Former Bradley men’s basketball guard Darrell Brown is no stranger to St. Louis action in March.
However, his role now lies off the hardwood, making him one of the few coaches on head coach Brian Wardle’s staff to have experienced Arch Madness as a player and now as a coach.
“When you’re a player you come in with a mindset of having a chip on your shoulder and trying to prove people wrong and just having some type of motivation to help you be ready for Arch Madness,” Brown said. “That was my experience as a player for sure.”
Still, as a coach, the mindset has to change.
“As a coach now it’s, ‘How can I give the other players an edge going into Arch Madness?’” Brown said. “How can I help the guys, how can I help them be their best selves going into the tournament.”
Under his new role as Director of Player Development, Brown is spending less time on the court and more time in the film room, focusing on the mental instead of the physical.
“In a week of playing I’m probably going to watch maybe like 10 hours of film compared to now it’s like eight hours a day just watching all our film of games, stuff we did, and our previous games or looking at other teams [and] what they did to execute against our upcoming opponent,” Brown said.
“It’s a lifestyle”
It didn’t take long for the Memphis, Tennessee native to make his mark at Bradley; the guard still owns the record for most points scored as a freshman, as he slotted 34 points against Hofstra. With his history and basketball IQ, it was hard for Wardle to not bring him back.
“He was always one of the smartest players that I had ever coached, he had a great feel, a great basketball IQ, got better every year,” Wardle said. “And really what his traits were that made him a great player is what you got to carry over to coaching.”
Some of those traits?
Wardle called out his work ethic and his love of the game, and how both have to mend together in order to see the same success as a coach.
“It’s a lifestyle, coaching, and I’m just happy to have him here because he’s starting to fall in love with that lifestyle and see all the great things you get out of coaching,” Wardle said. “Not the wins even, it’s just to see the development and growth of young men so it’s fun for him and it’s fun to see him grow.”
Now back with his mentor, Brown continues to learn.
Making adjustments
“I’ve never been one to get complacent, but just watching him [Wardle] he never gets complacent,” Brown said. “Whether we’re winning games or losing games it’s always how can we improve and just always looking forward to trying to make adjustments so we can be better game in and game out.”
During post-game interviews with Wardle, he always has positives to take away from a game, but he isn’t afraid to mention where his team could have been better. Even after a win against a conference foe, Wardle is the type of coach to not sit back.
Towards the beginning of the season, the Braves see a lot more work on the court but once the postseason rolls around, a different type of preparation has to happen. That’s where Brown comes into play.
“The motivational side of things, studying film is huge especially this time of year,” Wardle said. “You’re not going to wear and tear them on the court physically, it’s a lot of mental reps and understanding.”
From one guard to another
Out of the film room, Brown works with senior Duke Deen and junior Connor Hickman along with the rest of the Bradley guards. From one talented guard to another, Deen knows the opportunity he has been given to work with such a successful player like Brown.
“On my recruiting visit Coach Wardle showed me all his clips even before he became a coach, so him coming back and just instilling what he knows into me, Hick[man] and all the guards, I mean it’s been wonderful,” Deen said.
Showing great improvement on the court this season, Deen has improved in multiple categories including his scoring average, taking an increase from 9.6 last season to 14.1 points per game.
“He always keeps me level headed on the court, he tells me when to pass coming out of timeouts and when to score so he has a great feel for the game,” Deen said.
This part of the job is the most familiar to Brown, and perhaps the easiest.
“I see some similarities in our game and some stuff is different so I just try to help with all the pointers I can provide for Duke [Deen] and Hick[man] and just make sure that they are ready for whatever’s coming against the next opponent,” Brown said.
Brown’s experience at Arch Madness is crucial for the Braves at this point in the season, and will surely pay dividends as they head into a semifinal matchup against Drake tonight.
“It’s just basketball at the end of the day, I’ve been playing since I was five and I love the game so it’s not hard,” Brown said.
