MMBOW #16: Darren Brooks, Southern Illinois

Darren is a senior guard for the Saluki-men who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 205 pounds. SIU's team leader uses his quick hands to steal, his long arms and powerful hops to snare rebounds, and his soft touch to score points. And he scores a lot.
Darren Brooks

His primary MMBOW credentials are as follows: a 8-of-10 shooting performance againt Indiana State yesterday, a game in which he scored 22 points and grabbed five rebounds. During Saturday's conference-clinching 65-55 win over Wichita State, Darren scored 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting and gave the Senior day crowd something to remember him by. Northern Iowa got the business end of 16 Brooks tallies as SIU beat the Panthers 76-69 on Wednesday. For the week, he went 14-of-15 from the line, and 8-for-17 from beyond the arc.

Brooks is one of the rare cases for which the phrase "all-around" is an understatement. As the enemy journalists at the Wichita Eagle effused after Saturday's game, "To play against Brooks must be to think you're going against a guy with more than two eyes, more than two hands and more than one brain."

Darren is a St. Louis native who's already wrapped up his undergraduate studies (in health education) and is currently attending SIU's grad school. Along with his degree, his mantelpiece is full of all sorts of basketball awards, and he may have won every single honor the MVC has to offer. After the 2003-04 season, he was named the conference's Player of the Year as well as the Defensive Player of the Year. He's been placed on the All-Defensive team twice; he was also was named the captain of the MVC All-Bench Team in his freshman season, then followed that up with a spot on the Most Improved Team a year later.

When this season concludes he'll assuredly get many more individual awards, but it will be the nets he's cut down - during Tournament runs and their four consecutive MVC regular-season championships - that will cement his place in Valley history. "Darren Brooks' legacy here is unbelievable," SIU coach Chris Lowery said. "Darren is one of the all-time greats. He's won and that's all that really matters."

Resources

Bally Club Signup/Activate
Bally Club Message Board
Basketball State
Women's Basketball State
TMM9 Summer Camp
Mid-Merchandise Shoppe
Mid-Major Radio
Contact TMM via The Form™

The Game

				Pts
			Hickory Picket Fences	27629

			The Hopping Cats	21526

			Ballyfest Destiny	18919

			Under a Blood Red Line	10379

			Jen Folds Five	6895

			Prestige Worldwide	1614