University of Massachusets Athletics
Brand Ready To Join UMass Elite
November 18, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 18, 2002
As the empty basketball court in the Curry Hicks Cage awaits the arrival of the UMass men's basketball team, only freshman Jeff Viggiano and sophomore Gabe Lee arrive early, dressed and ready to practice. With the silence of the gym broken only by the sounds of two basketballs snapping through the net, both players immerse themselves in their free throws. As Viggiano attempts his final shot, an earsplitting high-pitched voice echoes throughout the gym.
Simultaneously, Viggiano and Lee look to the locker room entrance in confusion to see the singing coming from one of their teammates. With a slow stride and a smile from ear to ear, Micah Brand steps onto the court, grabs a basketball and calmly sinks a 15-foot jump shot. Still singing proudly, Brand turns back to the locker room to get ready for practice leaving Viggiano and Lee in hysterics.
Despite being known as the clown prince of the basketball team, Brand's teammates agree that his attitude on and off the court is unquestionably two-sided.
"He's always making people laugh by making some kind of silly move," fellow senior and co-captain Jackie Rogers said. "Off the court it relaxes the guys and gives them a chance to get used to how he is. On the court though, it's all business.
"Once we step on the court, it's time to play. Off the court he jokes around, but on the court he's focused."
While Brand is the first to admit that he loves to have fun, this year's captain admits that there's nothing comical about the fear he and the Minutemen are looking to instill in the eyes of their opponents this season.
"We're going win, plain and simple," Brand said. "The way we are coming into the game is with the attitude that we are here to win. Everyone needs to know that when they play us, it's going to be a fight, and they aren't going to get anything easy.
"If we're going to blow them out, we are going to blow them out," he added. "If we want to win by two, we'll win by two. Either way, we are here to win."
Coming off a season in which the 6-11 senior was the team's third leading scorer with 9.3 ppg and second-best rebounder at 5.7 rpg, Brand enters his senior year with 631 career points, 369 shy of becoming the school's 36th career 1,000-point scorer. Having improved his scoring and rebounding numbers every year of his college career, he will need to average 12.3 ppg over a 30-game slate to reach the 1,000-point mark.
Brand is also looking to kick off this season the exact same way he began last season, averaging 13.2 ppg in four straight victories including wins over Elite Eight entrant Oregon and North Carolina State, another NCAA Tournament team.
This year, however, the Minutemen face a tougher challenge as they open the season in Hawaii at the Maui Invitational. This year's field includes such teams as Kentucky, Gonzaga, Utah, Virginia, and UMass' season opener against the 2002 national runner-up, Indiana. Despite being deemed the underdogs, Brand says that this tournament will set the framework for the rest of the season and hopefully the Minutemen will be able to turn a few heads.
"We are all working real hard for this game," Brand said. "[Indiana] needs to realize that we are a lot better team then people have seen in the past. We can't go in there taking anyone lightly. I'm sure some teams are going to take us lightly, we just need to take advantage of that. The way we play [in Maui] is how we are going to play the whole year."
In his final season at UMass, Brand will be stepping into a new role, one of which he has never played, team captain. Along with Rogers, Brand is one of only two seniors leading the youthful Minutemen. With the loss of such vocal leaders as Kitwana Rhymer and Shannon Crooks, Brand is eager to fill in the leadership role that comes with being an experienced player.
"Regardless of whether or not you think you are [a leader], other players look up to you and are always watching you," Brand said. "Jackie and I sometimes have to practice even before practice with the low post guys like Gabe [Lee] and Alassane [Kouyate] showing them a few things here and there.
"I think just the fact that we have all this experience puts us in the position to help others," he added. "We just come out here and try and set an example of what you have to do on the court and off the court."
Junior guard/forward Marcus Cox, a transfer from the University of Connecticut, believes that Brand truly possesses the qualities of a leader. "He obviously brings a lot of leadership skills to the team since he's been here for four years, and he knows the most about the program," Cox said. "As a senior leader we expect that when it comes down to crunch time or even during tough times for the team, he will be the guy that will talk to us and let us know how its going to be."
With the eyes of the fans constantly looking at Brand to demonstrate more aggressiveness on the court, he will also have to deal with the added pressure of filling the role left by Rhymer. However, UMass head coach Steve Lappas maintains that Brand is not set to replace Rhymer, but steer the team in a new direction using the talent he has.
"Micah is Micah," Lappas said. "We want to take what Micah is and what Micah has and make it better. He's a finesse player, that's the kind of player he is. [Rhymer and Brand] are two very different players.
"I think this year our style is more geared toward a Micah Brand style of play," Lappas added. "He's more of an offensive threat, he has the ability to play both the inside and the outside. I think he is tougher and stronger this year. He's gained weight, he's worked harder in the weight room, but he's going to be a finesse player. That's what he is, and that's where we need to go with him."
Since his freshmen year, Brand's numbers have increased in all categories including points, rebounds, blocks and minutes per game. Further proof of his improvements came at the conclusion of his junior season, as Brand shared the Atlantic 10's Most Improved Player award with Rhymer. In terms of physical prowess, Brand has put on 19 pounds worth of muscle and continues to work hard during the offseason to maintain his endurance.
"I tend to put on a lot of weight during the offseason, but once I get back onto the court for practice, I get my weight down to where I want it to be and my strength up so that come the middle of January when it gets into the heart of the A-10 season, I'm not getting pushed around," Brand said.
With his success on the court, Brand insists that it has been his maturity off the court that has helped shape his game.
"My freshman year I used to joke around all the time and I brought that attitude onto the court," he said. "I used to get yelled at practice all the time. Now, I think my maturity off the court has helped me the most on the court.
"Just dealing with the things I have to do like school work, focusing on what I have to do at that time and getting it done," Brand added. "On the court it helps me by taking the role that I was in when I first came in and players were helping me out, and doing the same now."
However, Brand still admits some things never change, "I still love to joke around, I haven't changed completely," he said with a smile.