January 21, 2010

Howard Little has been known to pound his chest after a big play. Brandon McPherson will scowl and pump his fist once or twice. Cameron Witt flashes an almost demonic tough-guy glare.

This is how modern-day athletes show joy -- by looking angry. Mean. Tough.

Ryan Broekhoff? He smiles when he does something well. Like really smiles. A gleeful, slack-jawed, ear-to-ear, borderline cartoonish smile, amplified by the glaringly white mouthpiece dangling from his teeth.

Yes, this is the guy they call "Rowdy."

"It's kind of an ironic nickname," the easy-going freshman from Australia admits. "I was 13 or 14 when my basketball coach gave it to me, since I was really quiet. And now everyone seems to call me it."

Think big fat guys who go by Tiny. That's how you get Rowdy Broekhoff.

"On and off the court, he's just a delight to have," says Valparaiso coach Homer Drew. "He's a very strong academic student, he listens well, he learns well, and he's just fun to be around."

And he's got plenty of reason to smile these days, too. He's averaging more than 13 minutes a game as a freshman -- including an average of 18 over the last three games -- and is coming off what Drew deemed his best game in a Valparaiso uniform. In last Saturday's 78-71 win over Cleveland State, Broekhoff scored 13 points in a career-high 25 minutes, matched a career-high with eight rebounds, blocked three shots and handed out three assists. He was 6-of-8 from the floor, taking it inside for five of his six buckets and showing an aggressive driving style that belies his affable nature and wiry frame.

It's probably not what VU fans expected when Broekhoff came to campus. He was seen as something of a one-trick pony -- a sharp-shooting 3-point specialist who camped out on the perimeter and waited for the open shot. After all, that's pretty much all you could tell from the grainy Internet videos of his exploits in international tournaments and Australian junior club leagues.

But Broekhoff has worked extensively with assistant coaches Bryce Drew, Jake Diebler and Chris Sparks to round out his game. The awkward chest-high dribbles he made in November have given way to more controlled, lower dribbles. The tentative play has yielded to a more physical style necessary to survive the American style of basketball. And the thin 6-6 shooting guard has evolved into a capable power forward, forced into that role by VU's height issues.

It's a similar career trajectory that former Crusaders sharpshooter Samuel Haanpaa took -- and that's not lost on Broekhoff, who's heard the name once or twice. Haanpaa evolved from a 3-point specialist to a more skilled and versatile forward over his two years. Broekhoff appears to be on the same path.

"I'm trying to fill that role," he says. "It'd be nice if I could."

The improvement is evident, but the truth is, Broekhoff wasn't the one-dimensional player the Internet made him out to be.

"I came in mainly known for being a 3-point shooter, but I also had been working real hard on handling the basketball and being able to past my man and get to the rim," he says. "I used to do it quite a bit back home, but I've been working on it a lot now. It's just another facet of my game I've been working on to make me harder to guard. The rebounding has always been there; I've always been able to sort of read the ball off the rim."

Indeed, Broekhoff has been surprisingly effective at getting tips and putbacks among the trees down low despite his size, and has shown a knack for coming in from the perimeter for balls that ricochet beyond the low post. That sixth sense of how the ball will come off the rim might come from the countless shots he's put up over the years, honing his 3-point stroke.

"He has a real good feel for the ball," Drew says. "When the ball is shot, he's around the ball. Even in practice, he gets a lot of tips and a lot of hands on the ball. He's just got a real good sense of where the ball is going, if it's short or if it's long and where it's going to wind up."

That Broekhoff wound up in America playing college ball is no surprise to the Aussie; it's always been the plan. The club system in Australia didn't appeal to him -- once a player graduate to the senior level, it becomes less organized, with 19-year-olds playing against grown men. So when Broekhoff finished his junior career (playing in the nation's top tier at the Australian Institute of Sport), he turned his focus to the States.

Broekhoff -- who was named the Australian Junior Player fof the Year in 2008 and went on to star for his country in the U19 World Championships last summer -- caught the eye of Sparks, who coached in New Zealand and has contacts throughout the area. Broekhoff's coach shipped some game film to VU, and the Crusaders staff liked what they saw. With a couple of other colleges showing interest, Broekhoff and his mom, Jo, trekked to America in October of 2008 to visit the Valparaiso campus.

Unlike some international recruits, Broekhoff wasn't ready to make a commitment based on phone calls and postcards alone.

"I had to visit, Mum as well," he says. "Just to make sure that what they were all saying was true and to check out the campus for ourselves and get a feel for it before making a commitment."

The other schools had pulled out by the time he arrived in the States, but Broekhoff didn't care. He was sold.

"I came here and really loved the place, really liked the coaches and the players," he says. "It was really an easy decision."

It's been an adjustment, to be sure. First, he had to learn to balance VU's demanding academics with the life of a Division I basketball player -- he's pursuing a degree in exercise science, and hopes to have a career in physical therapy after his basketball career is over. Then he had to learn to play a different, far more physical style of basketball.

"Right now, it's about being able to take the big hits," he says. "But I'm starting to work on being able to dish it out, as well."

Now he's comfortable in the classroom, comfortable in the weight room and increasingly comfortable in the low post. And yes, he's still plenty comfortable about 20-feet, 9-inches away from the basket, too, as evidenced by his 40-percent shooting from beyond the arc, including a career-high 17 points against Concordia last month. He's only averaging 5.6 points and 2.6 rebounds per game, but he's beginning to play a bigger role, which should lead to bigger numbers.

And if he keeps it up, he'll have his coaching staff smiling just as broadly as he always seems to be.

"He's really improving, and we're hoping that will continue," Drew says. "He's working on getting to the basket, he has a pull-up jumper that he can make -- he's really expanding his game. It's fun to see."

http://www.post-trib.com/sports/2002729,bkc-broekhoff-0121.article

BY MARK LAZERUS 648-3140 or mlazerus@post-trib.com blogs.post-trib.com/lazerus