University of Colorado Athletics
Brooks: From The Outset, Seabrook Left Mark At CU
March 02, 2012 | Women's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
On a road trip during the 2009-10 season, the Malcolm-Pecks had settled into their hotel room when a call came from the front desk. A stern voice informed them that charges for those movies they had ordered - they were not movies detailing, ah, the finer points of setting a solid pick or making a hard cut to the basket - would be reported to their coach.
Panic ensued.
Recalled Meagan: "Brenna called coach (Tracy) Tripp and was like, 'Oh my God, we didn't do it, I swear.'"
At that point, guffawing erupted from the "front desk."
"Julie was just dying laughing . . . she does stuff like that all the time," Meagan said. "But she has her little blond moments, too."
SEABROOK'S CU BASKETBALL MOMENTS come to a close Saturday afternoon at the Coors Events Center when CU plays Oregon State. It's the Buffaloes' last regular-season game, and even though they will take a winning record into next week's Pac-12 Conference tournament in Los Angeles, there are no guarantees that their season will continue.
Seabrook, of North Vancouver, B.C., is CU's only senior, so the afternoon's Senior Day ceremony will be brief. But will it be emotional? Oh, yes. Seabrook's emotions are worn on both sleeves and perhaps on patches on her jeans. Ask her about her Buffs career and her buds - past and present - and make sure to have the box of Kleenex handy.
That's not a bad thing, says her coach, Linda Lappe. Seabrook has been in the starting lineup every game since Lappe replaced Kathy McConnell-Miller two springs ago. Seabrook's emotion, particularly her passion for the game and her teammates, is "one thing I like about her," Lappe said. "Sometimes you can't tell when she's frustrated, when she's mad . . . she just keeps that same positive outlook on things. She's not emotional in every way."
Just the opposite, in fact. Seabrook maintains an even keel, said Lappe: "She's a vocal leader, she always has energy . . . you always know what you're going to get from Julie day in, day out. She doesn't let a bad test how she comes to practice, relationship problems, anything - bad weather, anything. She just comes to practice ready to work and you know what you're going to get from her. She's very reliable, very steady. We've had to count on her a lot this year."
Against Oregon on Thursday night, with the Buffs trying to break a four-game losing streak and win for only the second time in nine games, Seabrook showed up large. Her 16 points were two shy of her career high and her ninth double-figure scoring effort of the season. Her eight rebounds were second only to Chucky Jeffery's nine. She tied a career high with six made free throws (six attempted), and her two blocked shots were a career best.
But second-half lapses - particularly several in the final couple of minutes - doomed the Buffs. They lost 64-62, and afterward Seabrook acknowledged the fact that family members - her mother, brother, grandparents arrived at mid-week - had witnessed her performance made the night special, just not special enough. "How I always look at it is if my team doesn't win, it doesn't really matter," Seabrook said. "I'm happy with the way I played, but a win would have been better."
Seabrook's basketball skills have steadily arced upward since she picked up a ball and the sport as a kid. A neighborhood baby sitter started the process in games of "bump" and "21," and Canadian high school coach, Vern Porter, took it from there. "He was a post player, too," Seabrook said, "but he was a very good shooter. He taught me form and post moves."
HEIGHT - SEABROOK IS LISTED AT 6-3 - has always been on her side, or sometimes not. She grew accustomed to "always being in the back of photos at school," and in elementary school, before coordination caught up with her growth spurts, she broke an arm and leg.
"I was always tall and lanky," she said. "I was a little uncoordinated there for awhile, but at least I got it out of my system . . . The only time I was 'not tall' was when I came back for my senior year and all my guy friends were taller than me."
Seabrook's height and camera appeal led to several modeling opportunities, but sharpening her post skills soon overshadowed posing. After playing for her high school team (St. Mary's) in North Vancouver, Seabrook spent her senior season with Canada Basketball's National Elite Development Academy (NEDA) and also has played for her home country's national teams.
Modeling might be a future option, but traveling Europe "for a couple of years" playing hoops is her priority. "I've thought about modeling," she said. "But I feel like basketball and that don't really go together. In one I'm obviously trying to remain in athletic shape, which is not exactly the type of look (for modeling). But possibly I could get back in it depending on a couple of things. It was fun to do when I was younger, but I don't know how much I'll be into it going forward."
