Marshall University Athletics
BOGACZYK: Long Wait Worth It for Browning, Herd
12/2/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By JACK BOGACZYK
HERDZONE.COM COLUMNIST
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - He wasn't counting the days, per se, but eventually, the number added up to what he wanted.
How long did Stevie Browning go without playing in an official college basketball game?
"A year-and-a-half," the Marshall junior transfer said. "It seemed longer."
It was. How about 620 days ââ'¬Â¦ more than 20½ months? That was during his sit-out season and more, between games as a Fairmont State sophomore until he made his junior season debut for Marshall on Nov. 19 at Tennessee?
The 6-foot-3 guard always thought he could play NCAA Division I basketball, and so far very early this season for Herd, he's proving his point with points and more.
"Oh, yeah, I always thought I could play at this level, my whole life," he said. "But I've still got a lot more to prove."
Mostly, Browning is happy to be back on the floor - when it counts -- with Coach Dan D'Antoni's club.
"Sitting out, it was hard," said Browning, who turned 22 on Monday. "It was hard, but also a blessing because through it was hard to watch my teammates play and me not be on the floor - knowing I could help them and contribute - it also was a blessing to know, 'OK, I'm getting better as a player, got the competition, got a great staff around me working with me to improve, and this is not going to do anything except help me."
He's averaging 12.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists for the Herd, which looks for its first victory when Akron visits the Henderson Center on Friday night. Browning has scored in double figures in three of four games, after averaging 11.7 points in two seasons at Fairmont State, where the former Logan High School All-state pick started 56 of 62 games Falcon teams that went 43-19.
Prior to the Herd's opening loss at Tennessee, Browning's last game was March 8, 2014 in the Mountain East Conference Tournament semifinals at the Charleston Civic Center - a 97-87 loss to eventual NCAA Division II runner-up West Liberty. The lead official in that game, coincidentally, was Marshall Associate Athletic Director and Chief of Staff Jeff O'Malley.
Browning played all 40 minutes and scored a team-high 24 points. He made the All-MEC Tournament Team after being an all-conference second team pick during the season. The sophomore guard averaged a team-best 16.8 points, then was done with the Falcons.
So, what was next?
"It was really ââ'¬Â¦ God worked it all out; that's the only way I can put it and figure it," said Browning who joined the Herd in June 2014. "I left Fairmont (after the spring semester) and everything really opened up.
"I was recruited by a couple of different schools - here, East Tennessee State, Eastern Kentucky -- and I came here. I played the open gym and they showed me around and I just fell in love with it.'
It helped that it was close to home for a guy who never had a Division I offer after scoring 26 points per game as a Logan senior, following in the high-scoring footsteps of former Wildcat teammates Noah Cottrill and Paul Herbert Williamson.
It's tough to get noticed by more than home-state WVIAC programs when you only have a senior season to make a statement, but Browning said he wouldn't have had it any other way.
"That may have happened, but that was a blessing having those guys as teammates, you know?" Browning said. "I got to learn from them. They were great players and I think it helped me, because I'm here now."
He's a versatile guard - "sort of a combo; I'm more comfortable playing the two," he opined - who made his Division I debut in a foreign conditions at UT's Thompson-Boling Arena. He was the Herd's point guard. When was the last time he played that spot?
"Never once in my life," he said with a grin. "Not at Fairmont, not in high school."
He scored 18 points on 6-of-16 shooting - along with 5 assists and 6 rebounds and 1 turnover in 35 minutes -- and still reached double-figure scoring at Morehead State and against James Madison despite 1-of-9 and 5-of-16 nights.
"The biggest surprise so far - the biggest thing - is I can't make a shot," said Browning, who shot .426 from the field in his two FSU seasons. "That's surprised me. I'll get back it to it ââ'¬Â¦ I've just got to put the ball in the hole."
Hey, it's happened before to a guy who's a shooter and slasher.
Fairmont State made the transition from the WVIAC to the Mountain East between Browning's two seasons at the northern West Virginia school, and the Herd junior still is in the third-year MEC's record book. His 31 field goal attempts in a loss at Glenville State in November 2013 shares the standard. He scored 27 points, but was only 11-of-31 in that game, including 3-of-15 behind the arc.
"Stevie's really good in the open floor, where he can attack the basket," D'Antoni said.
Browning said he didn't get frustrated because he wasn't in Division I hoops because it wouldn't have done much good.
"I mean, it was always in my mind," the dark-haired guard said. "But I'm the type of person where I live in the moment. I wasn't really thinking about that until I actually got the opportunity to do it. So, I was just more about thinking about the Fairmont situation, helping my team win, playing the best I could there.
"It wasn't something I dwelled on. But I knew if I ever got the chance to go to D-I, I'd hop on that."
Browning and his teammates opened the season in Southeastern Conference trappings, in the fifth-largest arena in major college basketball (capacity 21,678).
To most of the Herd, it was a career or season opener. To Browning, it was more.
"It was really ââ'¬Â¦ really indescribable," Browning said. "Not to mention waiting my whole life, but waiting a year and a half to play an actual game and then finally getting to play at a place like Tennessee, it was amazing."
He tried to put the 20-plus months away from games to good use. Browning, who has a 3.00 GPA while majoring in health sciences with a psychology minor, said it was a learning experience.
"The biggest thing I learned probably was probably perseverance," he said, "figuring out that if you sit through a whole season on the bench and watch other guys play and know you can't do anything about affecting the game, that's a tough thing to do.
"In basketball, one thing I learned? That's a tough question. There's so much because with Coach Dan, you get new things every day. It's a lot ââ'¬Â¦ I'd say since I've been at Marshall, my basketball IQ has gone up a thousand points."
Counting the kind of points you put through the hoop, Browning had 726 at Fairmont State. At his current rate, he'll get more than that in two seasons at Marshall. Not bad for a guy who three years ago couldn't get a Division I look.
