Garrison Brooks has both opportunity and pressure.

On paper, the ACC looks as weak as it has been in some time due to widespread losses to graduation and early departures to the NBA, and no sure-shot superstars in the incoming recruiting classes.

A beneficiary of this development is Brooks, the Carolina senior who was second-team All-ACC last year and earned the league’s Most Improved Player award.

Brooks was a runaway selection for 2021 ACC Player of the Year, the first UNC senior to receive that designation since Tyler Hansbrough, who did not win it in 2009 (teammate Ty Lawson did).

Despite the preseason recognition, Brooks may still be a long shot to win it. He was Carolina’s best player last season, when the Tar Heels gave him little help before finishing 14-19 and last in the ACC.

Brooks said this week that his goals for the season are “to be the best player in the ACC and win the national championship.”

If the Tar Heels do that from their predicted fourth-place finish, Brooks will need to get so much help from a star-studded recruiting class that he may not wind up the best player on his own team.

Carolina has the No. 1 freshman class in the ACC, where there are eight 5-star recruits, four at Duke and three at UNC (FSU has the other).

Lightly recruited out of high school, Brooks has been a role player for most of his college career and has grown into one of the best players in the ACC and a leader that his teammates look to and rely on.

Ironically, his role this season may be to help the freshmen grow up even faster than he did in order to challenge for his team goal, in the process sacrificing some of his personal ambitions.

Photo via AP Photo/Chris Seward.

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