The two players in the video below, Sim and Tanveer Bhullar, are getting a lot of press after being featured over on Rivals (and Yahoo) over the last 24 hours or so. I mean, if I told you there were brothers who were 17 years old, 7-4, 285 lbs. (Sim) and 15 years old, 7-2, 260 lbs. (Tanveer), you’d probably be excited by that, right? Oh, and they’d prefer to play together some day.↵
↵
Indian Brothers Inspiring Gigantic Hoops Hype
↵↵
↵
↵Sim, just a sophomore, has already been offered a scholarship to West Virginia, and Duquesne, Florida State, Kentucky, LSU, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Stanford, Texas, UMass, USC and Washington State have interest in both brothers, according to Rivals. Tanveer is only a freshman. The stats for both players are about as gaudy as you’d expect from people that age and that size. Sim averaged 16 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocks in his sophomore season. Tanveer averaged 12, 11 and five during his freshman season.↵
↵↵⇥“They’re going to wind up wherever they want to go,” Freedman said. “I know way too many people in basketball to tell a kid where to go... I can’t do that. It would be unfair to too many people.”↵↵↵That’s probably a fair assertion, not only because he’s right, but because Calipari gets his true pick of the top players in the nation at the moment, so he won’t need any special in for this duo probably. There is the matter of whether either player will actually be ready to compete at that level, too. Scout.com’s Dave Telep had this to say when asked about the Bhullars: “It’s going to be a process for them to transition from tall novelty items to bonafide impact recruits.”↵
↵↵It’d be very easy to get overly excited about a pair of 7-plus-footers at such a young age, but let us not forget the trail left by people like Neil Fingleton. Height and potential doesn’t always translate on the basketball court. Also, keep in mind, that guys this big are predisposed to foot injuries. (I was encouraged to hear about significant weight loss for both players, which should go a long way to preventing some of those injuries.) For now, even if the size is a novelty, it’s a tantalizing novelty for Division I coaches. With no player from India to ever make it to the NBA, everyone will have a close eye on this duo for the next few seasons to see if they can be the first.↵
↵
This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
See More:
