One program that seemed like a sure thing signed another guard and never called Browning again. He was receiving significant recruiting attention by his junior year and had a number of Division I programs giving him long looks.īut … things happened. In his senior year Irmo went 29-0 - Whipple’s only unbeaten squad in 37 years at the helm - and captured Whipple’s fifth state title.īrowning may not have been - may being the key word - the best player on a team that also included University of South Carolina recruit Justin McKie. Irmo, led by legendary coach Tim Whipple, is one of the premier high school basketball programs in South Carolina and Detrek Browning did nothing during his time with the Yellowjackets to lessen that.īrowning played three varsity seasons at Irmo and helped the team win two state championships. He wasn’t exactly a secret coming out of Irmo (S.C.) High School, just north of Columbia. Maybe Detrek Browning never should have wound up at FMU in the first place. It’s better than all those points he scored.” Things happen “Detrek’s done a lot of neat things here, made a lot of big plays, and he’ll always be one of my favorites,” says Edwards, “but if you ask me what I’ll remember most that’s it. But those days are long past now and recalling them now brings a smile to Edwards’ face. Gary Edwards, Browning’s coach at FMU, admits to some nervousness during the spring in question. I guess maybe coach was worried, but I wasn’t leaving. “And the people here have always been great. “Man, after all (FMU) has done for me … I mean, they were there for me when no one else was,” says Browning.
The big decision, he says, was really no decision at all. But …”īrowning shakes his head, shrugs his shoulders. “I was hearing from a few people,” Browning says, “and people were in my ear, telling me to go, that this was my big chance. Friends, foes, even some of his teammates, had gone that route. There were schools out there – Division I schools – who were interested. …Īfter he averaged 20.1 points a game for FMU in 2015-16, officially his sophomore season, word got around to Browning. They can’t recruit a player, per se, until he puts his name on the NCAA’s official transfer list (which numbers each year in the thousands) but word gets around. But, bring them along too quickly, develop them too well – and this is especially true for programs at Division II schools like FMU - and bigger schools will come calling. Their path is fraught with peril.īring a player along too slowly and he will leave for a situation where he can play/shoot/start more often. Players move regularly and easily from school to school, looking for the next bit of slightly greener grass and there is not much hard-working coaches and schools can do about it. The dynamics of college basketball at all levels have changed dramatically in the past decade. African American Faculty & Staff Coalition.
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