Mama’s boy a man
It’s like mother, like son for Illinois freshman guard Brandon Paul.
A scoring whiz who’s put up 42 points in his first two games, Paul inherited the love of basketball from his mother. Lynda Paul played at Ball State and served as her son’s AAU coach years ago before finally transitioning from coach to full-time mom on the first day of summer school classes.
“I made that decision completely on June 15,” she said. “That’s when I handed him over to Coach [Bruce] Weber.”
Brandon Paul already is a budding star, and it’s already apparent the 6-foot-4, 195-pounder from Warren Township is a rare Illini recruit – an offensive threat from the moment he first stepped on campus after earning the state’s Mr. Basketball last season.
The program’s first player with back-to-back 20-point games since Shaun Pruitt in 2007, Brandon Paul ranks third in the Big Ten in scoring. He set the school record for scoring by a freshman in his debut with 22 against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.
After scoring 20 against Northern Illinois, he has more points than any freshman in school history after two games, topping Deon Thomas (40), Cory Bradford (39) and Efrem Winters (31).
When it comes to basketball, Brandon Paul isn’t afraid to say he’s a mama’s boy.
“She’s my basketball influence,” Brandon Paul said. “She put the ball in my hands. She’s always been there for me in basketball. It’s always been her passion. She passed it on to me.”
While his teammates likely attribute their athletic careers in part because of their fathers, Brandon Paul must point to his mom, a financial planner who became a rarity in AAU basketball – a female coach of a boys’ team.
“Brandon and I have been together for some time from a basketball standpoint,” Lynda Paul said. “Initially, the relationship wasn’t that great. I was pushing. He didn’t want to be pushed. I was his coach and mom for 24 hours a day. In hindsight, it must have been tough for him to be in my household. Over the years, I’ve backed off quite a bit.
“I’m still a mom. Brandon still has a dad. We’re going to keep those roles. Brandon has a new coach. We’ve entrusted Brandon’s basketball future to coach Weber. I’m not going to take it from coach Weber.”
Lynda Paul began coaching the Illinois HoopStars basketball program when Brandon Paul was in fifth grade. A tough coach, Lynda demanded her players strengthen their bodies and improve their games. She assigned homework, such as situps and pushups, and demonstrated basketball drills and shooting during practice. While she had the basketball ability to impress her son’s friends, he was a tougher sell than his teammates.
“I was able to show them things early on to earn their trust,” Lynda Paul said. “These were young boys who stayed [in the program] until high school. They were easier to impress. Brandon had the biggest hangup from an embarrassment standpoint. After we started to win, Brandon became a believer. Kids were feeding off him. When he got over it, then everyone was fine.’’
Lynda Paul’s priorities were rebounding, defense and offense. In that order.
“She was definitely tough,’’ Brandon Paul said. “She wanted us to play hard. If we didn’t get back on defense, she’d scream at the top of her lungs.’’
Brandon Paul played for his mother in AAU through the eighth grade before moving to another AAU program. Illinois took notice by his sophomore year, and it became apparent to Weber that he had to go through Lynda Paul more than her husband, Cliff Paul, a Buffalo Grove cop who is retired from the Navy, a former semi-pro football player, a black belt in tae kwon do and a licensed bodyguard.
“She’s really into it,” Weber said. “It’s kind of ironic. Cliff is a big, strong guy and a police officer. He’s low-key and just smiles. He’s always happy. The mom is the other way, really intense and a very driven coach. In the past year and a half, she told me a couple times, ‘I just have to let it happen.’ ”
