Some of the magic from JMU’s 70-66 Sweet 16 win over Virginia Tech on a night when Kenny Brooks returned to the Convo three years to the day after leaving his alma mater to coach the Hokies.
Word of the night
“It’s going to be weird seeing him on the other side. I’ve been a wreck all week.” — David Taylor, JMU’s senior marketing director and former play-by-play announcer.
“It’s weird to walk in here and not wear purple,” Kenny’s wife, Chrissy.
Gabby and Chrissy Brooks
“It’s just weird,” Gabby Brooks, Kenny’s youngest daughter.
“Seeing him crouching over there, doing his Kenny squat thing, it’s just weird,” Kirby Burkholder, CAA Player of the Year in 2014
“This is just weird,” Toia Giggetts, teammates with Burkholder; the 2014 graduate is among the leaders in field-goal percentage in school history.
“It felt weird,” Sean O’Regan
In Kenny’s words
“This is home. I was born and raised in Waynesboro, but this is home. I got married here. The building that JMU bought, that they made into classrooms, all three of my daughters were born there. It’s my school. This for me takes the lid off of it. Who knows? I might come to the game on Sunday.”
“I always said the hardest thing I had to do was when I left. This is probably up there, having to come back. Just watching, or coaching against kids I brought in here and that I always root for, and trying to coach against them was probably one of the hardest things I’ve had to do.”
Too special not to share
Check the 1:25 mark: https://www.virginiafirst.com/sports/emotional-homecoming-for-kenny-brooks-as-hokies-fall-in-wnit-third-round/1884849338
In Sean’s words
“The amount of respect I have for Kenny Brooks is unbelievable. I hope that we made this at least an appreciated return. He didn’t schedule this game. He was forced to come back. But I’m really glad, I hope he feels the love from this crowd because he deserves that.”
“Coach Brooks and I were talking at shoot-around today as to why it is so difficult to come back here. Why it is so weird (there’s that word again). It’s because of all the moments we’ve had together. . . . What popped into my mind was this could be one of my first moments as a head coach in this building and it was.”
“There’s a little part of me that feels bad he’s walking out of here not a winner, but I’ll find a way to get over it.”
On not looking too hard at Kenny on the Tech sideline: “It was going to be surreal and it was surreal. I really tried not to look down there. My brain couldn’t figure out who’s down there. It was bigger than me today.”
“We’re hilarious. We score 16 points by the first media and then don’t score again the rest of the quarter. If that’s not us to a tee, I don’t know what is.”
From Kamiah Smalls
“This is for Logan, Kayla and Aneah,” said the Dukes star, happy that senior teammates Logan Reynolds, Kayla Cooper-Williams and Aneah Young get to keep playing. The veteran trio was pivotal in deciding Thursday night’s outcome, particularly during a second half in which foul trouble limited Smalls’ availability.
Touching tribute
JMU’s gym currently doesn’t have a video scoreboard – a center-hung, four-sided video board will be among the featured attractions of the school’s new Convocation Center set to open in the fall of 2020. Still, the Dukes – O’Regan in particular – were determined to carve out a moment for the fans to give Brooks a three-year-old curtain call. So it was classy to JMU to rattle off Brooks’ achievements along with his pre-game introduction, touting his 337-122 mark, his distinction as the winningest coach in school history and the six NCAA tournament bids and 11 postseason appearances fashioned under his watch.
And how cool is it that we heard none of that because the standing ovation for the visiting coach drowned out the public address announcer?
Welcome home, Part II
Brooks wasn’t the only Hokie back on familiar soil Thursday. The game also marked the return of Chad Reep, the former ultra-popular athletics band director at JMU who now leads the in-game jams at Virginia Tech. Since Reep typically runs the music show at men’s basketball games, his itinerary called for his crew to set up shop in Washington on Friday for the Tech men’s team’s Sweet 16 showdown with Duke. But upon learning of the Hokies-Dukes WNIT matchup, Reep knew the band would just have to make a Thursday pitstop in Harrisonburg en route to the nation’s capital.
Judging from JMU Nation’s response, it was as though he never left.
Great to share the evening with the JMU Pep Band! Saw so many familiar faces tonight. It was great to be back and sharing music with you all!! https://t.co/uBxPO5jX3u
— Chad Reep (@chadreep) March 29, 2019