This wasn't the path Joey Brunk thought he'd walk, but the Ohio State graduate has enjoyed each step on the way to an Indiana rematch.
Now approaching the tail end of his sixth and final college basketball season, the Ohio State center was a college freshman when current freshman teammatesand Meechie Johnson Jr. were in eighth grade. His recruitment to Butler University was started by a new assistant coach named Chris Holtmann, who would go on to serve three years as the Bulldogs’ head coach and is now in his fifth year with the Buckeyes.
A four-star prospect in the class of 2016, Brunk committed to Butler and was a Bulldog for what would be Holtmann’s final season with the program. He appeared in seven of the first 10 games but received an NCAA hardship waiver as his family coped with the cancer diagnosis for his father, Joe, who passed away in April, 2017.
Along the way, he’s been a mentor to sophomore center Zed Key, kept himself ready when called upon and enjoyed a season of full health. As is tradition at Indiana, natives of the state who play against the Hoosiers are booed early and often inside Assembly Hall. That seemed to go doubly so for Brunk, who scored a season-high 6 points against his former team but was powerless to stop the Hoosiers from pulling away for a 67-51 win.
Pushing himself in the classroom while also playing high-level Division I basketball has been a challenge, Brunk said, but he’s remained diligent in his planning while pointing out there are plenty of hours in the day to do both.