Versatile, erudite Malcolm Brogdon lifting Virginia

Sitting in the Greensboro Coliseum on Friday afternoon might have helped. Before orange-clad thousands, the Greater Atlanta Christian graduate had an off game (scoring six points on 2-of-10 shooting), but still played a role in advancing No. 1-seed Virginia into the ACC tournament semifinals against No. 6-seed Pittsburgh by defeating No. 9-seed Florida State 64-51.

Brogdon has tirelessly honed his gifts to become an All-ACC selection and a leading member of the sixth-ranked Cavaliers, who are attempting to win their first ACC tournament since 1976.

“The way he approaches his academic pursuits, the way he approaches his game, he’s a professional way beyond his years,” associate head coach Ritchie McKay said. “He’s an old soul.”

After redshirting last season with a broken foot suffered late in the 2011-12 season, he has been indispensable for the Cavaliers, who won the outright regular-season conference title for the first time since 1981. After shaking off rust during the non-conference portion of the schedule, Brogdon turned the corner in ACC play.

He ranked 12th in scoring (14.8 points per game), first in free-throw percentage (88.8) and fourth in assist/turnover ratio (3.4). He was the only player in the conference to score in double figures in every game. The streak ended Friday with his six-point game, but he supplemented it with a game-high nine rebounds and three assists.

“It’s really a blessing when I look at it,” said Brogdon, a 6-foot-5 sophomore guard. “Regardless of off games like (Friday) or however I play, for me to have the success I’ve had with my teammates this year and the success the team has had a whole is just astonishing. I sit back, and I’m just grateful for it and try to be thankful, but try to keep working hard and keep accomplishing things.”

In terms of accomplishment, he already has had a pretty big week. On Tuesday, he was accepted into the master’s program in Virginia’s school of public policy, a degree he’ll eventually be able to earn as a fifth-year senior.

Brogdon had little choice but to make academics a priority. Brogdon’s mother is a professor at Morehouse and his father, Mitchell Brogdon, is an attorney. Brogdon and his two older brothers grew up in an academic environment similar to the one that enveloped their mother, whose Harvard-loving parents expected that their children would earn graduate degrees. One sister graduated from Harvard law school and the other earned an MBA from Penn’s Wharton School. With a doctorate from Indiana, Adams calls herself the underachiever.

Growing up, Brogdon and his two older brothers could not play sports if they brought home anything less than a B. Brogdon’s brother Gino is a lawyer and his other brother John is in law school, following their father’s course.

“I don’t really want to be (a lawyer), but it might be inevitable, honestly,” Malcolm said.

Brogdon’s place in the ACC had no such certainty. Brogdon said that, when he was 14 or 15, one of his AAU coaches told him that he wasn’t athletic or talented enough to play high-major college basketball. The assessment became fuel.

“I tried to outwork everybody,” he said. “In high school, I believed I was outworking everybody in the country. That was always my thought.”

He woke up at 6 a.m. on Sundays, putting in two hours of work before going to church. He worked with a personal trainer, going through ballhandling drills, shooting, conditioning and plyometrics. The work helped him catch McKay’s attention.

Brogdon’s game does not jump out, but he often is first to loose balls, darts about on defense, finds teammates in open spots, makes his free throws and quietly accumulates points.

He is versatile, smart and a good shooter, the sort of player that Virginia coach Tony Bennett has begun to stockpile.

“He’s an acquired taste,” McKay said, “but once you taste it, I guarantee you you’ll keep going back to that restaurant.”