NCAA Basketball: 10 best players from state of Alabama of last decade
By Joey Loose
10. Garrison Brooks – North Carolina, Mississippi State
The series begins with the 6’10 forward who began his career in 2017 under Roy Williams at North Carolina and ended it this past season playing in the SEC at Mississippi State. Brooks started nearly half the games in his freshman campaign before becoming a regular starter for the last four years of his career, including that final season with the Bulldogs.
Brooks really peaked in his junior season with the Tar Heels, scoring at least 20 points in seven straight games near the end of a season that was cut short by the national pandemic. That same season, Brooks had a career-high 35 points in a loss to Georgia Tech. After averaging 16.8 points per game during that season, a down year for the Tar Heels, he was still a very serviceable starter in his last two seasons, hitting double-digit points in each of the last two seasons.
The three-point shot was one thing that Brooks worked on at Mississippi State in his final year, making 26 long-range shots after hitting just six in his four years with the Tar Heels. He was a solid forward who made a great impact, he just had the misfortune of being right between two great North Carolina teams. There were never really any classic NCAA Tournament moments for Brooks, who played on three with the Tar Heels, but he was still an impact player for multiple power conference teams.