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HIGH SCHOOL

Joey Brunk hopes to use Adidas Invitational to boost his stock

Kyle Neddenriep
IndyStar

Joey Brunk's stock appears to be rising just in time for the first July evaluation period — not that he's paying much attention.

The 6-10, 240-pound Southport junior-to-be was slotted at No. 65 when Scout.com released its national prospect rankings for the 2016 class earlier this week. Brunk understands that number doesn't amount to much as he begins play Wednesday in the local Adidas Invitational, the first of three five-day windows in July for college coaches to evaluate high school players.

"The recognition is nice, but in the end it's almost more motivation to keep improving," Brunk said. "There's a target on me now. I take it as a compliment, but I know there's a lot of work ahead of me because you can get passed up if you don't keep working."

Brunk, who has offers from Purdue, Iowa, New Mexico, Ole Miss and Xavier, figures to be one of the main attractions in the Adidas Invitational, which is based at North Central High School and played at other local sites.

This year's Adidas Invitational will have more of a regional feel than it has since the tournament moved from Cincinnati in 2010. Previously the tournament attracted all of the top Adidas-sponsored teams, bringing in top prospects from all over the country. This year, the shoe company is hosting the Adidas Unrivaled in Chicago for 100 of the top players in the nation.

The Nike-sponsored LeBron James Skills Academy in Las Vegas also begins Wednesday, adding to the competition for coaches' attention. Tournament director Criss Beyers said Adidas has said it likes Indianapolis as a host site and will evaluate its event schedule again after this July.

"We've had a lot of coaches, including (Duke's) Mike Krzyzewski, tell us how much they enjoy coming here and that it's their favorite event," Beyers said. "It's not like some cities where you have to travel all over the place."

Indianapolis was one of three sites for the Adidas Gauntlet in May and Beyers said that event could also be moved to an evaluation period, if the NCAA alters its recruiting calendar and adds a second weekend for evaluation in the spring.

For Brunk, July offers another chance to impress. In addition to the schools that have offered him a scholarship, he's also recently visited Notre Dame and Michigan State, the latter after a team camp won by his Southport squad.

"Coach (Tom) Izzo said they are going to be out to watch me in July," he said. "(Notre Dame coach Mike Brey) said he wanted to come and see me more, too."

Oklahoma and UCLA have also expressed recent interest in Brunk.

"I think my name is starting to get out there a little more," he said. "But it's kind of like our Southport team. People know who we are now, so we're going to get everybody's best shot. You can get ranked high, but you can't get too far ahead of yourself."

Brunk will be playing with UA Grind Shepherd, coached by 1968 IndyStar Indiana Mr. Basketball Billy Shepherd. Pool-play games are 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Northview Middle School and 8 a.m. and 3:45 p.m. Thursday at Northview.

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Want to go?

The Adidas Invitational begins Wednesday afternoon at several area sites and runs through Sunday. It is the first of three evaluation periods for college basketball coaches. Venues include high schools at North Central, Carmel and Westfield, Noblesville Boys & Girls Club, Northview Middle School, Noblesville West Middle School and The Fieldhouse in Fishers. Check usayouthhoops.com for a full schedule of games. Cost is $10 for adults, $5 for students through high school and 6-and-under free.

Local players of interest:

Seniors-to-be

Indiana Elite 2015: East Chicago Central's Hyron Edwards, Columbus North's Josh Speidel, Hamilton Heights' Grant Weatherford, Carmel's Ryan Cline and Fort Wayne Carroll's Chandler White lead this group. Lawrence Central's Kyle Guy is playing up a year.

Indiana Elite Diesel: Park Tudor's Bryce Moore, Carmel's Keegan Culp and Peru's Seth Adelsperger lead this group.

UA Grind 2015: Led by Zionsville's Derrik Smits, Brownsburg's K.J. Walton and Darrian Ringo, Corydon Central's Bronson Kessinger and Pendleton Heights' Sean McDermott.

Team Progeny 2015: Howe's Harris Brown and Scecina's T.J. Henderson form a good guard combo.

Eric Gordon All-Stars (Green): Cathedral's Eron Gordon and Pike's Justin Thomas are playing up a year on this 2015 team.

Eric Gordon Central Stars: Nick Rogers (headed to prep school), Tahjai Teague (Pike), Michael Benkert (Center Grove) and Brennan Gills (Ben Davis) lead this successful team.

Pocket City Basketball: Evansville-based group led by Everett and Stanley Duncan (Evansville Harrison), Jaelan Sanford (Evansville Reitz) and Adam Eberhard (Evansville Memorial).

Juniors-to-be

Indiana Elite 2016: Led by Tucker Blackwell (Bloomington South), D.J. Wilkins (Merrillville) and Anthony and Tremell Murphy (Griffith).

UA Grind Shepherd: Led by Brunk and Warren Central's Djimon Henson.

Sophomores-to-be

Grind Indy Hoosiers: Loaded with Hamilton Southeastern's Zach Gunn, North Central's Kris Wilkes, Southport's Paul Scruggs and Pike's Justin Roberts.

EG10: Park Tudor's Jaren Jackson Jr. and Kobe Webster and Mt. Vernon's Erick Shepherd and Michael Ertel lead this team.

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.