Rising junior big man comes into his own
After a long, busy spring, rising junior big man Tony Bradley has made sure to appreciate some time off after the grueling Nike EYBL schedule.
Advertisement
"Every game you're playing against a top player and a very good team," Bradley told Rivals.com. "Every game I knew I had to play hard, run the floor and rebound. Just play my role for the team."
Playing his first year in the EYBL with Southern Stampede's 17U team, the product of Bartow (Fla.) High felt that he met the challenge of going against some of the top bigs in the country.
"That's the reason why I wanted to play in the EYBL, to test myself to see how I played against the best players," said Bradley. "I'd say that I'm doing okay, I'm holding my own. I feel that with the work I'm doing, I'm getting stronger and that it's working and I feel good about it."
The work Bradley is putting in is getting noticed, he listed offers from Auburn, UCF, Cincinnati, Clemson, UMass, Miami, North Florida, Rice, USF, Tennessee, Tulsa and Virginia Tech. He also received an invite to the Nike Elite 100 Camp for the nation's top underclassmen.
"I was very excited to get a chance to go to this skills academy," he said. "I've been looking forward to going to it. This was a main goal, I really wanted to go to this and now I have a chance to."
When it comes to his recruitment, all options are available according to Bradley. That's good news for recruiters because midnight June 15 is the first day that college coaches can call and text members of the class of 2016 and Bradley said he's ready for the calls.
"It's going to be a different experience when they can text me, we can text back and forth and we can talk to each other. I'm looking forward to it and I'm looking forward to who is going to call."
One program that Bradley told us that he enjoys watching and hopes to hear from is Kansas.
"I like how they move the ball and how the bigs get a lot of touches inside," Bradley said. "I'm not saying the offense runs thru the bigs but I like how the bigs are more active with the ball instead of just setting screens. They move around a lot and touch the ball a lot."
Bradley, who played behind Chris Perry (USF) his freshman season, has come into his own while growing four inches from his freshman season and adding strength. Now up to 6-foot-10, 230-pounds Bradley runs he pick and roll well, he has good footwork, nice touch around the basket with either hand and can knock down a jump shot from the elbow.
Currently unranked, Bradley will be entering the class of 2016 rankings when they are updated later in June.
Russ Wood is a basketball recruiting analyst for Rivals.com and Inside the Gators. You can click here to follow him on Twitter..
Click Here to view this Link.
[rl]