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Brooks to transfer portal

Seems the lessons learned from Mr. Meeks and Mr. B Johnson and Mr. J Berry would cure us of making judgements without compete facts! All three and many more considered leaving and have been soundly criticized by Tar Heel "fans". All three returned, learned their lessons, worked their tails off, and contributed to some really great teams! Brooks may want to play for his father; may want to play at a level more suited to his natural talents; may want a new environment away from the expectations heaped upon him by media/fans; may know who is actually returning and see limited PT; AND may just be fed up with the U or his teammates!

If he plays for someone other than his father, I will assume it is because he thought it the best place for him right now-nothing strange despite my belief no place is better for a recruit than UNC!

But the one thing we know is he IS a Tar Heel! He deserves the dignity of exiting without seeing his character questioned and without blame for our team's struggles!


Family should respect, forgive and support! (Roy and Brooks deserve no less!)
 
Brooks will always be Tar Heel family!

I am simply taking more of a un-emotional look at last season, looking for why things played out as they did, just an honest look at all aspects that could have effected play and there were a lot of things to look at. Example, season before last, when so many Tar Heel fans were screaming how poor a job Roy was doing, I was that guy that told folks Roy actually did a decent job considering all the injury stuff, as well as early entrants that Roy had to navigate around and thru. But the real truth as it applies to this past season, my view was Roy didn't have a HOF like coaching season, not in any way to be read as my wanting him to step down because that was far from my point, just honest assessment that last season is not what we expect UNC teams to play like. Could anyone watch all our games and give Roy an A+ for the season, or would you be more of a C grade or even less?

I look at Brooks from that same lends today, yes he did some wonderful things for us prior to last season but he simply didn't play the way he did season before, it just didn't look like he put in the same level of work in our games, that isn't disrespectful, it is simply an assessment of what I saw. Not saying he sucked this past season, he had a decent season but his level of play did seem to me to decline. Brooks was not treated as being our #1 option to score last season, he was treated like that a lot as a Jr, you would think his efficiency would jump up because of that but he didn't even make 3rd team All ACC? He got plenty of PT to make his case, wouldn't you think he would lead us if in no other area in the hustle/energy department? Team Captain, favored pre-season ACC POY candidate, senior leader?

When I watch a team come out not really ready to play a game, not matching much less exceeding the energy and work out put of the opponents, there are 2 places I immediately look, coaching staff and the experienced leaders, especially senior leaders. Brooks was our most experienced player, a senior leader, got huge PT, had the total backing of his coach, and was a fixture in our starting line up... All things well earned in prior seasons but I just can't say justified by his play as a senior. I am not saying Brooks is a bad kid, not at all, not a spoiled kid like Drew at all. But I am strongly suggesting he didn't handle the mental aspect of all that was expected of him last season well and in doing so it had a negative effect over all on that team.
 
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"I cant believe he went to Mississippi State!"..... said no one who was remotely paying attention.



Best of luck Garrison. You have earned the right to be a Tar Heel for life. Those with short memories of you coming to UNC when no one else would and having 3 progressively good seasons (flyer for last year) more than cements your place in the Tar Heel family. Best of Luck.
 
He is a case of mom getting involved which seems to have been beneficial to us. He was headed to Miss. State verbal and all until mom pushed for UNC. Good luck, go kill 'em in Starkville with your dad.
 
I refuse to believe that someone described as "perfect" by the coach that watched him 24/7 for 4 years has an attitude problem! I have no issue believing he was disappointed, angry, and at times demoralized by this year! I firmly believe that the accolades gave him the impression, mistakenly, that he was more than he is and would explode on the scene as the go to National POY candidate. Reality was a bit hard to swallow and the glut of talented Bigs clearly was going to relegate him to his previous role. Anyone can have a blind spot but even when you love something you don't miss all of the flaws! I also believe there are some hidden, possibly even from the coaching staff, injuries or health issues that nagged the young man.

Even if I am completely wrong in my assessment and D is 100% spot on.......Family, especially Family that came when others wouldn't and sacrificed to help right our ship, should get better treatment from those on here! The man just said he was leaving and we are so petty we can't resist kicking him in the pants on the way out! (This isn't directed at D because his thoughts were at least explained. Others, however were simply not worthy if you claim to be a Tar Heel!) Unacceptable!

Mr. Brooks, I appreciate everything you have given this great U. I wish you luck and great fortune! I truly hope you find what you are looking for and will remain a Tar Heel for life!
Agreed - but I think @DSouthr post above was about perfect spot on, IMO. And at least his post had less to do with criticizing Brooks, than observing, pointing out Roy's blind spot, and a difference in how Roy handled Brooks attitude, skill, effort compared to how Hubert might handle that same player.

