Jordan Bruner isn’t shy about his aspirations upon joining Alabama basketball. The Yale graduate transfer committed to the Crimson Tide on Friday over Baylor and Maryland. Later that night, he took to Instagram Live to discuss his decision.
Bruner earned All-Ivy League honors last season averaging 10.9 points, 9.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game while shooting 44.3 percent from the field and 32.3 percent beyond the arc. He helped Yale to a 23-7 (11-3) record and the Ivy League regular-season title. Friday, he said he believes he can take that success a step further at Alabama.
“I’m trying to come in and win a national championship,’ Bruner said in an interview with Jeremy Shapiro. “People may think that’s far-fetched, but even when I was at a mid-major I entered every game thinking I’m going to win. We lost seven games this year, six of them we lost by seven or less… If I can do that with a mid-major team, who they think are less talented, I think that with the talent that Coach Oats has brought in, I don’t think we’ll have a problem making a deep tournament run.”
Bruner was the latest in a recent run of big-name additions for the Crimson Tide. The Yale big man joins JUCO transfer Keon Ellis as well as class of 2020 four-stars Josh Primo and Darius Miles, who all committed to the Crimson Tide in the past two weeks. Alabama also signed four-star forward Keon Ambrose-Hylton in November.
Last month, the Crimson Tide saw starters Kira Lewis Jr., John Petty Jr. and Herbert Jones all declare for the NBA draft without agents. Each member of the trio is eligible to return to Alabama as long as they remove their names by the June 15 deadline.
“I think they’ve got a good roster,” Bruner said. “You know, it will be interesting to see what JP and Herb do. I know Kira’s probably going to go ahead and go. I haven’t talked to JP or Herb, but (Alabama’s) got a lot of young guys coming in who will be good. (Jahvon Quinerly’s) older, he’s a vet. He’s been in the program for a year even though he didn’t play last year. Obviously, he was good coming out of high school to go to Villanova. It will be good helping me lead a little bit. Primo’s a good talent and definitely all the guys who have come in.”
Bruner said he has talked with Primo as well as Jahvon Quinerly, who sat out his first year at Alabama last season after transferring from Villanova. Bruner is also close with fellow South Carolina native and Crimson Tide redshirt freshman Juwan Gary, who played on his younger brother’s AAU team.
However, he credits head coach Nate Oats for bringing him to Alabama. Bruner said Oats has been on him from the start, calling over the phone immediately after he entered his name in the NCAA transfer portal in March.
“Coach Oats was the first person to hit me out of everybody,” Bruner said. “He didn’t even send an assistant coach my way. Much respect for Coach Oats for that. He did his work early. When he called me, he already knew tons about my game. He had watched tons of film, seen all the games. He already had a plan, so I respected the work he put in before the fact.”
Bruner declared for the NBA draft last month but said he elected to return to school due to restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. He said a big reason why he chose Alabama was the opportunity to prove himself in a competitive league such as the SEC.
“It sounds like they’re going to cancel summer workouts now, and everything else is getting canceled," Bruner said. "It just hurt my stock a little bit not being able go out and just kill everybody they thought I couldn’t kill.”
Bruner should provide Alabama with a much-needed post presence next season. The 6-foot-9, 205-pound forward is capable of playing the 3, 4 and 5 positions and offers plenty of athleticism on defense. That, along with his ability to shoot from the perimeter, makes him the prototypical big man for Oats’ spread-out attack.
“I think people are looking for that type of versatile player who can be good at everything,” Bruner said. “I think I’ll fit perfectly. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be going there.”
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Andrew Bone, of BamaInsider.com, is a real estate broker in the state of Alabama.
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