Another Jim Quinn production. He's the best basketball guy around. If you're not careful, you just might learn something and he may be coming to a gym near you. Enjoy...

MDVarsity.Com. traveled to Springbrook HS in Silver Spring, Md., to interview two of the D.C. area’s top senior basketball players, 6-4 guard Folarin Campbell and 6-6 swingman Louis Brookins.

Last season, Campbell garnered All-Met and All-County First Team Honors as he averaged 26 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 4.3 assists. The slender, athletic Brookins averaged 16.6 points, 8 rebounds, and hit a team-high 57% of his field goal attempts even though he had to play out of position as an undersized post player. Brookins was selected Second Team All-County and Honorable Mention All-Met.

Campbell and Brookins will serve as Springbook’s captains this year as Coach Keith Adams readies his squad for a serious run at the highly competitive Maryland 4A State Title. In 2002-2003, Springbrook went 18-6 and reached the Regional Finals.

Coach Adams has scheduled a rigorous preseason schedule of scrimmages with teams such as Bullis, Laurel, Good Counsel, O’Connell, DeMatha, and Kennedy to get his club ready for the regular season.

Coach Adams thought that Springbrook’s lack of size had been solved for the 2003-2004 season when 6’9” 290 pound Anthony Ivory transferred to Springbrook last spring from National Christian Academy. However, Ivory subsequently transferred to the Marriott D.C. Charter School for his senior season before ever playing a game for the Blue Devils.

Springbrook HS is quietly returning to its basketball glory days of the 1970’s and 1980’s when the legendary John Barrett ran a hoops program that was nearly as dominant in Montgomery County as the Blue Devil football program then coached by his counterpart Bob Milloy. Springbrook was a perennial county basketball powerhouse and won Maryland State Championships in 1972 and 1988.

Few area high schools have produced as many Division One college guards as Springbrook: Ed Peterson (South Carolina), still, arguably, the best pure shooter in County history – including the Blair “Blond Bomber” Brian Magid (Maryland/GWU); the “Shot Doctor” Buzzy Braman (East Carolina), who went on to become a shooting instructor for the Magic, the Wizards, and Shaquille O’Neal, as well as gaining an entry in the Guiness Book of World Records for consecutive free throws; current Georgetown Coach, and former Hoya player, Craig Escherick; University of Maryland guards Kevin McClinton and Chuckie Driesell; tiny scoring guards Chris McGuthrie (Mt. St. Mary’s) and Darren McClinton (James Madison); and Capitol Classic All-Star selections Shawn Clifton and Tyrian Ridges.

Campbell and Brookins are poised to leave Springbrook with their names at the top of this rather distinguished list of Blue Devil backcourt players.

MdV: This must be a pretty hectic time of the year with preseason workouts, recruiting pressure, taking college prep academic classes… are you getting to ENJOY your senior year of high school so far?

FC: Definitely. It has been my best year of school so far. I’m enjoying it. I’m taking good classes, but I’m doing well. I’m not feeling any pressure about basketball, I’m trying to enjoy this year.

LB: I’m enjoying this year as well. My classes are going well. I worked hard in the off-season, so I’m ready for basketball. I’m definitely having a fun year.

MdV: When do practices officially start?

FC: November 15.

MdV: Coach Adams really lined you up with some tough preseason scrimmages. Are you looking forward to those games?

FC: I’m really excited about competing against some of the private schools that we’ll be scrimmaging. It will get us ready for the regular season I think that stepping up the competition, playing against good teams in the preseason is a great idea. Louis and I are captains this year, I think getting out there with the younger guys and getting everybody playing together early on will help us as a team …

LB: I agree. I think playing against these private school teams will be a different level of competition that will help us later in the year in the playoffs.

MdV: Coach Adams told me that you are both taking really rigorous course loads this year to get ready for academic life in college. What are some of your more interesting classes this year?

LB: I’m taking Pre-Calculus, Physics, Statistics and English…

FC: I’m taking Honors English, Latin, Environmental Science, Statistics… they’re all good courses, but none of them have been too hard so far…

MdV: You both look a little taller than last season? How tall are you now?

LB: I’m about 6’6’ 205 pounds.

FC: I’d say I’m about 6’4” 200 pounds.

MdV: You took entirely different approaches to setting up your respective recruitment. Folarin, you said from the start that you wanted to commit early and sign in November. Louis, you made it clear you were going to wait until the spring. What were your reasons for your decision on recruiting?

FC: I wanted to get it over early so I wouldn’t have to think about it during my senior year and my senior season. That is why I committed (in September) to George Mason. I just wanted to get a college that I was happy with for basketball and for academics and get it done.

MdV: Folarin, George Mason is having a great recruiting year with you, John Vaughn (Laurel) and Will Thomas (Mt. St. Joe’s) already committed. I know you had a lot of offers, why did you select Mason?

FC: Mason runs my style of play. They like to run and it is a guard oriented system. I’m kind of a ‘combo’ guard, and in the Mason system, they let both guards handle the ball AND shoot the ball. They don’t play ‘pure’ point guard and ‘pure’ wing guard. I can play both slots. They recruited me as a “1” (point) and Jon Vaughn as a “2” (wing), but in their system, those positions are close. Also, I really liked the coaches, the campus is real nice, the Patriot Center is nice also, and it was close to home which was important. It is close, but it is still far enough away that my mom won’t be running over there all the time checking on me (laughing).

MdV: What are some of the other schools that recruited you?

FC: Providence, East Carolina, VCU, Towson, Georgetown, most of the Colonial League teams, Houston, LaSalle…a lot of schools.