Brooks is what he is and he should be commended for the four year dedication and contribution to the program. But if younger players would deliver more to the team, and if they are putting in the effort and showing the skill to supersede Brooks results, the younger guys should've gotten some of Brooks minutes. But again, Brooks doesn't dictate that - Roy does.

Roy wasn't perfect (me, ducking from incoming fire) and the blind spot Dave describes along with a very high level of stubbornness led to Brooks getting more time than he deserved IMO compared to the young guys, and may have caused a fair amount of locker room strife.

Hard for me to imagine Roy and/or other coaches couldn't see that and try to do something about it. Then again - Roy was not about to let the players dictate who got what playing time, based on the possibility of building better team chemistry. Unfortunate - but some of Roy's stubbornness and stuck in his ways forever, may have contributed to this year's inconsistent efforts and results, team lack of chemistry, etc which helped usher Roy out.
 
Roy is a legend, always will be. That being said. The way Roy handled Brooks this year, which directly caused him to mishandle Kessler was awful frankly.
 
Agreed - but I think @DSouthr post above was about perfect spot on, IMO. And at least his post had less to do with criticizing Brooks, than observing, pointing out Roy's blind spot, and a difference in how Roy handled Brooks attitude, skill, effort compared to how Hubert might handle that same player.

Brooks is what he is and he should be commended for the four year dedication and contribution to the program. But if younger players would deliver more to the team, and if they are putting in the effort and showing the skill to supersede Brooks results, the younger guys should've gotten some of Brooks minutes. But again, Brooks doesn't dictate that - Roy does.

Roy wasn't perfect (me, ducking from incoming fire) and the blind spot Dave describes along with a very high level of stubbornness led to Brooks getting more time than he deserved IMO compared to the young guys, and may have caused a fair amount of locker room strife.

Hard for me to imagine Roy and/or other coaches couldn't see that and try to do something about it. Then again - Roy was not about to let the players dictate who got what playing time, based on the possibility of building better team chemistry. Unfortunate - but some of Roy's stubbornness and stuck in his ways forever, may have contributed to this year's inconsistent efforts and results, team lack of chemistry, etc which helped usher Roy out.
This is not going to be easy for me to say but it is going to be honest...

Roy told us, Roy told the college basketball world, no matter if you agreed with what he said or not, at very least live by the words so many (myself absolutely included) have have always used in association with Roy. How many of you have said that Roy was the only coach you wanted for UNC and should have the job for as long as he feels like it should be his? How many times have you uttered or written, the phrase "I Trust In Roy, Roy will do the right thing"?

Roy stepped down as our head coach and in doing so did not hesitate to say with complete clarity "I no longer feel I am the man for this job". Roy reflected back on season before last in that PC, flatly said he realized he should have done more, alluded to his not knowing what else he should have done. IN reference to this past season, his reflection was much the same, I needed to do more, I needed to have done things differently, not wanting to define the word insanity. So did the "trust Roy" phrase end at his retirement announcement, it didn't for me.

I have to believe and I do that had Roy knew he could have done some things differently, had he realized the mistakes he felt he made, Roy would have corrected those mistakes. I don't think that should stretch anyone's imagination, isn't that what you expect from any coach, much less a hall of fame coach? It was clear, that in his mind Roy knew there were things he should have done differently but I sincerely believe he does not know what those things were. He certainly did not NOT do things that ended up in our losing games on purpose, if you suspect he did then how could you have ever trusted the man. I think Roy sat back and honestly told himself that I just do not know what to do to turn the tide of this thing around and that makes me the wrong man for this job at this time we find ourselves in. I do think Roy believed that a new set of eyes would be able to see the problems differently, maybe clearer and I do believe he felt the best set of new eyes was Hubert Davis.

I do think Roy was to married to every aspect of his system that had been extremely successful for him and the programs he coached and I do think in some way Roy considered them perfectly fitted to UNC to the extent that they should not be tinkered with. I personally saw that as Roy being stubborn/hard headed, said so many times over the last few years. I am not a HOF coach but I didn't need to be to see how , example, our half court offense "worked", does not take a "Rocket Surgeon" to realize how in need of adjustment our half court offense was. When we watch a team go to the very same attack on his defense several times in a row, drive and kick out to an open shooter, do this over and over, it work over and over, and yet look, we are in the very same defense they have been drilling all night? You can't seriously tell me that something was not in dire need of being tweeked.

I think maybe, the most difficult thing I heard from Roy was in one of his post game PCs, said he not only knew after his teams last practice but knew at shoot around before that game we lost, that he knew his team was not in the right head space to play? I mean, that was a WTF moment, at least to me? Man, if you know your guys heads are not right to play that game then you have to deal with that, speechify, adjust your starting line up, do something to shake them up but you don't just hope it goes away?

