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Braddy learning; future plans are earmarked for a long stay at UK
"The Braddy Bunch" now showing at Rupp; wants UK role to continue
by TCP staff writer Pancho Easterwood
Nehemiah Braddy looked at the sign that hung from the University of Kentucky student section at Rupp Arena.
"The Braddy Bunch" it read.
The 18-year-old walk-on shook his head and wondered aloud.
"Who are these people," he thought. His face then brightened, his voice taking on a slight tremor. "I hope it's some girls."
Then he went out and scored seven points in seven minutes as the 'Cats stuffed Mississippi State into the win column.
Could this be the man UK coach Rick Pitino will try to reach by dialing 'O'...as in offense? Is the "Braddy Bunch" to be a fixture at Rupp for the next four years?
Could be.
Braddy can play the big 'O' for sure. So what if he is a defensive liability...a man one sports commentator said, dryly, "Braddy couldn't check his coat."
But could Chopin sing? Marilyn Monroe act...or Picasso paint houses?.
Mississippi State was Braddy's coming out party. He had scored only two points in 13 minutes in the opener with Ohio.
Indiana was a downer...no points and virtually no minutes.
"I finally got my confidence up against Mississippi State," Braddy said. "I had been down...I had been doing things wrong, making the same mistakes. But the guys on the team encouraged me. So I went out and had a good practice and got some playing time."
PT. Playing time. The two biggest letters in a young man's basketball dictionary.
Braddy made the best of it. He hit a "trey", pulled up off a drive to can a 15-footer, and drove for a layup with a nice move.
"The three-pointer felt good," he said. "I had shot two earlier.. .one almost cracked the glass...a real brick. The other one was a good shot...and then tonight."
That Monday was the night Braddy flowed like the Mississippi against Mississippi State. He felt good... no jitters this time out.
"I had asked the coach if they could get longer nets that first night (opening night)." said Braddy, laughing. "The goal looked smaller with the small nets on it...I guess that didn't help my confidence."
Tendonitis, he said, kept him from scoring nine points: "I think that's why 1 missed the layup. I didn't know if I was going to dunk it or not. I went up for it, realized I wasn't high enough, and said, 'oh, shoot, you aren't high enough.'"
Braddy didn't take much ribbing from that one missed layup. Only point guard Sean Woods kidded him a bit. His teammates said he made up for it by hitting the trey. "Crazy, miss a two-footer and hit a 21-footer," Braddy said.
Braddy wasn't so fortunate about the sign. His teammates teased him all day, accusing him of paying the people to put it up.
"It didn't affect my game but I was kind of embarrassed about it," he said. "But I was happy too. Say, I don't know these people...but I hope it's girls up there. I don't know who they are but I'm hoping to find out."
Braddy smiled. He always smiles. In fact.
Braddy says he now realizes that defense creates scoring opportunities.
photo by Steve McFarland
he wears a perpetual grin that illuminates u room.
Talk about his defense...and he smiles as he recalls his days at Middleburg High in Middleburg. Florida. It's about 15 minutes by car from Jacksonville.
Braddy averaged 25 points, eight rebounds and three assists last year. He averaged 18 points and seven boards as a junior and 10 points as a sophomore.
Offensively, he used more picks than a Pikeville coal miner to tickle the twine.
Defense, of course, was a foreign object, he said.
"1 never played defense." Braddy said. "My coach told me not to. He told me to rest on defense. You get used to not playing defense. That was my biggest adjustment in college."
Braddy insists he is improving. Contrary to what the radio commentator said, he feels his defense is coming along. "1 didn't have any mis-checks..my D's up pretty good."
Braddy had Pitino chuckling after one game. Pitino said he had never seen a player desert his own man for the company of another.
"My hardest adjustment is picking up a man in transition." Braddy said. "That and help-side defense. You have to get low so you can see the ball and the man..you don't want your man to cut back door. You need peripheral vision out there."
However. Braddy is well aware his ticket to more PTand possibly to staying at UK-depends on polishing his defense.
"I'm always trying to improve two things...quickness with the ball and my defense. If I can get those two things down I think I can be a pretty good player."
Braddy feels his defense wasn't really that awful in high school. He points out he led his team in blocked shots.
"I just didn't like it (defense) in high school." he said,  "but  I  never really
knew that defense is what starts the offense. Now, when I stop a man driving. 1 really feel great."
Lack of defense probably kept him from a Division I scholarship, which he coveted. His coach even felt he wasn't Division 1 material. Some small colleges and junior colleges came calling but Braddy had this dream, you see. Dreams of basketball in the Bluegrass danced in his head.
"University of Tampa said I could play both basketball and baseball." he said. "But 1 didn't want to stay in Florida and 1 wanted to play at a Division I school. 1 took the SAT. passed, and Kentucky was the first school to accept me. When I was accepted I decided to come here and walk on."
