CHAPEL HILL – Leaky Black doesn’t think Garrison Brooks is funny.

The book on Brooks, within the walls of North Carolina’s basketball program, is that he is rather humorous, though he takes a different route with his comedy. And that’s where Black can buy in.

“I don’t think he’s funny,” Black said with a straight face during a zoom interview Friday, a day before Brooks plays his final home game at the Smith Center. “I think he’s more corny than anything. But I feel like his corniness is what cracks me up.”

Some Tar Heels have said the last few years they can sense when the 6-foor-9 forward is trending toward a Brooks-like moment. That’s when his unique sense of humor is entering launch-mode. Black knows this, too, so he has mastered a way sidestepping Brooks when those internal stage lights start going on.

“Every time I walk by him, I just try not to look at him,” the junior wing said, smiling.

UNC basketball fans have looked at Brooks a lot the last four seasons. The senior and native of from Lafayette, AL, has played 3,172 minutes as a Tar Heel, starting 104 times in the 129 games he has donned the Carolina blue.

During that time on the court, Brooks has amassed 1,242 points, 770 rebounds (298 on the offensive glass), 65 blocked shots, 161 assists, 67 steals, and last season earned second-team All-ACC honors. Brooks has averaged 10.7 points and 6.0 rebounds for his career, is 25th all-time at UNC in rebounding, and was the 78th Tar Heel to score 1,000 or more points.

Nice career, especially for someone who came in ranked the No. 123 player in the class of 2017.

“If you would have asked me my first day would I be as physical, would I be as good as I am now, I would have believed you,” Brooks said. “But I couldn’t see at that moment. Definitely never saw myself as being the leader that I am now.”

He is the leader of perhaps the youngest team Roy Williams has ever coached. Not a rah-rah, fanny-slapping kind of guy, Brooks’ leadership has been somewhat like his sense of humor, more subtle and not so outward. But it has certainly been there.

The increasing challenge this season as the 15-9 (9-6 ACC) Tar Heels have wobbled back and forth from positive performance to not-so-positive performance, is that Brooks has at times been a target by fans for the team’s inconsistency.

The media voted him ACC preseason Player of the Year, but he hasn’t performed quite to that level, a reality to which he acknowledges. At this juncture, though, now that March is here, living up to that November honor is such old news Brooks has long moved on from it.

“That stuff doesn’t matter,” he said. “We’re at this point in the season, it doesn’t really matter, I’m not gonna lie to you.

“It was fine, it was nice to be named that, but I didn’t overthink it.”

Brooks’ progress at Carolina has been in multiple facets. One area that might be overlooked but will certainly have a lasting effect on his life is reflected in the massive wall he bulldozed when it came to dealing with the media.

Most freshmen aren’t ready, and UNC’s media relations department, notably Steve Kirschner and Matt Bowers, does a terrific job preparing young athletes so they can more smoothly handle older men and women asking sometimes-difficult questions and occasionally moments after painful defeats.

Even after wins, some freshmen just don’t say much. Brooks was one of those youngins.

He regularly gave five and six-word answers during his first year at UNC, and as a sophomore he increased his replies to 10-12 words. Now he can roll off for 20-30 seconds. He isn’t longwinded by any means, but if Brooks has something to say, he will.

That is growth most people never see. But Brooks sure has.

“To be honest, I still wish they were about five or six words,” he said, chuckling. “It’s a lot better now. It’s something I enjoy doing just over time. Kirsch has helped, Matt has me really get better and become more comfortable with the media, thinking about what I’m going to say and just being better as a whole during interviews.”

His final home game comes Saturday when the Tar Heels host Duke at 6 pm. So many of the questions Brooks received from the media Friday focused on his experiences at Carolina and about how he wants to be remembered.

That isn’t an easy question for most seniors. It often elicits lumps in their throats, even a tear occasionally trickles down a cheek, and almost always is met with a pause, an “oh man” as they think it over, and then a fairly basic response.

Brooks did some of that, but he also gave an honest take on how he should be remembered. His teammates will swear to his reply. And it has marked Brooks’ hoops DNA since the day he arrived.

“I want to be remembered as a hard-working guy, a great teammate,” he said. “The kind of guy that has grown since day one. I think that’s something I’ll always want to look back at. And a guy that just, overall, had a lot of fun over four years.”

Fun is an understatement.

Brooks doesn’t do standup, but he is a standup guy. Funny, thoughtful, and a grinder.

Allow Black to sum up his friend’s tenure in Chapel Hill:

“Off the court, he’s just a fun guy, he’s just joking around a lot,” he said, choosing to be serious instead of teasing. “He’s like a big kid and, on the court, he’s really serious. So, when he steps between the lines, he’s cut-throat. Outside, he’s just one big kid.”