In August 2004, basketball tickets went on sale for Southern Illinois University. My father, a lifelong Saluki fan, had not been to the SIU Arena in far too many years. I was going to surprise him for Christmas with a road trip to Carbondale. I also decided to take my oldest son to his first real game since he was two years old and he was pretty sure that Grey Dog was going to eat him. I scanned the schedule and saw that the Salukis played Wichita State on Senior Day for Darren Brooks. This was the only choice! My father got to see his favorite player play in his last home game. Little did I know at the time just how big that game would be.
We packed up the SUV and headed south. The game, as we now know, was for the Missouri Valley Conference Championship. This would be the Salukis fourth straight title if they could win this game. After a quick lunch at The Mississippi Flyway, we excitedly headed off to the Arena. When we entered the building an hour before tip-off, we immediately heard the crowd. We walked in to our seats and the building is already 3/4th full. Again, it is an hour before tip-off. The Shockers are shooting around in the pre-game. Every time Jamar Howard touched the ball a chant of Howard rolled through the Arena. The electricity in the building was unmatched. The roar from 9,628 fans when #1 was announced for the final time was ear-ringing!
Darren Brooks then did what Darren Brooks always did. He won a Missouri Valley title for the fourth straight time. At one point, Brooks would pop his jersey and slap the floor to fire up the sold-out building. The loudest SIU chant these ears have ever heard soon followed. The Salukis pulled away and the starters were pulled out of the game. The deafening roar when Brooks was removed was aided when LaMar Owen took off his Saluki jersey and ran into the student section to start the party. I looked over and saw the tear in the corner of my father’s eye. The court storm began as the horn sounded. His favorite Saluki going out a champion!
Darren Brooks was a lightly recruited player out of Jennings High School in St. Louis. He did not play a lot of AAU ball and was not known well. He had offers from some MVC schools, Arkansas-Pine Bluff and an offer to come work out for SLU. He did, however, have a Division II offer for football from Culver Stockton. Also, he had an offer to walk on at Iowa and Wisconsin to play football. Additionally, Brooks had offers from the Atlanta Braves and the Arizona Diamondbacks to play baseball. He was recruited by Matt Painter to come to Southern Illinois. Already friends with Josh Warren and Stetson Hairston, and after meeting Jermain Dearman, Kent Williams and Sylvester Willis, Darren knew he could win at SIU and win big.
After redshirting his first year at SIU Darren would finally get his chance. His freshman year he would average nine points coming off the SIU bench. He scored 16 points in an NCAA tournament upset of Bobby Knight and Texas Tech.
Brooks fully arrived during his sophomore year. Darren would lead the MVC in steals and earn his first of three all-defense team awards. Darren also earned the league’s most improved player in his second year. Brooks led the team in minutes played, assists and steals. His 62 steals were the second most in SIU history. He finished second on the team in rebounding and blocked shots. In a game against Drake he recorded a school-record eight steals.
As a junior, he was the best player in the Missouri Valley Conference. He would win the MVC Larry Bird Player of the Year, the MVC defensive player of the year, and was an AP Honorable Mention All-American.
He completed his final season at SIU as the only player ever to win the Larry Bird Player of the Year and the defensive player of the year twice. Darren never finished worse than 1st in the Missouri Valley Conference. He was on four straight championship teams. Darren played in the NCAA tournament four times and played in an NCAA Sweeet 16. He holds the school record for steals and is in the top-ten in scoring. In his final season he led the team in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals and broke the program’s single season records for steals with 70 and assists with 150.
Longtime SIU play-by-play announcer, Mike Reis, said that Darren was the best all-around player he had ever seen at Southern Illinois. Brooks shares an elite podium with another Valley elite, Bradley’s Hersey Hawkins, as the only two players in Valley history to compile at least 1,500 points, 600 rebounds, 400 assists and 250 steals.
Darren’s career ended in the second round of the NCAA tournament when the seventh-seeded Salukis lost to second-seeded Oklahoma State. Brooks ended a storybook career playing in more games in a Saluki uniform than any other player in school history. Additionally, he is one of the most decorated men’s basketball players in Missouri Valley Conference history.
I admit that I was a bit nervous going in to my conversation with Darren. I’m no Bobber and this was a big one! Five seconds in to the conversation my worries were gone. Darren is a Saluki and we talked like we had done it many times. His first words were thanking all the Saluki fans for all the support throughout the years. From his heart, he said, “thank you to you all!” Once a Saluki, always a Saluki.
I asked Darren, why SIU when you had all of these options?
Darren told me the other offers were great. He did not want to walk on. He wanted a degree and he wanted to graduate college debt-free. He knew he could win at SIU . He said his plans at SIU were to play basketball and baseball. Actually, baseball was his favorite sport. In Darren’s words he was, “bamboozled by Saluki Head Coach Bruce Weber”. Bruce put a stop to the baseball dream in year one.
About Bruce Weber…
“He came to talk to the girls’ high school team I coach at University City High School,” he said. Bruce is the best person you will ever meet. Well prepared and a great coach.”
In true Darren Brooks fashion the team had their best season in 16 years.
I add a question from Saluki-Insider. What made you so good at defense? What was your thought process?
“I just wanted to win more than everybody else. I wanted my team to win. I wanted to make life hard for whomever I was guarding,” said Brooks.
He credited his middle school PE teacher for unlocking the gym and letting him work. He watched film and saw things happen before they did. It was effort, study and determination.
A Sports Illustrated cover pictured Brooks as one the guys who could stop Illinois’ Brown.
“It was just cool to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated,” Brooks humbly stated.
“Not many people can say that. I was always the underdog and was never given much of a chance. I worked hard and want to thank God for everything. It was an honor to be there.”
What are you feelings on the current transfer portal situation?
“I have mixed feelings as it’s good and bad,” said Brooks. “I like that the kids can make money. I feel it really hurts the kids in development and it hurts them when they can just run away from adversity. I agree with the one free transfer but that’s it unless there is a coaching change.”
It’s time for the question. Pags or Quatro’s?
“I like them both but I’m a deep dish guy. It’s Quatro’s,” mused Brooks.
Who was your biggest rival?
“Creighton, and then Creighton,” said Brooks without hesitation.
What is Darren Brooks doing now?
“I am just spending time with my family, my wife and four daughters. Church and coaching. Life is good!”
I wanted to close with his thoughts on the fans the SIU Arena and all the success at home.
“Amazing. The 6th man. We felt invincible at home and he crowd gave us the extra fight. There’s no place else like it,” Brooks said proudly. “Saluki fans are the best. And I do remember that senior day game. It was unbelievable and so humbling. I loved my time at SIU and I thank God for it.”
The drive home from Carbondale was one of high spirits. What a game, what a career! Darren Brooks is in the SIU Hall of Fame and the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame. His career at SIU stands out among a long tradition of great players. The Salukis would lose in the second-round of the NCAA Tournament to Oklahoma State to end Darren’s college career.
It is time to retire #1 at the Banterra Center. Darren Brooks deserves that honor. I do not know what the criteria is for the process but Darren meets it. One of, if not the greatest Salukis of all time. Darren was a standout on and off the court for four years. This should be a no-brainer decision and is long past due.
Join us over in the Saluki Insider forum to discuss your favorite Darren Brooks moments with other Saluki fans!
Darren Brooks photo is courtesy of Mike Kern and the Missouri Valley Conference