His toughness separates him from other players. He and [former Crane star] Will Bynum have inner pride. When they are challenged, there is a button that they punch, overdrive. They can push their games to the next level when challenged.

In my opinion, he is the best athlete to come out of Chicago in the last 30 years. He has the rare quality to be able to take his game to another level.

Brandon's probably our second- or third-best shooter on the team. Of course, we have to have him inside, to get close-to-the-basket buckets, but there are times when we're going to pull him out on the perimeter, too.

He would be the guy I would tell the younger guys to be like.

He knew they had a lot of athletes that look good in transition. He's looking forward to playing wide-open transition ball in college.

I think the way to look at this schedule is to take pride in the fact that we will perhaps play the No. 1 schedule in the country. It will be interesting to see at the end of the year how many of these teams go to bowl games. Just about every time we line up we have an opportunity to make national news. Opening up at nationally-ranked Arizona State is going to be a real challenge, but it also gives us some additional motivation to get ready to play.