You keep hearing about him. Especially on Twitter.

The sweater profile pictures. A former player at DePauw. All this talk of Brad. Brad, Brad, Brad. Bloomington has been absolutely buzzing with this sort of talk for weeks now ever since it became official that the Indiana men’s basketball coaching job would open this offseason.

Yep. Clemson’s Brad Brownell.

... That’s the Indiana native Brad everyone’s been talking about, right?

Anyway,

By virtue of being from the state of Indiana, Brownell has found himself as a potential candidate for the Indiana job. Oh, and he’s doing a pretty good job at Clemson lately. That too.

Not only is Brownell from the Hoosier state, he was high school teammates with Indiana legend Calbert Cheaney in Evansville.

Brownell is pretty much immortal at this point when it comes to his tenure at Clemson. He’s been on the hot seat a few times but always seems to respond with a timely good season. Last year was his best yet, leading the Tigers to the Elite Eight.

This group figures to be even better. The Tigers have improved across the board and look like a top team not just in the ACC but the country as a whole, handing Duke one of just a handful of losses this season.

Could that make him a fit in Bloomington?

... Maybe?

What might put off some is that Brownell is that his teams at Clemson have been more defensive-oriented. The Tigers have had a decent to great defense most years under Brownell as of late with the recent success coming when the offense finally caught up.

Hiring a third straight defensive-minded coach after the last two flamed out and produced pretty unwatchable offenses most of the time would be a tough sell across the board at Indiana.

He benefits from his experience. He’s been at Clemson for a while obviously but he’s been a head coach at the Division-I level since 2002, which is wild for a guy who’s just 56 years old as of this writing.

Overall, Brownell would be an interesting one but it’s a move I have a hard time seeing Indiana making.