Detrek Browning stayed true to FMU and became the schoolâs all-time leading scorer
In an early January game against Clayton State, Detrek Browning waited calmly behind the three-point line while teammate Brandon Parker battled for a loose ball in the lane. Eventually, Parker swatted the ball towards Browning, who gathered it in, paused to set himself and casually flipped in a three-pointer that etched his name into a prominent place in the FMU record books. With that relatively unremarkable basket, Browning became something quite remarkable â the leading career scorer in the schoolâs almost 50-year-old history.
That the record-setter came on a routine play is not surprising. Browningâs calling card as a player is his ability to score, seemingly without effort; to make a unique ability to find ways to put ball basket appear quite ordinary.
What was remarkable about the play is that Browning was around to do it at all.
FMU Basketball standout Detrek Browning
The dynamics of college basketball at all levels have changed dramatically in the past decade. 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. Their path is fraught with peril.
Bring a player along too slowly and he will leave for a situation where he can play/shoot/start more often. But, bring them along too quickly, develop them too well â and this is especially true for programs at Division II schools like FMU â and bigger schools will come calling. They canât recruit a player, per se, until he puts his name on the NCAAâs official transfer list (which numbers each year in the thousands) but word gets around. Pssst. If your name is on that list. âŠ
After he averaged 20.1 points a game for FMU in 2015-16, officially his sophomore season, word got around to Browning. There were schools out there â Division I schools â who were interested. And Browning knew the drill. Friends, foes, even some of his teammates, had gone that route.
âI was hearing from a few people,â Browning says, âand people were in my ear, telling me to go, that this was my big chance. But âŠâ
But?
Browning shakes his head, shrugs his shoulders. The big decision, he says, was really no decision at all.
âMan, after all (FMU) has done for me ⊠I mean, they were there for me when no one else was,â says Browning. âAnd the people here have always been great. This is where I belong. I wasnât going anywhere. I guess maybe coach was worried, but I wasnât leaving. â
Gary Edwards, Browningâs coach at FMU, admits to some nervousness during the spring in question. But those days are long past now and recalling them now brings a smile to Edwardsâ face.
âDetrekâs done a lot of neat things here, made a lot of big plays, and heâll always be one of my favorites,â says Edwards, âbut if you ask me what Iâll remember most thatâs it. Itâs that loyalty that Detrek showed. Thatâs a rare quality. Itâs better than all those points he scored.â
Things happen
Maybe Detrek Browning never should have wound up at FMU in the first place.
He wasnât exactly a secret coming out of Irmo (S.C.) High School, just north of Columbia. 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.
Browning played three varsity seasons at Irmo and helped the team win two state championships. In his senior year Irmo went 29-0 â Whippleâs only unbeaten squad in 37 years  at the helm â and captured Whippleâs fifth state title.
Browning may not have been â may being the key word â Â the best player on a team that also included University of South Carolina recruit Justin McKie. But he wasnât a secret. He was receiving significant recruiting attention by his junior year and had a number of Division I programs giving him long looks.
But ⊠things happened. One program that seemed like a sure thing signed another guard and never called Browning again. Another changed coaches. And so on.
Whipple says it was clear to him  â then and now â that Browning belonged on a Division I roster.
âOh, thereâs no doubt that the could play at that level,â says Whipple. âBut you know, coaches look at things ⊠itâs tough. He (Browning) was a little small maybe, kind of got in that in-between thing position wise. Was he a point guard or a shooting guard? He didnât play much point for us until his senior year. But maybe heâs a little small for a D-I shooting guard, maybe heâs not that fast ⊠So âŠâ
So, early that year, one Edwardsâ assistants at FMU saw Browning play and suggested the Patriots make a run at him. Edwards saw him and quickly agreed â âbest point guard I saw all year,â Edwards said.
Edwards found out Browningâs recruiting had taken a funny turn and put on the full court press. When Browning came for his official visit, Edwards offered him a full scholarship on the spot.
Browning held out for a little while, waiting for the âbetterâ offer that never came. Eventually his own good sense â all who know him see him as an extremely well-grounded person â and a little hectoring from his mom made him a Patriot.
âI kept thinking, âmaybe a bigger school will offer me something,ââ Browning says. âMeanwhile, mom is saying, âare you crazy? Theyâre offering you a full scholarship. They really want you. You know what? She was right.â
Red-shirt tears
One more test remained.
Though a polished player for a freshman, Browning arrived on the FMU campus to find Evrik Gary â the number three scorer in school history â already ensconced in the point guard role. Edwards and the Patriot staff persuaded Browning that the thing to do was sit out â redshirt is the term â his freshman season, just as Gary had done.
