Brandenburg gives Cavs option down low

By Whitey Reid

Published: July 14, 2008

Ever since Virginia coach Dave Leitao came aboard over three years ago, he has run an offense that has been specifically designed to take advantage of his team’s greatest strength — its guards.
But with former All-ACC performers J.R. Reynolds and Sean Singletary no longer in the fold, times could be a changing.
Leitao will always be a firm believer that good teams require quality guard play to be successful, but with the addition of freshmen twin towers John Brandenburg and Assane Sene — and the potential emergence of senior Lars Mikalauskas as a viable low-post threat — Virginia may not be quite as reliant on its backcourt players as it has been in the past.
The implementation of a more diversified offense is one of the things that drew Brandenburg to Charlottesville. The 6-foot-11 St. Louis native chose Virginia over Stanford — a somewhat surprising decision since the Cardinal has a reputation for churning out NBA post players (twins Brook and Robin Lopez were both first-round draft picks last month).
“Coach has talked about using a two post player offense,” Brandenburg said, “which would obviously be really good for me.
“I think he just wants to achieve a lot more balance because last year it was really guard oriented. This year we want a better balance between guards and inside guys.”
While McDonald’s All-American Sylven Landesburg may have been Leitao’s most notable recruit, Brandenburg could wind up being his most vital. Good post players are always harder to find than good perimeter players, and by the looks of things Brandenburg has a chance to be quite good.
The first thing that jumps out about the 18-year-old is that he doesn’t really look the way one would expect a 6-foot-11-inch guy to.
Sure, he’s tall. He’s definitely every bit of the height he’s listed as. However, the 225-pounder’s mannerisms and physique seem to resemble a track and field star’s more than a basketball player’s.
In today’s era of hoops that puts a great emphasis on agility and versatility, that package happens to be a very good thing.
“He’s real athletic,” Landesberg said. “He runs the floor real well for a big man. I’m pretty confident he’ll beat his man down the court every time.”
Brandenburg, who says doctors have told him he’s not done growing, will be competing for playing time with Sene, Mikalauskas, junior Jerome Meyinsse and fifth-year Soroye (if he’s granted a medical redshirt).
The fleet-footed Brandenburg can’t wait to get going.
“I’m really excited about playing,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons I came here — because I thought I could play right away.”
Brandenburg is thankful for the way things worked out. If he had gone to Stanford, he would have been playing for an unfamiliar coach in former Duke assistant Johnny Dawkins. In the offseason, Trent Johnson, who recruited Brandenburg, left Palo Alto for LSU.
Leitao is certainly pleased to have Brandenburg — a 4-out-of-5 star recruit — on board.
“I’m happy to have someone like John for a number of reasons,” Leitao said. “This year we needed to address our frontcourt. John has athleticism, he’s got bounce and he’s got a good touch that I think will develop into a pretty good post option on offense. He has a lot of potential as a basketball player.”
As a sophomore in 2005-06, Brandenburg averaged 11.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.1 blocked shots a game for De Smet Jesuit High. He earned first-team All-Metro Catholic Conference honors and was named the conference’s Newcomer of the Year.
Last season Brandenburg was second in his conference in scoring and rebounding despite a balky back.
“It’s been fine so far,” he said. “It flared up a little during my senior year, but it’s been fine since then. I’m just rolling right now.”
The addition of Brandenburg and Sene has to make Virginia fans feel good since the team finished dead last in the ACC in shotblocking this past season.
“I think anytime you have guys with that kind of height and length, it gives you a chance to have a really good defensive presence,” said Virginia assistant coach Bill Courtney.
Virginia blocked just 2.36 shots per game last season, more than a block less than the next worst outfit, Georgia Tech (3.5 per game). UVa’s leading shotblocker was 6-foot-5 Mamadi Diane — he averaged .66.
Virginia’s lack of blocks — or any kind of interior intimidation — clearly had an effect on its overall defense. UVa ranked second-to-last in both opponents’ field goal percentage (.449) and opponents’ points per game (74.8).
One of the most exciting sequences of a recent scrimmage at Virginia’s Elite Camp occurred when Sene received a pass ahead of the field. The native of Senegal looked like he had an easy dunk, but Brandenburg chased him down and swatted his shot.
“He can run,” said Mikalauskas, referring to Brandenburg. “He’s friendly and looks like he’s going to be a really good teammate. He can be a building block for our program.
“He has a good mid-range jumpshot for his size. I think he and Assane are both going to be really good additions.”