Bramble Broke-Out at Elite75

New England Recruiting Report | Wednesday, July 8th, 2015

Opong Bramble rode a bus all the way from New York City to Brandeis University last Monday to take part in the Elite 75 College Showcase.

It turned out to be a ride well worth it as he developed a significant following of NE-10 coaches, not to mention NESCAC coaches, given his academic credentials.

"I've been hearing from a lot of Ivy League schools too," he told the New England Recruiting Report, "places like Yale, Brown, Columbia, Cornell and Colgate [from the Patriot League]."

While the four hour bus ride from New York to Boston sounds daunting for most 17 year olds, Bramble has traveled much farther distances.

He moved here from Canada a year ago, but was born in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, a chain of islands in the caribbean, and has also spent time living in Maryland and South America.

This year, his first at the Brunswick School, Bramble made a big first impression on the NEPSAC averaging 13 points and 14 rebounds. Nevertheless, he's already improved exponentially since the conclusion of the winter season.

"I was one dimensional," he said, "Strong and atheltic but really undersized and this spring I've been working a lot with Andy Borman and Ross Burns to become more of a small forward."

That transformation was apparent at the Elite 75 as Bramble didn't just utilize his power and athleticism around the rim but also faced-up his defenders to attack off the dribble and show a nice mid-range touch.

This summer, he'll again run with the Adidas sponsored NY Rens program that features other Connecticut products like Mustapha Heron, Tyrn Flowers and Tyrique Jones as they travel the country beginning with a trip to the Gauntlet Finale on Wednesday.

"I feel the Rens is one of the top teams in the country," Bramble said, "so to be able to play with them really shows how much I've improved."

College coaches are taking note and you can bet they'll be following all month.

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