From Findlay Prep to a Final Four, Dillon Brooks leads Oregon with an edge

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Somewhere within all of us, the line exists, that imaginary edge our emotions often straddle before choosing to either stop and breathe or jump and deal with the consequences.

Dillon Brooks has taken a few impetuous leaps on the basketball court.

It’s part of what makes him so darn good.

He might never live down arguably one of the worst flops in history. Being ejected for kicking an opponent in the groin isn’t going to make you many friends outside your locker room — and maybe even create a few nervous ones inside it. But a huge reason Oregon has advanced to its first Final Four of the NCAA Tournament since 1939 is the passionate play of its junior forward.

“I’ve never had to ask him to work harder,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said. “What makes him a good player, one that loves big moments, is that love of the game. His work ethic. His confidence. His freshman year, I would take him out of games just to calm him down.

“But as a coach, you also don’t want to take that away. You want to balance it.”

Brooks and that assertive nature will be on the college game’s biggest and brightest stage Saturday, when the Ducks carry the banner of the Pac-12 when meeting North Carolina in the second national semifinal at University of Phoenix Stadium.

Gonzaga and South Carolina gets things started at 3:09 p.m.

When he was a senior at Findlay Prep — his lone season in Las Vegas after transferring from Father Henry Carr in Ontario — Brooks was another player on a team full of great ones. He was the fifth-leading scorer on a national power that included future first-round NBA picks Kelly Oubre Jr. and Rashad Vaughn.

Brooks wasn’t always in the best shape back then. His early college offers were what you might expect from someone who played big minutes one game and few the next, which is to say none from major programs.

But if you have heard this story once, you have heard it a thousand times, and Brooks’ recruiting stock took off over the summer, at one point allowing Oregon coaches to watch him alongside other Canadian national team members.

Yep, he blew up.

“I knew that I had potential to be a good player, and that summer proved it,” Brooks said. “Playing with NBA guys at (Findlay Prep), knowing how good they were, I learned a lot. On a team like that, some guys had to sacrifice, and I was one willing to do whatever the team needed. Those guys made me a lot better.”

Oregon of the Final Four is what everyone forecast, but expectations were tempered somewhat when Brooks broke a bone in his left foot over the summer and didn’t begin the season totally healthy. He missed the first three games, took awhile getting completely comfortable and then took off, averaging 16.3 points in a season in which he was named Pac-12 Player of the Year.

He also had the flop against Utah that was as ridiculous as it was funny, the groin kick at Washington State that got him tossed, the technical foul for taunting in an NCAA game against Rhode Island this season and the postgame scolding from Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski after a Sweet 16 game last season, although that exchange proved to be an issue far more about the coach than the player.

One thing remains constant: Brooks plays as hard as anyone else.

He isn’t the most athletic, doesn’t have the best shot, won’t amaze anyone with his dribbling skills. NBA personnel are wondering the same things — what position is he, who can he guard, how will he translate — college coaches once did.

He just scores and wins, is all.

Always has.

“He wills his way to a lot of baskets and great plays,” said Southern Utah coach Todd Simon, who was set to coach Brooks at Findlay Prep before taking an assistant’s job at UNLV. “They had All-Americans coming off the bench with those Findlay teams. Those were super talented kids.

“But his work ethic was phenomenal. Dillon is a 10-out of-10 when it comes to competitive fire. He took the working part to another level.”

Oregon won the national title in 1939, when eight teams advanced to the tournament and the Ducks were called the Webfoots.

The trophy from that championship sat on a folding chair Thursday at the entrance to the team’s locker room. Around one corner, siting in another, was a junior forward who over time became serious about his diet and health and strength, but who has often straddled that line between stopping and breathing or jumping.

He has taken a few bad leaps.

It also might be why the Ducks could be cutting down nets Monday night.

“I’m trying to soak it all in,” Brooks said. “We’ve been told how those guys (in 1939) played loose and free and together. That’s how they got it done. That’s how we’re going to get it done.”

There it is again.

The edge.

Contact columnist Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard on “Seat and Ed” on Fox Sports 1340 from 2 to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.