MdV: Folarin, I know that the Georgetown staff watched you at The Rock League at High Point this summer. Seeing as how Coach Escherick and Coach Driesell are old Springbrook guys, were you interested in Georgetown? You took an unofficial visit there as a junior, right?

FC: I was interested in Georgetown. They told me that they were really interested in me after seeing me at The Rock. They said they knew I could really shoot, but I had also surprised them with my quickness. We were talking a little, but then they got some guard from down in Virginia, so……….

MdV: Louis, why did you decide to wait until spring to decide on a college?

LB: I wanted to keep my options open. I have some good offers already, but I plan on having a “breakout season” this year, so, I didn’t want to commit in November and then maybe have a great year this year and not be able to consider other colleges that might want me after the season. I had hurt my leg a little last year, a hamstring injury, plus I had been playing out of position, so I think some colleges haven’t seen what I am REALLY capable of doing. When I’m totally healthy and can play on the perimeter, I’m a different player.

MdV: What will you are looking for in a college?

LB: The same things Folarin said, you know, good academics, a good basketball program and a location that is close to home – but not too close.

MdV: Louis, you played really well in The Rock all Star game in July, is your leg totally healthy now?

LB: Yes. I worked really hard on my conditioning, playing ball, lifting weights, this summer. My leg is totally healthy now and I’m stronger this year.

MdV: What colleges are you interested in?

LB: I really like Temple and Georgia Tech, but I’m hearing from a lot of colleges. I’m hearing from Penn State, UMBC, Towson Canisius, George Washington, a lot of schools... but if I have a ‘breakout year’ this year, I’ll get more offers…

MdV: Louis, Coach Adams said that you are also considering some Ivy League and Patriot Conference Schools. Which of those schools are you interested in?

LB: I’ve heard from a couple of Ivy League schools, we’ll see… I might consider that, I’m not sure yet.

MdV: What are you thinking about majoring in college?

LB: I want to major in Business Management.

FC: I want to major in Computer Programming. They told me that Computer Programming is a tough when you are a freshman playing basketball, so I might start out as undeclared, but, eventually I want a degree in Computer Programming.

MdV: What Summer Camps and Leagues did you play in besides The Rock and the D.C. Board Games?

LB: I went to Eastern Invitational team and individual camps. I also went to the Big Time AAU Tournament in Las Vegas with the “Up and Under” 17 and unders

team.

FC: I went to Eastern Invitational team and individual camps. I also played in some AAU events with the D.C. Hawks.

MdV: You have both played a lot of high school basketball, AAU ball, summer ball at camps and in leagues, who would you say are the five best D.C. area players you have played against?

FC: Wow, that’s tough, I guess I’d say Isaiah Swann (Magruder), Steve Harley (Crossland), Jeff Green (Northwestern), Sam Young (Friendly), and Jerome Habel (Paint Branch/Walt Whitman).

LB: Yeah, I’d agree with a lot of those players in my top five, but it is hard to pick from so many good players in this area... I’d say Isaiah Swann is number one, Jerome Habel, James Gist (Good Counsel), Jeff Green, and Steve Harley.

MdV: Folarin you attended Fairmont Heights HS as a freshman. Did you play on the varsity there as ninth grader? I noticed that Chris McCray (the former Fairmont all-Met now playing for the University of Maryland) attended a couple of Springbrook games last year. Are you and Chris friends?

FC: Yeah, I played on the varsity as a freshman and Chris was a junior then. We’re good friends. Chris came to a few of our games last year. I hear he’s doing real well at Maryland now, really playing well over there (in Maryland preseason work). Travis (Garrison) is a good friend of mine, too.

MdV: Does Chris tell you a lot about what college ball and college life are like?

FC: Not really, I mean we talk a lot, but not so much about college basketball. As I get closer to playing in college, I’ll talk to him more about that…

MdV: Louis, as I said before, you really opened up some eyes this Summer when you got to play on the perimeter and showed people your athleticism. I know a lot of people were really surprised at how well you played in the open court in the Rock all-Star Game. Do you think that you’ll get to play on the perimeter much this year, or will you be back in the post?

LB: Both, I guess, Coach Adams has designed a lot of stuff to get me out on the wing, so I’ll definitely get to play outside some. I’ll probably still have to play inside some, though. I know that a lot of colleges were surprised by what I showed I could do in the open court last summer. When I can get out on the wing and run, that is my game.

MdV: I guess if Anthony Ivory had stayed at Springbrook, you could have moved to the wing fulltime.

LB: Yeah, probably.

FC: I still talk to Anthony, he’s a good guy.

MdV: I appreciate you taking the time to talk so long with us. Last question. What are your goals for this year?

FC: I want to just improve as player. Get better on defense, improve my quickness. I want to improve my all around game and also be a good senior leader for the team. I’d like to make All-Met again and win the State Championship.

LB: I’d like to make All-Met, too. Mostly I want to just improve in all areas of the game and be a complete all around player. The biggest thing though is to help lead the team to a Maryland state championship. I think we can be the team to beat.

MdV: Maryland 4A is going to be really tough …

LB: Yeah, it will be...

FC: Northwestern is really good, they got Big Jeff (Green), and they’ll be tough...

LB: Northwestern, Oxon Hill, (Eleanor) Roosevelt, they’ll all be tough. But I think we can win it…

MdV: Of course, Magruder is always there from Montgomery County in 4A…

LB: They got a great coach, for sure, and they are always good, but I think this year we are going to be able to handle Magruder. It is definitely going to be an interesting season.