By Jerry Ratcliffe
Once Johann Grunloh decided he wanted to come to America and play college basketball, it was up to his agents to field potential landing places. Because the German Champion’s League season ran so long, there wasn’t enough time to make visits to colleges on Grunloh’s radar.
His “visits” would be via Zoom, where coaches would conduct interviews with the European standout. What it came down to was how well Virginia’s Ryan Odom and his coaching staff’s recruiting skills and overall personalities could sell him on the Cavaliers’ program.
Oh, and it didn’t hurt matters that former UVA player Jayden Gardner was a teammate in Germany and fed Grunloh lots of inside information.
“But I think overall, it was the calls I had with Coach Odom and the coaching staff that made me decide to go here,” Grunloh said last Friday.
Grunloh, at 7-foot, 238 pounds, is one of several physical big men among Odom’s recruiting haul. Physicality and the lack of a rim protector has been absent from Virginia basketball for a while, in addition to a lack of a scoring punch in the paint. That won’t be a problem this season.
According to Grunloh, practices have been physical battles every day, which has to please the coaching staff, which also recruited numerous shooters who can light up scoreboards from the 3-point line and in.
“Johann is working his way into it,” Odom said. “He’s only 19 at this point and so while he has seen some bigger bodies in Germany, I think it’ll be a different level here for him, but I do like where we are right now.”
Grunloh, who loves working with UVA strength coach Mike Curtis, is down a couple of pounds, around 236 or 237, depending on what he had for lunch. He wants to play at no less than 240, preferably at 243.
“Mike Curtis is helping me a lot, especially in the weight room, specialized weightlifting, the science behind it. He knows everything,” Grunloh said.
The German big man, who is versatile enough to be a scoring threat from the perimeter, knows he was brought here to also give Virginia a strong presence in the paint, so it’s no wonder that he and the rest of the big men are going at it hard in practice.
“Practice is super physical,” Grunloh said. “I mean, every screen is hard. Box outs are hard. That’s what our coaches are emphasizing, about being hard on box outs and being physical on defense, and I think we’re doing a pretty job.”
The 7-footer believes he brings paint protection and control on the defensive side, while on the offense he can stretch the floor, go outside the arc, shoot 3’s, pick and pop, pass the ball and also be effective on the pick and roll or catch and slam the lobs.
He appears to be a matchup nightmare for opponents.
“I think I can confuse [defenders],” Grunloh said. “They think I might roll down, so I pop. It’s a lot of mental work for them to wonder what am I going to do next. I want them to be a little scared of, do I pop or do I roll? Where should I play defense against him?”
Coaches are asking him to put the ball on the floor, fake, drive to the basket and create from there, dribbling a little, but also playing in the back of the post, something his coaches in Germany discouraged because Grunloh was going up against older and more experienced opponents in essentially a pro league.
“My [German] coaches would say, because of the physical disadvantage I had, sometimes I would go against a 260-pound big man who was 30 years old, so it didn’t make any sense to go against them. I had to use my speed and athleticism. But here, I can really get into it, post people up and feel good about it,” Grunloh said.
He’s eager for the season to come, particularly the ACC, and can’t wait to see what a packed John Paul Jones Arena looks like.
Since arriving in August, he has bonded with everyone, particularly with roommates Martin Carrere and Thijs De Ridder.
“It’s a little European connection,” Grunloh grinned.
Carrere is from France and De Ridder is from Belgium.
“Overall, everybody has been nice to me,” Grunloh added. “I think we’re pretty well-connected as a team.”
On coming to America?
“I think I have adapted pretty good so far,” the freshman from Loningen, Germany, said. “Still, some things are different, but I learned that I could get pretty good food here at college in the dining hall or from Chef Kyle after practice. So I try to use that for an advantage. For me, I try to get the free food, good food, every time I can.”
He hasn’t had many opportunities to eat out in the community thus far, something he hopes to change, but has found, like De Ridder, that American food is much different than what he was accustomed to in Europe.
“Too greasy,” Grunloh said. “Yeah, my stomach was hurting for the first couple of weeks. But overall, there are some good places here in Charlottesville.”
