Dillon Brooks Won't Be Apologizing for the Energy and Swag That's Driving Oregon

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Dillon Brooks' 22-point effort in Thursday's victory over Duke resulted in two things for Oregon's leading scorer.

A spot in the Elite Eight.

And a lecture from Coach K.

Actually, make that a scolding.

Irked by some harmless fist-pumping after a 30-foot three-pointer in the game's waning seconds, when the Ducks, already up 11, had the win secured, Mike Krzyzewski—Duke's Hall of Fame coach—stopped Brooks in the handshake line to express his displeasure about the sophomore's antics.

"He told me I was too good of a player to be showing out like that at the end," Brooks said.

Brooks appreciates the advice, but he's not going to take it.

"I don't think [I] did anything wrong," Brooks said a day later. "I played the same game I always played. These guys rallied around me. I ain't going to change."

Nor should he.

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Along with their high level of talent, the energy and emotion with which the Ducks play is the main reason they're one victory away from their first Final Four since 1939.

No player embodies that more than Brooks, who has not only emerged as one of the top players in the Pac-12, but also the nation. A 6'7", 225-pounder, Brooks scores a team-high 17 points per game for an Oregon squad that won both the Pac-12 regular-season and tournament titles en route to earning the No. 1 seed in the West Region.

Brooks has seemed particularly driven during the NCAA tournament, where he's averaged 19.3 points in victories over Holy Cross, St. Joseph's and Duke. Oregon fans hope the trend continues in Saturday's Elite Eight showdown against No. 2 seed Oklahoma at the Honda Center.

National Player of the Year front-runner Buddy Hield leads the Sooners.

"I hope [Hield] does guard me so I can take it to him," Brooks said Friday, and the bravado surprised no one.

That's not to say Brooks is a trash-talker or a taunter. He's simply a guy who plays better when he has a source of motivation, such as beating a tradition-rich program like Duke. Or perhaps a challenge that people may question if he can meet, like slowing down Hield or advancing to the Final Four.

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And in those rare instances where there isn't a glaring chip to place upon his shoulder, Brooks creates one.

On Friday he said he felt as if Oregon wasn't respected, that the Ducks had been an "underrated team all year." The comment didn't make much sense considering his squad was given a No. 1 seed by the NCAA selection committee.

But, hey, whatever works.

"Emotion is what fires me," Brooks said. "I find ways to not let emotions go to waste, to not get technicals and all the bad things that can come with it. I found a way to channel it for confidence and to give my teammates confidence as well. I'm not worried about my emotion. It's what drives me to play the best I can be."

The tactic fueled Brooks long before he arrived at Oregon.

As a youngster, Brooks was always frustrated by the labels so often attached to Canadian players: "soft" and "intellectual," but rarely athletic and talented. As a result, he began to play so physical and with such a mean streak that it was almost to his detriment.

He became known as a bully who couldn't control his emotions on the court. Brooks was humbled near the end of his high school career, when he moved to Las Vegas to play for Findlay Prep.

Stuck on the bench behind standouts such as Kelly Oubre and Rashad Vaughn, Brooks learned to manage his composure. He averaged just 8.4 points during his final high school season, but by the time he took the court the following summer for Canada, at the FIBA Americas U18 championships, Brooks was a totally different player.

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So impressed with Brooks' performance was Oregon's Dana Altman that he convinced Brooks—who was preparing for his senior season of high school—to reclassify to the Class of 2014.

Starting all but three games as a freshman, Brooks led Oregon to a 26-10 record by averaging 11.5 points. Last summer he starred on the Canadian national team alongside Kentucky's Jamal Murray, an experience that is paying dividends now.

Brooks can hurt opponents in a variety of ways. He's strong and physical enough to slash into the lane and either score or draw a foul. He shoots 81 percent from the free-throw line. But Brooks also has a shooting touch that makes him dangerous from mid-range (he shoots 46.9 percent overall from the field) and a threat from beyond the arc (34.3 percent).

Still, as he watched from the stands as Brooks and his teammates embarrassed Duke on Thursday, Hield said it was Brooks' intangibles that stood out the most.

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"I can tell he plays very emotional," Hield said Friday. "He's their team's energy. They feed off his energy. Just like my team—they feed off my energy, too.

"When we struggle, our offenses get kinda stagnant. I respect what he does. He's a good player. He's active. When he's not [scoring], he crashes the boards well and he plays good defense. It will be a fun matchup."

Indeed, with plenty of subplots, the Oregon-Oklahoma game promises to be entertaining. Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger gave Altman his first Division I coaching job when he hired him as an assistant 30 years ago at Kansas State.

Both teams play similar styles, and both are looking to return to the Final Four after long absences. Oregon last went in 1939. Oklahoma's last appearance was in 2002.

Still, when it comes to individuals, no two players will draw as much attention as Hield and Brooks, who has already received his share of the spotlight in Anaheim this week thanks to his exchange with Krzyzewski.

After Krzyzewski inexcusably denied that he'd expressed his displeasure in the handshake line—basically calling Brooks a liar—USA Today showed footage of the conversation to a professional lip reader, who concluded that Krzyzewski made these remarks after Brooks' late-game three-pointer that gave Oregon a 14-point lead: "Shooting for points and glory—that was a beautiful play."

According to the lip reader, Brooks responded by saying, "I'm sorry, Coach. That was my bad."

On Friday, Altman defended Brooks and said that he instructed him to shoot the three-pointer as the shot clock was winding down.

"There was a difference in the shot clock and the game clock," Altman said. "I told Dillon to shoot it. If anybody's got a problem with it, it should be directed at me. He was acting on my orders."

Altman was told that Krzyzewski may have been more upset about Brooks' celebration after making the shot.

"I hope he hits another 30-footer tomorrow," Altman said. "If we can't celebrate hitting a shot...that's part of the game."

Especially for Brooks.

Always has been. Always will be. No matter what Coach K advises.

"[He's] a legend," Brooks said of Krzyzewski. "I've got to respect Duke. I've got to respect them. And you've got to learn from those things. He's one of the greatest coaches [ever]."

Brooks paused.

"But at the same time, that's my fire, that's my passion. That's what got me here today. So I'm gonna take in what he said—but I'm going to keep doing me."

Jason King covers college sports for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter, @JasonKingBR.