Brommer hopes to make a mark at Iowa

IOWA CITY - Perhaps no player at Iowa needed a fresh start more than junior post Andrew Brommer.

Brommer, who stands 6-foot-9, has seen a substitution pattern of minutes resemble almost a perfect bell curve the last two years. Of the possible 64 games, he's played double-digit minutes 22 times. In 20 games he played less than 10 minutes, and he didn't play in 22 games. It was a pattern that discouraged him and was a recipe of inconsistency on the court.

"I think it's a new start for all of us, but definitely for me, too," Brommer said.

Brommer's minutes were sporadic from the beginning of his career. As a freshman he played 22 minutes against West Virginia, then followed with a pair of 13-minute efforts against Kansas State and Boston College. However against Boston College, he was fouled with no time remaining, and the Hawkeyes trailed by two points. He missed his only free-throw attempt, and barely played the rest of the season.

Last year he played sparingly in Iowa's first seven games, totaling just six minutes. But he saw valuable minutes against Prairie View A&M and Northern Iowa, both games when former coach Todd Lickliter was recovering from surgery. He combined for 22 minutes and scored three points, grabbed three rebounds and dished three assists in those games.

The rest of the season Brommer's minutes were up-and-down and Lickliter's substitution pattern was unpredictable. Five times Brommer played five minutes or less. But nine times he played double-digits minutes. Part of it was fit; he didn't adjust well to Lickliter's system. The other was confidence, both in his own play and Lickliter's confidence in him. That was a subject new coach Fran McCaffery thought he had to approach with Brommer early on.

"His minutes were inconsistent," McCaffery said. "His role, I don't know, wasn't clearly defined. I'm not sure he knew exactly what he was supposed to be doing other than coming into the game and don't make any mistakes. If that's your thought process, then you're not going to make any plays. You've got to get plays. You've got to rebound, you've got to block a shot you've got to close down on penetration, you've got to get to the free-throw line. You've got to do all that stuff."

Brommer's skill set fit's McCaffery's up-tempo style of play. He's sleek at 235 pounds but has power. He's an athletic big man and showed those skills in Prime Time League action with perhaps the most thunderous dunk during the summer league.

"I feel like I can get up and down the floor really well, and I'm a pretty versatile big guy," Brommer said. "I can shoot and coach is going to let me shoot. I can dribble, so I can make plays off the dribble and kick it to my teammates. Make plays and make plays for everybody."

In Sunday's exhibition win against Illinois-Springfield, Brommer had four points, one block and one rebound in 11 minutes. He's slated to back up Jarryd Cole in the post.