Brandon Jennings scored a season-high 37 points to help lead the Milwaukee Bucks to 102-96 victory against the struggling New York Knicks.

Brandon Jennings may have been replaced from the NBA All Star Saturday Slam Dunk contest but he was selected to participate in the Rookie Challenge the night before as a member of the Sophomore team. Jennings should flourish in this type of open court streetball type of game where defense isn’t played. Since returning from a five week stint on the injured list for a broken foot, Bucks coach Scott Skiles has limited his minutes and Jennings has been coming off the bench. The 21 year old has expressed his displeasure with his lack of play as he tries to work his way back to starter minutes.

“If I am going to be having limited minutes, I might as well not be playing at all. When I get my rhythm, I have to come out because the limited minutes I am in. But once I get going you know how I get. So it kind of took me out of my rhythm a little bit. So if I am going to be on limited minutes, I might as well just not play at all.”

Jennings, who made headlines as a high schooler when he became the first American to skip college to play professionally in Europe, may have bad memories of sitting on the bench since he averaged less than 20 minutes a game when playing overseas. He had originally decided to play for the Arizona Wildcats where he would have gotten a lot more minutes and would have greatly increased the team’s March Madness odds playing with current NBA players Jerryd Bayless, Chase Budinger, and Jordan Hill.

When asked about Jennings’ minutes, Bucks coach Scott Skiles defended his decision:

“I am just going by what I am told by the medical staff on how much he can play. It’s not an ideal scenario, obviously, but it is a situation where he does have to be built back up. He had foot surgery, it’s not like he just had a sore foot or something. They’re going to be a little more cautious and I totally understand that.”

Brandon Jennings returned to the hardwood for the Milwaukee Bucks as they beat t the New Jersey Nets 91-81. Jennings returned after missing 19 games from of a broken left foot and came off the bench to play 11 minutes and score 2 points with 1 assist.

Brandon Jennings won’t be dunking during All-Star weekend after all. The Bucks guard has been sidelined with a broken left foot since December 20 and is expected to be back on the court after the All-Star break. He will be replaced by good friend DeMarr DeRozan, who finished second in the competition last year. DeRozan will join Blake Griffin, Serge Ibaka, and JaVale McGee and will be the only guard in the competition.

Brandon Jennings will represent for all the guards in the NBA as he will face off against power forwards and centers – Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers, JaVale McGee of the Washington Wizards, and Serge Ibaka of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Jennings, who is currently injured from a broken right foot, is expected to be healthy for All-Star weekend. Will we see some of this?

If you are in the Milwaukee area, you can meet Brandon Jennings tonight at the Footlocker in Mayfair Mall from 6pm to 8pm. Jennings will be there to promote his new Under Armour basketball shoes.

Brandon Jennings thinks his sponsorship deal with Under Armour might have hurt his chances with being invited to try out for Team USA and the world championships. Of the 12 members of Team USA’s roster, only Chauncey Billups, Derrick Rose(notes) and Eric Gordon wore shoes other than Nike. Rookie of the year, Tyreke Evans and fellow rookie Stephen Curry (both wear Nike), were invited to camp, with Curry making the team.

“It’s not my call. That’s on them. But if you want to get technical about it and you really want to look at it, half of the guys there are Nike guys. I’m not saying it’s a Nike thing, but Nike is kind of running a lot of things right now. To have a guy like myself on the USA team that’s flashy and really outgoing, you don’t want Under Armour to get all that [publicity].”

– Brandon Jennings

When asked about it, Team USA basketball Chairman Jerry Colangelo said sponsorships did not influence who was invited to tryout for Team USA and that Brandon Jennings was considered but the team was already heavily loaded with guards.

Brandon Jennings is all over the social networks. So if you want to tweet, friend request, see his pictures, read his thoughts, or just visit his official website, here are the links to get you one step closer to Yung Buck –

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Flickr
• Under Armour Blog
• Official Site

After coming off a successful rookie season, Brandon Jennings has already set some lofty goals for his second season. Individually, Jennings wants to average a double-double and make the All-Star team. As a team, he wants the Milwaukee Bucks to win the Central Division and get out of the first round of the Playoffs.

In other news, at his Pro Basketball Camp for kids, Jennings took part in a game and showed off his sweet stroke as he nailed the game winning basket from deep behind the 3 point line.