The move made sense, but itâs easier said than done. Redshirts spend all the practice time that regular players do but donât get to play in the games, canât even travel with the team to away contests.
âYouâre really on your own a lot of times and have to stay focused to keep working on things, getting better, on your own,â says Browning. âThatâs a good thing. Thereâs a lot to get used to moving from high school to college. It helped with basketball, with school, with everything. Â I tell everyone now âRedshirt. Thatâs the way to do it. Itâs the best thing Iâve ever done.â But itâs not easy. Iâll have to say there were a few nights where a few tears were shed. â
Conserving energy
One point â not the first point, but a point all the same â that Browning would make about his game, about the way he plays basketball is that he can dunk the ball.
âMost definitely,â says Browning. âI actually have two dunks in games (at FMU). I guess there could have been more â fans would like it â but itâs not something I was ever that excited about. A bucket is a bucket. Iâd rather conserve my energy.â
Good at energy conservation. Now thereâs a line that doesnât show up on many scouting reports. But that aspect of Detrek Browning, basketball player, says about as much about his game as any. He glides around the court, under control, moving from place to place â moving from the right place to the right place â with a studied nonchalance that lulls opponents, fans and even his own coach into a state of disinterest.
âHeâs one of those guys,â says FMUâs Edwards, âwhere you pick up the stat sheet afterwards and you say, âTwenty-five points? Howâd he do that? I didnât see that.â Heâs very, very smooth.â
Browningâs chief skill is an absolute intangible. He has innate understanding of the game that allows him to see plays before they develop.
âIt doesnât just happen,â explains Browning. âIâve had some very good coaches. And I do think about all the plays. I just think about them five or 10 seconds before they happen.â
Which is five or 10 (or more) seconds ahead of most.
Speed, shooting kill
The awards and honors are piling up fast in Browningâs final season. Heâs been the Peach Belt Conference Player of the Week four times (through January), set the FMU single game scoring mark (41 points) in early January and is clearly poised to post-season accolades as well.
Itâs all well-deserved, but still surprising all the same for Browning seldom looks like the best athlete on the floor. The 6-0, 180-pounder is a little stocky as basketball players go, and doesnât have the chiseled musculature of some. His two dunks aside, he is not a great leaper, and heâs probably not the fastest guy around either, although as dozens of oft-burned Peach Belt Conference foes would attest, he is plenty fast enough.
Browning comes from a very athletic family. His mom (Carlissa), various uncles and aunts and cousins all played college sports. His brother is a good bit heavier than Detrek, âbut can still beat me in a race. He can fly.
âMy uncle (Milton Kershaw) who played football in college and is just crazy fast, taught me early on that speed kills,â says Browning. âItâs the most important part of most sports. But itâs not necessarily who is fastest. Itâs who can be fast when they need to be.â
Browning is a fine defender (he will finish his career among FMUâs all-time leader in steals, too), but what sets him apart are his offensive skills. In Browningâs mind â a good place to start for analyzing basketball â the key skill is shooting. He has simple mechanics and feel for the shot that came to him almost from the moment he took up the game â he hit a long buzzer beater to win the championship game in his first year of organized basketball at age 12.
âIf you can shoot the basketball, I mean really shoot it, you are basically unguardable,â  Browning says. âTry to stop the shot and itâs a fake and Iâm by you for a pull up (jumper) or a layup.  Try to stop that and âŠ. â
His voice trails off. Another basketball thought has popped into a mind that processes such information at an astonishing rate.
âItâs always amazing to me the number of basketball players â Division I players â Â really canât shoot,â says Browning. âThatâs kind of the point of the game isnât it?â
The Gary plan
Browning plans to follow in the footsteps of his former teammate Gary and play basketball professionally for as long as he can. Gary has been on an oddball world tour since he left FMU â Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Dubuque, Iowa and now, Cyprus â but heâs got a suitcase full of memorable experiences and ⊠heâs still playing. The dream is still alive.
Browning understands. He knows he can play at a very high level and is eager to prove it, even if that means traveling some strange roads and learning even greater patience.
Whenever that is done, Browning suspects his long-term future lies ⊠in coaching. Heâs a Deanâs List student whoâll graduate in May with a degree in Psychology, and reservoir of knowledge that he thinks will translate nicely in that field.
âI seem to have a pretty good understanding of basketball,â says Browning. âI think that (coaching) could work out.â
Indeed.