It was always obvious that Dillon Brooks had the physical gifts to become an elite basketball player.

The only question was whether he could keep his emotions under control long enough to get there.

As a youth, Brooks showed an uncommon passion for the game, but at times was too amped-up and emotional for his own good.

“He was described to me as a high-energy-level player. He just had a lot of intensity, a lot of energy,” Paul Melnik told Postmedia on Wednesday.

“He always had that from the start. He just learned to control it in a positive way as he matured. He got better and better at channeling that energy.”

Melnik, the head coach at Father Henry Carr, a Toronto-area Catholic high school with a powerhouse basketball program, coached Brooks for three years and counts him among the best players ever to suit up for the Crusaders.

Nowadays, Brooks, who hails from nearby Mississauga, is preparing for the NCAA tournament. His Oregon Ducks are one of four No. 1 seeds and one of the favourites to cut down the nets in Houston in just more than two weeks.

The versatile forward leads the Ducks in scoring (16.8 points per game) and assists (3.1) and ranks second in rebounding (7.6) and steals (1.2).

Constant improvement through a tireless work ethic have paid off, according to Melnik and Tony McIntyre, the co-founder of the CIA Bounce AAU team that counts more than half of the 21 Canadian players at this year’s NCAA tournament as alumni.

Brooks was unavailable for comment because Oregon has barred all interviews during finals week.

McIntyre first laid eyes on Brooks when the 20-year-old was a sixth grader, but said Brooks really didn’t start to figure it all out until his second year of high school, after a growth spurt.

“You could really see him turn the corner,” said McIntyre, now the director of basketball operations at Athlete Institute in Orangeville, Ont., the school Kentucky phenom Jamal Murray attended.

“He was able to really come into his own. He found himself as a player ... he didn’t know how to control those emotions as a younger kid. He had skill, but he would allow himself to be taken off of his game because of his emotions,” McIntyre said.

Brooks would go on to nearly lead Melnik and the school to an Ontario championship, missing a tough, potential game-winner.

Then, he headed off to Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nev., where he, surprisingly, didn’t get a ton of playing time.

McIntyre says that might have actually helped Brooks in the long run.

“He uses some of that stuff as motivation, to take it out on people,” McIntyre said.

And today, Brooks actually uses his passion and intensity to be even more productive. It was evident when he led Canada to a silver medal, averaging 25.2 points at the FIBA Americas U18 tournament a couple of years ago and when he suited up as the youngest player other than Murray for Canada’s Pan Am Games this past summer. It has continued into this breakout campaign.

“Every year, he just got better and better in every way,” Melnik said. “He grew, he got stronger, he got more athletic, his skill developed, but I think the telling ingredient was he was able to control his emotions and grow.

“Every day, every practice, every game, every season, you could see Dillon always came back a little bit better. Constantly trying to learn. Obviously he got better in every respect. It was just like a gradual incline. Even today, he plays the same way, he’s just better at it.”

Brooks was named a third-team all-American and made the all-PAC-12 first team and was District IX player of the year.

He can score inside and out, but there’s far more to his game than just that.

“Not only does he play mulitple positions, but he also guards multiple positions,” Melnik said. “I’ve watched him play many times this year and he’ll guard everyone from the point guard, to a 7-foot centre and there are very few players in the NCAA or in the NBA that can guard every position on the floor.”

Both Melnik and McIntyre say Brooks lives in the gym, working harder than nearly any athlete they’ve ever seen.

It has paid off this season in many ways, but an improved jump shot probably is the most noticeable advancement in the 6-foot-6 sophomore’s game.

Brooks played some of his best basketball of the year at the recent Pac-12 tournament and will carry that confidence over to the biggest tournament of his life.

Oregon, a team also led by another standout Canadian, Montreal’s Chris Boucher, starts its quest on Friday in Spokane, WA, against the Holy Cross-Southern winner.

You can bet Brooks won’t need a big pep talk to get up for that one.

