Inside Byrnes alum Hayden Brown’s transfer to South Carolina hoops

Former Byrnes and The Citadel star ahead Hayden Brown welcomed new South Carolina basketball coach Lamont Paris to Charleston for lunch not lengthy after the latter had held his introductory press convention final month.

The 2 have been aware of one another as participant and coach after 5 years as Southern Convention opponents, with Paris coming to Columbia from his former job main Chattanooga. They’d by no means had a dialog past the postgame handshake line earlier than just a few cellphone conversations as soon as Brown entered the switch portal and Paris assumed his new function.

Brown had acquired a cellphone name his first day within the portal March 10 from an assistant of former USC coach Frank Martin, however with a significant change coming behind the scenes he did not hear again for a number of days and assumed the Gamecocks have been now not an possibility.

However his fast bonding with Paris was sealed over a duck membership sandwich for which the Tattooed Moose restaurant is well-known.

“We simply acquired to know one another,” Brown mentioned. “All these years enjoying in opposition to him and being a rival and then to simply shake his hand, look him within the eye and have an actual dialog. For him to make the sacrifice to come back and wish to get to know me spoke so much about his character and who he’s as a coach.”

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Colleges from everywhere in the nation reached out to Brown, who known as his first few days within the portal “absolute insanity and chaos, however I could not have been extra grateful.”

It was the overall reverse from when Brown was looking for a program to play for out of highschool and his lone affords have been from The Citadel and Presbyterian Faculty.

He lower all his affords down to a few finalists, with Georgia Tech and Loyola Chicago becoming a member of USC. He visited all three, however Byrnes coach Layne Fowler, who teamed with Brown to steer the Rebels to their lone state championship in 2016, mentioned after that lunch with Paris he felt the Gamecocks have been going to land his former star.

“Off the courtroom you are getting a mature 23-year-old man along with his character in examine, integrity and management expertise,” Fowler mentioned. “I instructed coaches after they have been recruiting him within the switch portal you do not have to fluff it up. He already is aware of what he desires and simply desires to see the place he matches in, and it appears from the bounce he felt nice about this South Carolina connection.”

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Brown known as Paris’ hiring when he was searching for a brand new place to play “bizarre, but in addition comforting,” since he knew how his groups performed the previous 5 seasons and had additionally developed a relationship with some Chattanooga gamers who helped present perception. Former Bulldogs coach Duggar Baucom (who was fired the identical day Brown entered the portal) additionally spoke very extremely of Paris.

Brown averaged 12.6 factors and 6.7 rebounds in 111 profession video games with the Bulldogs (he acquired a medical redshirt after his junior season ended with a ruptured hamstring). In 54 video games his ultimate two years, he averaged 18.8 factors and 10 rebounds, main the league in rebounding each seasons and ending first and fourth in scoring.

“Hayden is the overall package deal so far as versatility,” Fowler mentioned. “He can go by a much bigger submit participant and create performs for his teammates, however he may also take a smaller man and type of bully him to the low submit and even the excessive submit and make performs. He is a really succesful shooter. He is robust and gritty and he’ll discover a technique to succeed.

Fowler acknowledged there are some who will query whether or not Brown can efficiently make the bounce to Energy 5 play, though in restricted competitors in opposition to large packages he is had some excellent performances. In simply his second school sport he scored 22 factors in quarter-hour at Virginia Tech. As a junior he had 26 factors at Georgia and this previous yr scored 19 twice — at Duke (making 4-of-5 from 3-point vary) and at Pittsburgh.

“Trying again at these performances, I am not saying I ought to’ve been Energy 5 all alongside,” Brown mentioned. “I feel the Southern was a really becoming convention for me. However that is only a reminder to myself I’m very succesful. I simply do not look the half and there is by no means been something fairly or flashy about my sport.

“It will be a problem and it is going to be the toughest basketball of my life for apparent causes, however I am wanting ahead to that. As an athlete and competitor it is simply how I am wired. I really like the competitors. I actually wish to get pleasure from this final season of school basketball and have expertise. No matter that appears like.”