(Note: It can be really difficult to find a place to have information, articles and videos about players in one succinct page, so I’ll be adding to it as the season goes on.)
https://x.com/BradleyUMBB/status/1989015650514174040
Position: SF
Height: 6’8”
Weight: 215 lbs.
Recruiting Milestones & Ranks
Verbal Commitment Date: October 29, 2025
Signing Date: November 13, 2025
Profile (Ranking): 247 Sports (Unranked) / Verbal Commits (Unranked) / Rivals (No Profile)
(Below are what I’ve been able to watch so far, but these are subject to change as I see him play more.)
Strengths:
Rebounding
Basketball IQ
Runs floor well for his size
Can take the ball off the dribble
Areas to Improve:
Shooting (Haven’t seen him do much other than get layups & dunks)
First step defensively - have seen him get beat at times off the dribble
Articles
Bradley recruiting: BU lands power forward Ben Thornbrue (The Blade (Toledo), November 14, 2025)
Video
Highlights
Bradley compilation of highlights (X, November 13, 2025)
Social Media
Twitter / X: Benthornbrue
Instagram: ben_tbrue
Prior to Bradley
2025-26 Southern Idaho Golden Eagles
Level: NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association)
School / Team - College of Southern Idaho (Junior College Enrollment: 12,198, as of spring 2024)
Stadium / Gymnasium - CSI Gymnasium (Capacity 2,900)
Location - Twin Falls, ID
Schedule - 2025-26
Roster - 2025-26
Head Coach - Jeff Reinert (7th season; 135-49 overall, three district championships, one regional championship)
Rolling In-Season Notes
Nov. 7, 2025 - Thornbrue plays his first game of the season after not playing in the first three for CSI. He scores 13 and has seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and a turnover in 19 minutes.
Nov. 8, 2025 - Thornbrue plays 23 minutes and scores eight and adds seven rebounds.
Interesting stat: He’s scored 21 points in two games and 13 of those have come from the free throw line.
Nov. 17, 2025 - CSI moves to 15th overall in the NJCAA Div. I Men’s Basketball Rankings (Full List)
Nov. 21, 2025 - CSI won again to run their record to 6-0. These are the sorts of things we take for granted these days. CSI didn’t have a box score and their opponent (Western Nebraska Community College) only kept a box score for themselves. CSI won 99-81 and Thornbrue had 12 points and six rebounds. (Their recap says 12, but I watched this game and I had him with 14.)
I did find a video of the game and watched it the whole way:
First Half
Thornbrue scores on a scramble play. He’s out on the perimeter and tries to help his teammate who gets caught making a bad pass. Thornbrue stays with the play and finds space for a layup and a foul (ended up missing the FT):
On defense, he stuck with a quick drive to the hoop and although the guy scores, he can’t defend it much better.
Grabs a pretty easy rebound, but what I liked here is he was trying to start the break the other way immediately:
This time he looked a little slow defensively and it led to an easy basket:
Here’s his slashing ability; great drive and score (4 pts.):
Direct result of the last hoop, he tries to drive baseline and he gets doubled and immediately finds a teammate for a layup (assist):
Uses the overplay against the defense
Awareness: defense on his man, which leads to a steal, then it goes on the break and he pays attention to run the middle of the floor and again move it for an open look:
After a quick rest, he reads the backdoor alley-oop play and breaks it up:
Second half
Thornbrue scores six in the first five minutes of the second half. He’s doing all of his work around the basket, getting open passes for layups and then he cleans up a weak side miss for another layup.
Easy score but positioned well
He’s subbed out for the next five minutes and CSI pulls way ahead, 71-48.
Taking over the game
The next stretch he’s the most important player on the floor.
First he gets a dunk on a press break (10 points):
Then it happens again, brings the bench out of its seats with a thundering dunk (12 points):
He picks up the rebound on the next defensive possession, then shows his driving ability again for another score (14 points):
After picking up another couple rebounds, he comes out with 6:32 left and doesn’t play the rest of the game in a blowout.
Overall Thoughts
He can definitely rebound on both ends, score off the dribble and find gaps for easy baskets in the lane. I am curious if he’ll have the foot speed to guard smaller Division I players or if he’ll have the strength to rebound as effectively against bigger guys when he moves up.
The interesting part was that on offense he often was out on the perimeter and looked ready to shoot but didn’t try a 3-pointer. I hope to see if he really has that in his game or not.
Nov. 22, 2025: CSI goes to 7-0 and Thornbrue has his biggest scoring output of the season with 19 points and three blocks.