Look, not backing the truck over Roy, just saying I do STILL TRUST ROY, that he maybe was not the right man for the job today, was in the past but we are now in TODAY and we need to move forward. We need a staff willing and able to move this program forward from where we are today and I do think we have a solid staff now in place and a head coach that can lead this program back to where UNC has always been for most of our life times, so I trust Hubert, just as I trust Roy, both good men, one ready and able to lead us forward and one ready to work on his handicap after a great career. How did Kenny Rogers put it again, "you got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em, know when to walk away, know when to run"?
 
Both of you guys have excellent points and they were said with complete honesty tempered with respect! I disagree with at least part of the premise, but:
1. I recognize why it is being said.
2. I acknowledge my belief in Roy is too strong to accept any of it except for the fact that we did not resemble UNC.
3. Brooks has earned my respect in many ways and I know he is just as disappointed in his play as we are.
4. Hubs certainly looks like a homerun to me!
 
Both of you guys have excellent points and they were said with complete honesty tempered with respect! I disagree with at least part of the premise, but:
1. I recognize why it is being said.
2. I acknowledge my belief in Roy is too strong to accept any of it except for the fact that we did not resemble UNC.
3. Brooks has earned my respect in many ways and I know he is just as disappointed in his play as we are.
4. Hubs certainly looks like a homerun to me!
Father time catches up to us all...

IN a strange twist of fate, IMO anyway, what was Roy's strength may have in the end been his undoing. Roy drew from all those he learned from (Dean of course being the major influence) and took on the head coaching job at Kansas and over time became one of the most respected coaches ever to walk the court. Roy did that by taking several of the concepts that Dean used but as we all know, his system was not a clone of Dean's. His dedication to his players that had played for him was straight from the Dean play book, his running a pristine clean program was Dean also. But in some ways Roy was very different from Dean, for example, Dean was an innovator, he changed things up constantly to keep opponents confused, not really what Roy did a lot of.

Now I say that to make the point, older men, men that have been very successful working what ever their system for success was that got them to the level of success they have achieved do not like to deviate from their established norms, rather they galvanize around their system and to a degree see it as faultless. It is human nature actually, it wasn't broke when I was winning tons so it ain't broke now, meaning there is no reason to fix it, it can't be my system at fault, it has to be something else? I just don't know what it is and how can I fix something I do not see as broken?

Example, does running 2 big men deep in the paint work in todays version of half court ball? Now matter how you slice it, 2 big men in the paint comes with 2 defending bigs there to, that is a lot of bodies in a tight space, so your guard is going to drive thru that, those inlet passes are easier with that clog of bodies? Really? How about that over help from guards to deep to be able to recover back to open jump shooters? There is a fine line between sticking with a system that works and sticking with a thing to long when it no longer works like it once did.

Coaching in any sport, a coach has to keep up with the times, what used to work doesn't work the same over time. Used to you had to run a wish bone running attack or some version of veer to win the NCAA football crown, now it is RPO snap after snap? IN basketball, pretty easy to see, players are all finding the 3pt arch and hitting a trey is as joyful as a dunk now days? Because they are shooting from the arch more, they are better at it. So when Dean, rightfully felt the 3pt shot was not as big a thing as many other coaches did, things now have changed to where even 7ft kids feel they should have the green light to shoot treys. The game itself has not changed but how the players that play it want to play has. You can't tell a kid now, I brought you in as a player and you will play where I put you because they will quit. Now you have recruits telling coaches how they will be used, how many minutes they will get, how that coach must run his offense and defense? Used to be the coach dictated all that, now the players feel they are able to and sadly they are right to often. So a coach has to have a completely different mindset than they did when Dean broke in to head coaching or Roy or K or any of the older coaches.

When a coach hangs on to long no one wins, Dean knew, it was time to leave, Roy just showed us he did as well, others hang on to long and end up tarnishing what they built, sad really. Roy came back with class, he left with class, and everywhere in between was nothing but class, proud of what he did for us, love him for it but yeah, it was time for a change, maybe the perfect time, we will see. The more I see what Hubert is doing, the more I learn about how he wants to play the more I am sold that right now today, the very best man to be our head coach is Hubert Davis, more than Wes, more than Brad Stevens, more than Mark Few.
 
I agree 100% that Hubs is the right man for the job! I feel this way only because Roy isn't available, however! I fully understand your points though and I also agree Roy probably had zero desire to deal with this new paradigm! But I could see him building something special and I firmly believe he would've brought us back too!

Now I count on what I have seen from Hubs and Roy's obvious belief in him to feel we are still on the right track!
 
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