Braddy had to beat out a flock of players for a walk-on spot. "1 think there were about 30." he recalled. "Some of the people weren't very talented, but others were. I felt pretty good about being on the team."
Braddy. a brilliant pitcher-first baseman for Middleburg. said he wasn't willing to pay the price in baseball, a sport he's played all his life. But. he's talked to UK baseball coach Keith Madison about the possibility of playing this spring. And how good is Braddy? Well, good enough last year to strike out 16 in one game, throw two no-hitters, and four one-hitters. He "heats" up in the high 80s.
Not a bad hitter, either. He got a single, double and homer off Tombo Martin of Panama City last year in the State AAA playoffs. Martin, he says, was the best pitcher in the state.
"I haven't told coach Madison yet but I'd rather play first base than pitch." he said.
Braddy said there were some feelers from colleges about his pursuing baseball. But he said none of the offers included a scholarship.
"You've got to be really dedicated to go from A ball to AA and Triple A." Braddy said, "but my former high school coach is a scout for the Toronto Blue Jays now. I might gel back out there."
And. while Braddy has talked to Madison about playing, he said he hasn't discussed the possibility of playing baseball with coach Pitino. "1 will after the season." he said.
Braddy. a man who collects monikers like a dog does fleas, said he was called "Satchel"as in Hall of Famer Satchel Paigein high school. "I had these pants and they were too big for me." he said. "They looked like the pants old-time players used to wear. Like Satchel."
To the boys of basketball he was just plain ole "Junior". But don't tell that to Derrick Miller. Miller calls him the "Greedy Smurf." "That name is because I love to eat...I just love Fruity Pebbles. Derrick told me he was going to get me some for Christmas. I eat about a box of the cereal a day."
Greedy Sniurf to Derrick, he is just plain ole "Knee" to the UK teammates. That's because they can't sayor don't want toNehemiah.
But don't say a word to Braddy about his first name. He loves it. In fact, he doesn't
want to hear about any other Nehemiahs out there.
"My granddad was a preacher and he named his sons after books in the Bible," Braddy said .My father is Nehemiah Sr. He named trie."
It's obvious he loves his name...considering he could have been named Ezra, the book that precedes Nehemiah in the Old Testament.
A quick-witted scribe broke in. saying "Hey. 1 know of a Nehemiah...Nehemiah Persoff. .a movie actor."
'Shhhhh.. .hush... I don't want to hear it." Braddy said. "Don't look it up. I don't want to know of another Nehemiah.
But. to the girls in section 221. the banner belt at Rupp. he says they can just call him John. Or Bill. Or something.
"They can't say Nehemiah and Junior sounds like I'm a baby...and I'm 18 already." Braddy said.
Braddy likes girls. He really does. He says he likes to shake a leg at 17 South in Jacksonville, a club for teens 17 to 19. "1 liked going out with the fellows and chasing skirts." he said. "I'm kind of shy at first, but I take a little Kool-aid and I'm okay. Now. 1 don't drink though. 1 don't see the need."
He also avoided those dens of iniquity on Jacksonville's East Side. "Oh. you can go there (to the East Side) but you won't come back." he chuckled. Needless to say Nehemiah went west.
Nehemiah enjoyed his life in Middleburg...all of it. He says his mother, Catherine, is real religious and made him play the piano in church.
"I still play." he said."I can't read a note but if 1 hear a song . like in church. I can find the right key to play in. I don't have much time now with basketball practice and school but I sneak in some time."
Braddy is very close to "Monkey" and "Pumpkin'nicknames for two sisters who are close to him in age.
"I liked my childhood." he said. "1 was successful in sports and I had great support from my folks and sisters (there are also two older sisters and one brother). They would insist on coming to every game."
Nehemiah Sr. still does. In fact, he's already driven from Florida to Kentucky for the opener with Ohio University. But he was heartbroken when he had to miss his son's game against Mississippi State.
"Our Oldsmobile. a 1987 model, had broken down...it already has 160.000 miles on it." Braddy said. "We visit my sister a lot in Lubbock. Texas. My dad wants to come to every game of mine here."
Nehemiah Jr. said his lather does it because he says it relaxes him to drive long distances.
"This support from my father and family really makes me want to do good here, he said."
But the future is uncertain for Braddy. He gets some financial aid but it only goes so far. His dad is retired, living on social security, and his mom doesn't get rich driving a bus. "I'm not sure if I can stay here another year...but 1 will try to if at all possible." Braddy said. "I would like to stay here. I'm going to try somehow. I don't want to go."
As for the distant future, he may go into advertising...and try to sneak in a few commercials. For Fruity Pebbles, perhaps.
"I'd like to go to acting school...every body told me I can act good and a teacher back home said I should be an actor ...because I lie so good." he said with a hearty laugh.