CANADIANS IN THE TOURNEY

In order of most minutes played per game this season:

PLAYER, HOMETOWN, SCHOOL

Jamal Murray, Kitchener, Kentucky

Kyle Wiltjer, Portland, Gonzaga

Dillon Brooks, Mississauga, Oregon

Dyshawn Pierre, Whitby, Dayton

x-Naz Long, Mississauga, Iowa State

Jarryn Skeete, Brampton, Buffalo

Junior Lomomba, Montreal, Providence

Chris Boucher, Montreal, Oregon

Malcolm Duvivier, Toronto, Oregon State

Stefan Jankovic, Mississauga, Hawaii

Rodell Wigginton, Dartmouth, N.S., Buffalo

Cody John, Mississauga, Weber State

Kemy Osse, Montreal, Ark.-Little Rock

Marial Shayok, Ottawa, Virginia

Tevin Findlay, Mississauga, Green Bay

Dinjyl Walker, Brampton, Oklahoma

D’Adrian Allen, Brampton, Southern

x-Dylan Ennis, Brampton, Oregon

Braedon Anderson, Okotoks, Alta., Seton Hall

Mychal Mulder, Windsor, Kentucky

Dustin Triano, Vancouver, Gonzaga

x — Injured and will not play

STOUDAMIRE GETS COACHING GIG

Mighty Mouse is getting his own team.

Damon Stoudamire, the first Toronto Raptors star and once the NBA’s rookie of the year, will now be coaching young men not much older than he was when he won that award.

Stoudamire was named head coach at the University of the Pacific on Wednesday morning, after time spent as an assistant with the Memphis Grizzlies, Memphis Tigers and Arizona Wildcats.

The 42-year-old takes over at a school that was investigated by the NCAA for academic misconduct and finished just 8-20 this season.

The 13-year NBA veteran has ben seen as a rising star in the coaching ranks for some time now.

While playing at Arizona, Stoudamire helped lead the team to a Final Four appearance, but his No. 2 squad was also stunned a year earlier by Steve Nash’s No. 15 seed, Santa Clara.

In a tremendous letter to his younger self published at the Player’s Tribune on Wednesday, Stoudamire touched on a number of subjects, including entering the NBA with the Raptors.

“Those first few years in Toronto are going to be an awesome experience. The fans will be so excited to have basketball, even though the team doesn’t have a real arena. You’re going to have to play in the SkyDome, and it’s going to be so cold in the winter that you’ll be able to see your breath on the bench,” Stoudamire said, fibbing just a bit.

UPSET CITY?

Five schools that could be ripe for a first-round upset:

Iowa – No. 7 Iowa has dropped 6-of-8 heading into the tournament and faces an excellent defensive squad in Temple. We smell upset.

North Carolina – Just kidding! We love the dunking maestros at Florida Gulf Coast as much as anybody, but the Tar Heels aren’t going to fall this early.

Seton Hall – No. 6 Seton Hall will have its hands full with one of the best frontcourts in the NCAA. Kyle Wiltjer and Domantas Sabonis the sons of a former Canadian national teamer and an NBA legend can light it up and should get Gonzaga, ranked much lower compared to recent years, through.

California- The No. 4 team is loaded with talent and could just as easily make the Sweet 16, but faces a plucky Hawaii squad with good size and shooters. Cal is currently embroiled in a sexual harassment that resulted in an assistant coach getting fired earlier this week and that surely will be a distraction.

Indiana – This might seem bonkers, No. 5 Indiana shoots a better percentage than any team at the tournament and can fill it up from outside, but No. 12 Chattanooga has turned heads with its perimeter defence. Defensive execution usually tops offensive efficiency, so take the best Chattanooga team ever (a record 29 wins).

BRACKET BUSTERS

These four teams might bust your bracket – by losing:

Virginia

Utah

Villanova

Duke



These four teams might bust your bracket – by winning:

Arizona

Iowa State

Maryland

NC Wilmington



CINDERELLAS:

Underdogs with room to run:

Arizona Wildcats

Iowa State Cyclones

Gonzaga Bulldogs

Temple Owls

BONUS: Red-hot Stony Brook will either upset Kentucky in the first game, or give the Wildcats a heck of a scare.



WOLSTAT’S PICKS

Michigan State over Kansas

FINAL FOUR: Michigan State, Kansas, Texas A&M, North Carolina

ELITE EIGHT: Kansas, Arizona, Oregon, Texas A&M, North Carolina, West Virginia, Iowa State, Michigan State.