At the conclusion of the Women's Final Four in Denver later this month, a collection of WNBA coaches and others from overseas will conduct a combine. Seabrook hopes to impress them, find an agent, then proceed somewhere on a court from there. She believes she can play professionally: "I think I've continuously gotten better. That's one of the things I came here to do."
Lappe agreed, noting that Seabrook's offensive abilities in the low post have improved, as has her perimeter play: "She's becoming more confident, comfortable on the outside, hitting more threes, looking for her shot and getting her feet ready to go. And she's done a pretty good job on the defensive end."
As for skills that don't require a basketball and boxing out, Seabrook believes personal growth has come in leadership, motivating others and public speaking. A recent email asking her to show up at CU's C4C center and address dorm RA's about urging residents to attend women's games might have brought a case of nerves in years past.
NOW, IT ELICITED A SHRUG. Said Seabrook: "I was like 'all right, let's do it.' I didn't have to prepare myself. It comes with being put in that situation, but also with maturity. They've done a good job here of putting me into positions where I've had to do that here."
When it comes, most seniors can't believe the end is so near, and Seabrook's time at CU has passed at typical warp speed. "I think it's one of those things where it ends and you look back on it and you still don't think it's ended," she said. "It takes time for it to sink in. It seems like I just got here, but in hindsight a lot of things have happened since then. Four years go by pretty fast."
Mental snapshots of those four years that have no chance of fading include having the Coors Events Center lights go out during a 6 a.m. off-season conditioning run ("It was really dark, kind of fun, though; we kept on running"), CU defeating No. 16 Iowa State in overtime last season, followed by the Buffs' surprising WNIT win at Wyoming.
"Last year was pretty sweet," said Seabrook, who is running out of time to check off one item on her hoops to-do list - win a conference postseason tournament game. The final chance comes next week.
Lasting images of the non-hoops variety will be topped by receiving her letter of acceptance in the spring of 2010 to CU's Leeds School of Business. She's on track to graduate in May (her GPA is hovering at the 3.0 mark) and she said her finance courses "showed me what I don't want to do more than what I do want to do, truthfully. The capital analysis investment class last semester that I took definitely showed me that I don't want to be working on Wall Street . . . the stuff I am interested in within finance is consulting or something more with people, like selling. Then there's the marketing side, even though I didn't get my degree in marketing. That's kind of more my style."
Meagan Malcolm-Peck offered the same professional forecast for Seabrook: "Yeah, I think she'd probably be a little frazzled on Wall Street. I think marketing is more up her alley; she has a passion for that, too."
If she gets the chance to play abroad and satisfies that calling, she likely will settle in the vicinity of her boyfriend - former CU golfer Luke Symons - or possibly return to Vancouver. Symons, an aspiring PGA tour member, is recovering from hip surgery, and Seabrook says he will "probably want to live somewhere warm."
THOSE DECISIONS CAN BE PUT on hold. She's focused now on closing out a CU basketball career on an upbeat note. Her four years have been fulfilling, she said, because of the Buffs' progress. "One thing I've been trying to emphasize to the freshmen is that even though we thought we might be going to the NCAA Tournament, considering how well we did at the beginning (12-0) of the season . . . just making it to postseason is tough enough, and obviously I didn't get to do that my first two years here," she said. "Postseason is great in general. I tell them that last year we were one of eight teams in the country still playing. That's great in itself."
Seabrook said she will treasure friendships made with current and past teammates, mentioning former Buffs Hannah Skildum, Britney Blythe, and Brittany Spears. Current Buffs hold her in high regard because of her work ethic, energy and caring spirit.
"She's always there for you, off court, anywhere, no matter what," Meagan Malcolm-Peck said. "She's communicating all the time, telling you what you need to do. Everybody knows that Julie is going to be doing what she needs to be doing, so everybody looks up to her.
"I've looked up to her since freshman year and having the opportunity to play with her for three years has been so special to me and I know for Chucky (Jeffery) too, just getting to play with somebody who's such a good person on and off the court . . . Julie is just awesome; we're so proud of her and so lucky to have gotten to be around her for three years."
Falling victim to a prank or two was part of the total Seabrook package, and she and her teammates can laugh about it now. In basketball terms, no harm, no foul - just lots of special memories.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
