. Basketball in the state by the end.

gebe659

December 19th, 2010 at 10:55 AM ^

Yes, I'm a Spartan, but I believe I was pretty unbiased in what I wrote and made sure to say that Kearney was the best played on the court "TONIGHT." I'm not trolling, just reporting what I saw in the game.

I do believe that Brundidge is a good player and a guy that will contribute at Michigan right away (not as a starter though), but he was obviously bothered by Southeastern's taller guards (Kearney has 4-5 inches on him).

To be fair, Kearney plays on a better team (at least two of his teammates look like DI players) and that frees him up a little on the offensive end... meanwhile, Brundidge is by far the best player on his team and the big men collapsed on him almost everytime he got in the paint, thus limiting his chances.

NateVolk

December 19th, 2010 at 11:49 AM ^

What are the areas that Brundidge really excelled in from your observation?   What are areas that he'll need to improve on as he develops?  Thanks for the report.

gebe659

December 19th, 2010 at 11:30 PM ^

Brundidge excelled in ball-handling, particularly early on (he turned it over a couple of times later on trying to make too much happen). Also, he's clearly a leader on that team--he was constantly talking to his teammates and explanining them where they should be. Another good thing is he's pretty tough and never really backed down from facing Southeastern's taller players and taking it right at them... the shots weren't falling but he never really disappeared from the game.

He'll need to improve his shooting--not only was the shot not falling, but the shooting motion looked awkward at times. Sometimes he was clearly rushing his shot (and that's normal since the guys guarding him were quite a bit taller than him) and it wasn't pretty. He also left some points at the line, not sure if that's a trend for him or if it was just an off night. Obviously he doesn't have great size for the college level, but plenty of smaller guards have proven they can be effective.

bacon1431

December 19th, 2010 at 3:23 PM ^

I'm not worried. Let's face it, Kearney is a 6'6" guard. Who in high school is going to be able to guard him? He also has the better team and other options to keep all the attention off him. Whereas, they can key on Brundidge and shut him down and shut down the team. I still think that Brundidge is the better player, from what I've seen.

BRCE

December 19th, 2010 at 5:56 PM ^

I heard Kearney is the real deal as well.

I'm sick of MSU hoops getting whatever player they want in Detroit. Yes, Izzo has made it the program in the state. But that's supposed to be our city, where most kids grow up Blue. It's sad that there aren't more prospects loyal to their roots when it comes time to make a college decision. Beilein or whoever UM's coach is needs to turn the tide back there when Izzo leaves.

you know it

December 19th, 2010 at 6:38 PM ^

I doubt these prospects aren't being loyal to their roots.  Their roots are probably vested in MSU.  Recruits now are about 17 or 18 years old.  When was the last time UM had the upper hand in bball, '96?  Since they were 4 years old they have watched MSU as the dominant in state team.