Brooks builds his reputation on defense

November 6, 2007

Brooks builds his reputation on defense

Kenny Walter
OwlScoop.com Staff Writer

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Every successful basketball team needs a "glue guy," a player who can come in and play solid defense, hustle and shake things up.

Based upon what he did as a freshman, Ryan Brooks looks like he could be that guy who holds things together for Temple.

Brooks, a 6-foot-4 sophomore, came off the bench in each of the 24 games he played for the Owls last season, averaging just over three points and one rebound per game.

His presence was mainly felt on the defense.

"He's a good basketball player," Temple head coach Fran Dunphy said of Brooks. "He's our best perimeter defender right now."

For an Owls team that needs to improve significantly at that end of the floor, Brooks is happy to oblige.

"I think defense is very important," said Brooks, who became Dunphy's first recruit on North Broad Street when he signed a scholarship letter with Temple out of Lower Merion High School last summer. "I've always said since high school that if I could stop the best player on the other team, then our team is going to win."

Brooks experienced plenty of that at Lower Merion, leading the Aces to the 2006 PIAA Class AAAA state championship in an upset win over Pittsburgh's Schenley High School. It was Lower Merion's first state championship since the Kobe Bryant era, and Brooks garnered MVP honors by scoring a game-high 22 points, two of which came on a pair of clutch free throws with a minute left.

Because he signed late with the Owls and never received much recruiting attention from high major programs, Brooks arrived at Temple with little fanfare. However, he quickly established himself as a gritty catalyst who seemed to get better each week.

And while he earned a reputation as a sound defender, Brooks began to find confidence on offense. He averaged 6.0 points in the last 10 games of the season, saving his best effort for the season finale when he scored a career-high 15 points in a loss to St. Joseph's in the Atlantic 10 tournament.

"I just got in the rhythm early," Brooks said of that game. "Coach relied on me to go in and give him some good minutes. I hit my first shot and felt good from there. I kept playing well."

When Brooks asked Dunphy and his staff what he needed to work on during the summer, they told him they wanted him to become a better ball handler and shooter.

Improved ball-handling skills will allow Brooks to adjust to a new role within the offense as he plays more minutes alongside Mark Tyndale and Dionte Christmas, the top two returning scorers in the A-10.

"In transition, they would like me to push the break more," Brooks said. "Get the rebound and go. They trust me enough to make good decisions in the open court and just go out there and contribute any way I can."

Brooks is really going to have to be comfortable in his role in transition when Temple opens its season Friday at No. 7 Tennessee, the preseason favorite to win the SEC.

The Volunteers are a veteran, guard-laden squad. Tennessee averaged nearly nine 3-pointers a game last season, and preseason all-American guard Chris Lofton will lead the charge there. He shot 41.9 percent from beyond the arc, draining 106 shots from long range.

This, of course, will make Brooks' role as a perimeter defender extremely important.

"We know who Tennessee is as a program, and we know their personnel," Brooks said. "I think we are going to approach the game the same as any other team, knowing it's going to be a tough game."

Depending on what Dunphy wants to do in terms of having a bigger or smaller lineup, Brooks could wind up starting this season. And if he doesn't, Brooks said he was comfortable coming off the bench again.

"I'll be ready to go," Brooks said.