Portsmouth tourney: Star rebounder enjoys blogging

PORTSMOUTH

The chairman of the boards is a master of the blog, too.

In three games at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, Washington's 6-foot-7 Jon Brockman gobbled up rebounds at nearly a 17-a-night clip. His 21 boards in Thursday's opener were just three short of the 57-year-old tournament's single-game record.

When the games were over, Brockman retired to his hotel room, flipped on the TV and his laptop and shared an insider's perspective through an Internet diary on Scout.com, where he discussed everything from his own star-gazing - "I stood 10 feet away from Larry Bird!" - to his unique diet for getting rid of cramps.

"Four big things of Vitaminwater, a couple of bananas and my favorite - Fritos Honey BBQ Twists," Brockman wrote. "The Vitaminwater and the bananas are for rehydrating, replenishing. The Fritos are for fun."

So was writing the diary, said Brockman, whose fluid writing style belied the fact that he majored in architectural studies/construction at Washington.

"Yeah, but I got a minor in Facebooking," Brockman said. "I try not to make it too much about basketball. I want people to feel like they're following me around."

Through Brockman's blogging, readers learned about: The crush of agents: "They're everywhere down here. It's like one after another. They are just swarming you."

His monster opening night: "My teammates were giving me a hard time. They were joking with me and telling me how they hope I don't elbow them in the mouth." (Ironically, in Saturday's third-place game, it was Brockman that took an elbow in the mouth, and he had the fat lip at game's end to prove it. "Happened on the last play of the game," he said. "Can you believe that?"

How Portsmouth embraces the PIT: "They really surround this tournament.... There's great turnout at the games and there's great involvement with everyone in the surrounding businesses and what-not. You can tell this is their thing."

And cleaning the glass is clearly Brockman's "thing." He led the Huskies in rebounding all four of his seasons and joined Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton as the only players to lead the Pac-10 in rebounding three straight years. Not surprisingly, he will leave Washington as the school's all-time leader in boards.

But while Brockman's PIT performances were hardly a surprise, they still opened eyes among those assembled at Churchland High, especially given his less-than-ideal height for a power forward.

"You always he ar about a guy's too light or a guy's too short, but the question is, can the guy produce?" NBA draft expert Chris Ekstrand said. "Jon did very well for himself. He's going to get a shot."

Assuming he does, Brockman said he looks forward to continuing to tell Washington fans all about it.

Read Brockman's diary at http://washington.scout.com/2/854663.html

 The winner: Georgia Tech's Alade Aminu scored 21 points as Norfolk Naval Shipyard held off Sales Systems Limited 72-69 in Saturday's championship game. Missouri's DeMarre Carroll of third-place Portsmouth Partnership earned tournament MVP honors. Carroll averaged 16.3 points and 10.3 rebounds over his three games.