The journey for Winston Bryan to Dean College at the college basketball level had a lot of twists and turns. (Photo Courtesy: Deanbulldogs.com)
When Dean Bulldog basketball fans watch starting shooting guard Winston Bryan play, they see a great player with a lot of talent. However, Bryan’s backstory will shed some light on how his days playing in high school through junior college were not always like that.
The Greensboro, North Carolina native played basketball in high school at James B. Dudley High School right in Greensboro. Bryan often sat on the bench during his junior and senior years and would typically only enter games during garbage time. While Winston admits that he was not the biggest guy on the team at 5’11”, did not start putting weight on until college, was not the most athletic guy on the team and had not developed the skill set yet to outperform the player ahead of him, he still believed that he could help Dudley win or go to another program and help them win. However, his parents could not afford to send him to private school. As a result, he rode the bench throughout his high school career. -
After high school, Bryan continued his basketball career by attending Sandhills Community College in Pinehurst, North Carolina where he continued to come off the bench. During his freshman year, his job was to score and lock up the opponent’s best player on defense. Halfway through his sophomore season, Bryan was penciled into the starting lineup when one of the starters was not playing up to his full potential. As a result, the coach gave Winston a chance to start because of his stellar play off the bench. “It gave me a little confidence, but it also made me hungrier to put in more work because I knew the guys that were starters ahead of me were talented enough to take my spot” Bryan said.
Winston wound up getting recruited by Dean College during his sophomore year at Sandhills Community College. “Coach Cabral showed the most love and made me feel like he really wanted me there. I also thought that I would be able to grow at Dean College as a player. When Dean wanted me to join their program there was a big lift off my shoulders like, ‘wow, I can play somewhere after Junior College and change my life around and see another part of America’. This also helped my confidence a lot because being wanted in a basketball sense was something that I have never experienced before.” While Bryan was also recruited by Methodist University in Fayetteville, North Carolina, it was too late as Winston was already set on becoming a Bulldog.
When Bryan arrived at Dean College, he missed out on his junior year of eligibility due to COVID-19 forcing Dean to cancel their basketball season. This sudden turn of events taught him a valuable lesson. “You cannot take anything for granted. I watched one of our players almost fall out of love with basketball just because we were not playing and could not get into the gym. If anything that this has taught me, it is to be grateful for what you have and to take any opportunity as it as if it was your last.”
Since Winston has been at Dean, his favorite memory has been his first game as a Bulldog this season on opening night at Pieri Gymnasium versus Framingham State University. “The last time I played in front of a crowd was when my Sandhills Community College team won the national championship in 2020, so being in front of a crowd and hearing my name, hometown and state all being called was one of my favorite moments. Also hitting the first shot and hearing the crowd go crazy made me feel like I was back to my element.” Winston does not have one regret or bad word to say about his decision to come play at Dean College. “I love that Dean is in a small town where you cannot get in much trouble, which allows me to be able to focus on my academics and basketball only. The community and school make me feel welcomed as a second home.”
Since Bryan has taken the court with the Bulldogs his game has completely changed. “My game from high school to now are like two completely different people” Bryan explained. “Here at Dean, Coach Cabral told me I will need to be one of our best players.” Bryan credits a lot of his hard work and determination to being a gym rat and spending around five to seven hours in the gym to enable him to reach this level. “I would lift and then work out and if I had time, I would go back and play pick up basketball.”
Dealing with the COVID protocols has not changed much for the Bulldogs, but Bryan admits that having Pieri Gymnasium be under construction was certainly challenging at first. “If it rained, we could not go outside and we could not get gym space. Instead, we had to go into the weight room or run the track outside if weather permitted. Sometimes we even had to do pushups in our dorm just to stay loose. Overall, we had to focus more on the cardio side rather than the basketball skill side.”
Winston believes that the strength of the team this season is its mental toughness. “Mental toughness would be our strength because we have been in some tough situations and we have also lost a couple of games in a row recently, but instead of cracking and crumbling before break, everybody came together and talked about their feelings. That way we are ready to go to war when we come back to campus. We have played a lot of close games in the beginning of the season. We also had guys in the preseason working out at 6am when the sun rises on concrete floors and going back that afternoon to do it all over again. We also have a really mentally tough team, and that is something I will go to war with any day of the week.”
On the other hand, Bryan mentioned one weakness that the team has encountered this season. “One big transition from high school to college is that most guys are ‘the man’ on their high school team, or one of the best players. Going from that to maybe not playing, except for five to ten minutes a game or not playing at all, and not getting yourself down in the dumps and staying ready for your opportunity to come can be hard to do throughout the course of a season. But accepting your role and still being able to help the team in any way you can, can be frustrating to a lot of guys, and some guys have not picked up on that yet. However, we have great captains and leaders that help everyone in any way they can.”
While Bryan admits that Dean is on the smaller side compared to most of the other teams they are playing, he still believes they can rally together and fight through this challenge. “We just have to play with heart over height. We cannot change that everybody in our starting lineup is 6’3” and under, we have three guys that are above 6’5” on the team so across the board, we do not see too many teams that are our size. Because of that, everybody has to commit to rebounding and playing bigger than what they are. If you are 5’9” you have to play like you are 6’9”, and if you are 6’3” you have to play like you are 7’0.”
A team goal that Winston has for this season is to go all the way. “If you do not go into it wanting to win a conference championship and then a national championship then you are in it for all of the wrong reasons. My team goal every year and every season I have played basketball is to win the conference and then win the state or national championship for whatever level I have been at. I just want to win. I want gold medals. I want rings. I want championship banners. I want all of that.”
As an individual player, Bryan’s goal is to be the best. “Individually, I am in a pretty good position to rack up some individual accolades. For example, in the beginning of the year I said that I wanted to be the player of the year in the conference. I want to be first team. If you had a Team MVP, I would want to be that. I just want to be known as one of the best in the area, just gain the respect aspect of it. I just want to be at the top, both individually and as a team.”
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