Denver senior guard Brian Stafford can’t say for sure where he got that poker-faced ability to maintain his composure in crunch time.
Did he inherit it from a grandfather, who played basketball on California’s 1959 NCAA championship team?
Did it come from his father, who lettered as a Cal quarterback in 1981?
What about his mother, a track athlete at Cal?
Or playing in the driveway against two brothers who went to Azusa Pacific for college hoops?
“All I know is, I grew up in a family with a sports culture,” Stafford said. “My dad did a good job of teaching me how to handle adversity when I was growing up. He would use sports to teach me more about character than actually help me work on my game.
“I think that’s where that (composure) comes from. I always try to have a lot of poise on the court. That’s how I’ve been raised — to carry myself well at all times.”
In the eyes of DU coach Joe Scott, the rock-solid Stafford always will be considered a cornerstone in the Pioneers (17-7, 7-4 Sun Belt) becoming arguably one of the top two programs in the conference, along with Middle Tennessee State (21-4, 10-1). And Denver carved up MTSU, 75-60, at home last weekend.
Long at 6-foot-4, Stafford is a northern Californian and a natural leader. Since arriving at DU, the four-year starter (he has started all 117 games) has been a model of consistency. Never one to force shots, he averaged 11.4 points as a freshman, 12.4 as a sophomore, 12.9 as a junior and 14.0 this season.
And because Stafford hits 3-pointers (at 47.1 percent, he tops the SBC by a wide margin) and converts free throws (85.1 percent), he ranks among the nation’s most efficient players. Stafford needed just 15 attempts from the field to score 32 points against Portland State and 13 shots to tally 26 against Troy.
But the trait that DU coaches and players say they will always remember is Stafford’s ability to stare down pressure. He never cracks.
“With Brian, you see a calm, collected guy that just goes out there and just demolishes the opponent,” DU sophomore forward Blake Foeman said after Stafford scored 15 points and recorded a game-high four steals in a win over Arkansas State. “When you see our leader staying so calm and sticking with the system and not trying to create his own offense, that says something to other guys.”
Entering this season, Scott made “staying even-keeled” a point of emphasis for the team. A year ago, the Pioneers let a promising season get away by fading down the stretch. Scott points to Stafford as Exhibit A on how to remain calm when things aren’t going as planned. In good times or bad, Stafford doesn’t change facial expressions on the court. And he’s invariably in the right position.
“The best thing that’s happened to this team is that if the other team gets a 6-0 run, it stays 6-0, and then we bang a shot,” Scott said. “What enables you to do that is having that demeanor. When you have young guys, you don’t know how they’ll react. That’s why it’s so important to have upperclassmen, like Brian, who have the demeanor.”
During recruiting, Scott spotted Stafford at an AAU tournament during the summer before Stafford’s senior season at Las Lomas High School in Walnut Creek, Calif. Before Scott offered a scholarship, Stafford’s best offer had come from Colgate. Recruiters evidently had projected Stafford as merely a spot-up shooter. Scott believed there was more to his game.
“He’s a lefty, and lefties seem to be able to score in different ways,” Scott said. “He didn’t look at himself as just a 3-point shooter. He looked upon himself as a player. That’s what we want.”
Stafford learned more about Scott by working out with Tim Keller, a Walnut Creek resident who played guard for Scott at Air Force. DU seemed like a good match, with Scott’s need for shooters and the school’s academic reputation (Stafford is a honor student majoring in finance).
Stafford committed to DU prior to his senior season at Las Lomas. It was a leap of faith. At the time, Scott had not yet coached his first game at DU and the Pioneers were coming off a 4-25 disaster in Terry Carroll’s final season.
The way Stafford views it now, he couldn’t have made a better choice.
“You can see in this building, the energy that’s here now,” Stafford said after a recent victory. “That’s what we wanted to do. This is going to be our program for the rest of our lives. We wanted to leave it headed in the right direction. And we’ve got more to do this year.”
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
Scoring Pioneers
Top 10 career scorers in University of Denver men’s basketball history :
1. Harry Hollines (1965-68) 1,879
2. Doug Price (1992-97) 1,830
3. B.J. Pratt (1999-2003) 1,705
4. B. Stafford (2008-present) 1,473
5. Peter Faller (1984-88) 1,417
6. W. Carter (1998-2002) 1,382
7. Jack Hauser (1945-49) 1,375
8. Erik Benzel (2001-05) 1,369
9. Yemi Nicholson (2003-06) 1,365
10. Nate Rohnert (2006-10) 1,306
Source: DU
