The Summer of Rowan: Brumbaugh Wins Kenner League Championship, Named Kenner MVP

The hometown kid has made himself right at home in his first summer on the Hilltop, and after a Kenner League championship and MVP award, looks poised to have a big freshman campaign as a Hoya.

Few people have had a more productive summer than Georgetown guard Rowan Brumbaugh.

After transferring from Texas in the spring, Brumbaugh committed to Georgetown shortly thereafter, finally joining the school he wanted to commit to all along back in high school, having grown up just outside the front gates of Georgetown.

Since the beginning of Kenner League in July, few players have made more noise in the storied pro-am summer league than Brumbaugh, who led his A. Wash & Associates team to a Kenner League championship on Sunday and was subsequently named Kenner League MVP.

Coming out of high school, Brumbaugh was known as a pass-first point guard with impressive court vision and advanced passing ability, but the player that Georgetown fans saw in Kenner League was much more than just a good passer.

With his mix of tight handles, ability to slither through the lane and score at the rim, and his strong outside shooting, Brumbaugh dazzled on a weekly basis at Kenner League, and showed in the process that he might be ahead of schedule in his development as a college basketball player.

Spending a year at Texas practicing against the likes of Marcus Carr, Tyrese Hunter, Sir’jabari Rice, and Arterio Morris certainly is one way to speed up a player’s development, and it looks like that time spent in Austin honing his craft behind the scenes has paid off.

Aside from the skills that Brumbaugh displayed over the last five weeks, the poise and maturity that came with his game also stood out.

At one point, late in his team’s quarterfinal matchup against Clyde’s, with former Wake Forest guard Bryant Crawford sharing the backcourt (and ball-handling duties) with Brumbaugh, it was Crawford who kept the ball in a one-possession game, with A. Wash in the lead and looking to maintain possession.

However, Crawford got pressured by a Clyde’s defender, and was stripped.

On the next play, it was the younger, more inexperienced Brumbaugh who took the ball, and was pressured in almost the exact same spot on the court, by the same defender who picked Crawford’s pocket.

This time, however, Brumbaugh was able to deftly dribble out of the pressure, drew a foul, and sank both free throws to extend his team’s lead.

Even with a veteran player on his team, it was Brumbaugh who still was the go-to player, and the one who teammates turned to late to carry them across the finish line.

So what does this mean for Brumbaugh’s Georgetown career? We all know that putting too much stock in a Kenner League performance is risky business. But the extent to which Brumbaugh surpassed expectations in his first summer on the Hilltop, and the manner in which he did it, as the best player on the best team in Kenner, bodes well for what he can do as a Hoya.

When it comes to Kenner, you’re better off judging process over results. And make no mistake, Brumbaugh’s numbers and accolades this summer were dazzling, but the way in which he did it, and the control of the game that he showed, are attributes that will translate to the court during real college basketball games, more so than any stats or awards that he accumulated this summer.

With Jayden Epps on this Georgetown team too, it’s still tough to say who starts at point guard for Georgetown without seeing what Epps can do on the court in Ed Cooley’s system first.

Between the two new Hoya guards, Epps was the more accomplished player last season as a freshman at Illinois, and it’s still premature to call Brumbaugh the starter without knowing what Epps can do in Year Two.

But it’s safe to say that Rowan Brumbaugh certainly has the look of a player who can be a starting point guard for this Georgetown team, and perhaps an All-Big East team candidate in a year or two.

If Epps were to beat out Brumbaugh, or start alongside him, that would mean Georgetown has two starting-caliber on-ball guards on their roster with multiple years of eligibility left, meaning their backcourt would be well-positioned from a talent standpoint for years to come.

There are still multiple holes on the Georgetown roster that need to be filled long-term, but to be able to say that you’ve found one player, and potentially two, who can be your point guard of the future, is a promising sign for a team looking for players that can help lay the new foundation for this new-look, new-feel Georgetown program.