Recent ‘sophomore slump’ has Brandenberg struggling

Adam Stern
Executive Editor
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On Wednesday this week, a day before VCU’s game against James Madison, VCU third-year head coach Shaka Smart took Rob Brandenberg aside for a private chat.

Brandenberg— a true sophomore who enjoyed so much success last year that Smart was calling for him to have a greater leadership role than even some of the team’s juniors— had been on a absolute scoring rut the past three games, two of which the Rams lost. The usually sure-shooting Ohio native had only made a mystifying two out of 23 shots in the Rams’ three games in the month of January, but— previous shots be damned— Smart wanted to let his player know that his coaches still trusted him.

“I told him … ‘we’re never going to give up on you, we’re always going to support you and be behind you,’” Smart said. “We’re always going to do that, but at same time you can’t jump into a guys body or a guy’s head and (just) make changes.

“So he’s going to break out of the slump: I can’t tell you when; I wish I could guarantee you it was Saturday at 4 (when VCU plays Delaware) but he’s too good of a player not to.”

Indeed, Brandenberg was a highly touted player coming into VCU his freshman campaign and he was likely even more highly regarded coming out of it. Already looking like he had a high ceiling just through last year’s regular season and CAA Tournament, the hard-nosed, jack-rabbit-quick player cemented his status as an up-and-comer when he blocked a shot at the buzzer versus Florida State in the Sweet 16 to assure the Rams the win.

Yet this season, the 6-foot-2-inch, 180 pound shooting guard has, at times, seemed to have hit the proverbial sophomore slump— and especially as of late.

Brandenberg, who’s still fourth in the team in scoring at 8.8 points per game, is still playing as stingy defense as ever and his shooting form doesn’t look off to the naked eye but, after going 0-2 from the field in Thursday night’s 65-45 win over JMU at the Siegel Center, it’s hard to not classify the sophomore as in a slump.

In Smart’s view, the intangible yet undeniable feeling of confidence that comes with knocking down even just a shot or two early on is what seems to be eluding Brandenberg most.

“He’s a great player, talented kid, he’s just not going out and playing with a clear head right now,” Smart said. “I think he really wants it to go well and Rob is as good of a kid as we have on our team but right now he’s just pressing.

“When you play through frustration, when that’s your primary emotion, when you’re out there on the court, it never goes well for you,” Smart said. “Anger: sometimes yes you can get mad and go after people, but frustration, no, you can’t play well through frustration so you have to be able to let things go and part of the problem with Rob is he wants it so bad and he wants to please so much so he’s struggling to let those things go, but he will.”

Smart acknowledged that inherent feeling of satisfaction that can come to a sophomore who had a great freshman campaign which is so important to fend off, and is confident Brandenberg will do so.

“You see a lot of sophomores go through little slumps like this after they had some success as a freshman:  they think it’s going to be easier but it’s not necessarily easier,” Smart said. “And Rob’s going to be fine.”

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Photo by CT Photo Editor Chris Conway.