Lucas: A Grownup

By Adam Lucas

With five minutes left in the Carolina-Gonzaga game, this story was going to be about Garrison Brooks. It had to be.

One of the themes of this year has been Carolina's big men, and whether they're providing enough impact to justify their continued usage in the lineup. You've heard the complaints. They've heard the complaints.

Saturday night, as the Tar Heels pounded away at Gonzaga, eventually winning 103-90, there were no complaints. Brooks, to put it simply, was terrific.

Not terrific in a triple-double context. But terrific in the context of what the Tar Heels need their big men to do in order to be successful during the 2018-19 season. That means Brooks may not get the ball on the block and get to show off his post-up moves ten times per game (but that doesn't mean he can't score, as he did multiple times in the second half, including a nice baseline jumper after Coby White had collapsed his man).

So Brooks set some screens in those first 20 minutes, and he played defense, and he rebounded—boy, did he rebound. He did all those things you do when you've stopped worrying about trying to play well for yourself, and started to do what the team needs you to do in order to win.

The sophomore from Alabama might have played his best half of the season in the first half. And he didn't take a single shot.

"That's fine with me," he said. "I'm not going to lie, it's cool to score points. But I'm out there to try and make a difference, and I can do that defensively. They had two really good big players so I needed to be big defensively."

That's a pretty mature answer, right? Points are cool. Winning is cooler.

Brooks finished with nine rebounds and nine points in 23 minutes and had a highlight reel block of Gonzaga's 6-foot-8 redshirt junior, Brandon Clarke, on what looked like a point-blank scoring attempt at the rim. He wasn't the reason Carolina won the game, a classic, old-time, Smith Center-rocking, students-stayed-in-town-after-exams showdown (Saturday night was exactly why it's so much fun to play these types of games in home-and-home atmospheres rather than sterile neutral sites, because you actually get to experience the sport—it's a college basketball game rather than a TV show).

But he was an important part of it, a key factor in why Carolina won the rebounding battle, 42-21. When Roy Williams addressed his team in the locker room after the game and then asked director of athletic communications Steve Kirschner for the game's key stats, Kirschner pointed out the big individual numbers, like Cameron Johnson's six three-pointers and Seventh Woods's career high 14 points and Luke Maye's double-double and 1,000 career points.

But the stat that got the biggest roar from the assembled Tar Heels was a team statistic—27 second-chance points for Carolina, zero for Gonzaga. Brooks was a big part of that, best exemplified by the play in the second half when he fought for an offensive rebound, secured it in traffic, then chose not to go back up with it against three Zag defenders. Instead, he was patient, and the possession ended with a pair of Coby White free throws. Simple, but effective.

So this story was always going to be about Garrison Brooks. But then he started talking in the postgame, and there was simply no other choice.

Brooks has been in the news this week because he signed a petition regarding the campus controversy over Silent Sam. This is not a political column, because there are those who know much more about that topic than I do. For example, there is Barry Jacobs, the longtime ACC observer and local politician who was chatting with Brooks after the game.

Remember, Brooks is from Lafayette, Alabama. As he put it, "We have fewer people in my town than there are students at Carolina." He didn't grow up on Carolina basketball, or even on ACC basketball. He hasn't heard the story your dad always told you about when and why Silent Sam fires his gun, and he has only a very loose knowledge of Dean Smith's social impact. This is going to hurt a little, but Brooks wasn't even born when Smith coached his last game in Chapel Hill. It's not just history to him, it's Mesozoic history.

The things you probably consider common knowledge about Smith, Brooks is still learning—which is exactly what he's supposed to be doing as a 20-year-old college sophomore. That's how Dean Smith still makes a difference in the year 2018; because someone like Garrison Brooks is going to Google him tomorrow, and he's going to be impressed.

In a brief discussion Saturday night, Brooks recognized the names Charles Scott and Bill Chamberlain, but admitted he'd like to learn more about them in order to fully understand their impact.

As they talked, Jacobs gave Brooks some history on the background of the statue. Brooks mentioned he'd done a project about the subject last school year.

There are other places to debate the statue. But this is the place to discuss the way Brooks approached the controversy, and why it reminds you of how much fun it is to watch Carolina basketball players spend four years growing up. Brooks did the project, of course.

When the controversy continued, he didn't just jump into the fray. First, he talked to three more people—Sean May, Hubert Davis and Roy Williams. They gave him very simple advice: "As long as you stand on what you believe, do what you feel is right."

So that's what he did. He signed the petition, and he stood on it, answering questions from multiple reporters about his choice. He said nothing inflammatory, didn't raise his voice, just gave simple, reasoned responses, while admitting when he wanted to know more about a topic.

In other words, he seemed like a grownup. Maybe that sounds easy to you right now, but try to remember how mature you were when you were 20 years old, when admitting you didn't know something was a mortal sin.

So it turned out that Garrison Brooks' mature, physical game in helping Carolina beat a top-five opponent was only the second-most impressive thing he did on Saturday night. And this story is still about him, because it has to be.

As the locker room began to clear out, Brooks asked a couple of questions about Dean Smith, trying to find out more. He was told about Smith's social activism, and about some of his beliefs.

Garrison Brooks is absolutely not Dean Smith. He is not supposed to be. He's 20 years old. But Smith played an important role in opening the path Brooks is just starting to walk, and you can be absolutely certain Dean Smith would be very proud to see student-athletes—Carolina student-athletes—using their platform intelligently and thoughtfully. One of the best ways I know to judge a person is ask, "What would Coach Smith think of this?" And as Brooks sat and talked and, yes, listened on Saturday night, one overwhelming thought came to mind: Dean Smith would be very, very proud of this college sophomore.

It's entirely possible that three months from now we'll remember Saturday night as the evening when Brooks grew up on the court. It's also possible that ten years from now he'll remember this week as a week when he grew up even more off the hardwood.

"I don't know that much about Coach Smith right now," Brooks said. "But everyone here speaks so highly of him. It's a great honor to do anything that people say might be in his footsteps. And I'm going to ask Coach Williams about him and try to learn more."

Sometime this week one of Roy Williams' starters is going to come to him and say, "Tell me about Coach Smith." That's all you need to know about Saturday night.

So, yes, this story is about Garrison Brooks. Because it has to be.

Players Mentioned

Garrison Brooks

Cameron Johnson

Luke Maye

Coby White

Seventh Woods

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