CHARLOTTESVILLE – It’s too early to say if he’ll one day make the all-ACC basketball team, but U.Va. freshman John Brandenburg is probably a lock to make the all-interview team.

Brandenburg, who stands 6-11, spoke with several reporters, myself included, after Virginia’s rout of Brown at John Paul Jones Arena last night.  He was engaging and well-spoken, which is to be expected of a young man whose other college options included Stanford.

Against the Bears, Brandenburg entered the game with 4:05 remaining.  Moments later, he took a pass in the low post and, without hesitating, put up a jump hook that dropped through the net.

“I wasn’t even thinking at that point,” Brandenburg said with a smile.  “Instincts took over, and all the reps we’ve done just hit, and I just took a dribble and took the hook.  And after I shot it, I was like, ‘Wow, that hook was, like, 10 feet away.  I shouldn’t have even shot that.’  But it worked out all right.”

That shot is relatively new to his repertoire.

“We’ve really been working on developing that since I got here,” Brandenburg said.  “In high school I was more of a jump-shooter.  I really didn’t need the hook, because I was so much taller than everybody.  And now, since everyone’s so athletic, I really need to use that hook.  So I think it’s going to be great at this level.”

Brandenburg, who’s from Des Peres, Mo., near St. Louis, has played in four games this season, scoring six points and grabbing four rebounds in 14 minutes.  He’s made 3 of 5 shots from the floor.

Coach Dave Leitao said Brandenburg needs to work, first and foremost, on being more aggressive.  On being more like classmate Assane Sene, a 7-footer who has established himself as Virginia’s starting center.

“For [Brandenburg], we’re trying to get him every day in practice to be aggressive in everything that he does: running, defensively, offensively, just adjusting to the pace of college basketball,” Leitao said.

“I think at 6-11, he’s been so used to being five, six, seven, eight inches taller than everybody, that playing against same-sized guys and playing at the pace, particularly of a guy like Assane, is a new experience for him, and he’s just getting adjusted and caught up with that.”

Brandenburg is probably the Cavaliers’ No. 4 center, behind Sene, junior Jerome Meyinsse and senior Tunji Soroye, and some observers believe he should be redshirting this season.  Not Brandenburg.

“I think it’s actually more motivation [to be playing],” he said.  “If I was a redshirt, there would be motivation to get better, but I think now that I can really get rewarded if I practice well.  I think it’s nice always having that in front of me.”

The transition to college hoops has been difficult, Brandenburg said, but that “happens to a lot of players coming from high school.  Any time you reach a new level, you’re either going to excel quickly, or it’s going to take some time for you to get comfortable.  Obviously for me a big thing has been strength.  So I’m just trying to get stronger and ease into it I guess.”

When he arrived at U.Va., he weighed 225 pounds.  Brandenburg said he weighed in at 248 the other day.

“That’s a little heavy for me right now,” he said.  “I don’t know if it’s all good weight.  I’m having a little trouble running, but we’re working on slimming me down.”

He may not supplant Soroye or Meyinsse in the rotation this season, but Brandenburg said he doesn’t believe he’s “that far behind, especially talent-wise and things.  I think I’m right there.  [Leitao] just wants to see a little more out of me in practice, a little more endurance.  He wants to see me getting that loose ball, getting that box-out in the last two minutes of the scrimmage.  Just little things, I think, will get me up to where I need to be minutes-wise.”