by Jeremy Bauman / @JBauman13
Aaron Brown, Temple’s 6-4 rising sophomore shooting guard, understands the work that he must put in during the summer time to be successful. A native of the Virgin Islands, Brown participated in the Caribbean Basketball Confederation this year.
“The tournament took place in Nassau, Bahamas,” explained Brown. “It was for the Caribbean championship—to qualify for the Centro Basket tournament next year. The competition was real good. There were a few college players, but mostly overseas and NBA players.”
Among others, some of the notable players who Brown recalled from the tournament were Walter Hodge (Florida ‘07), Julius Hodge (NC State ’05) Patrick Ewing Jr (GTown ’08), Philip Jones (Charlotte ‘11), Greg Washington (Hofstra ‘11), and Ivan Aska (Murray State ’11)—all of whom will be playing professionally overseas in some regard next season.
After years of playing for the Virgin Island’s younger teams, Brown earned his spot on this year’s VI squad after years of dedication to his island in the summer.
“It started three years ago when I played with the 17U team in Mexico, and was a major part of winning a bronze medal,” explained Brown. “From then on, I earned my spot every summer to be apart of the Men’s Senior Team.”
Making the team and sitting on the bench is one thing. Brown—a 19-year-old—didn’t go to the Bahamas to ride the bench. “As a person I would say that I learned to be more. Being the youngest in the tournament, coming off the bench, and still being the second leading scorer for the championship team is pretty impressive.”
And while playing (28 mpg), scoring (17 ppg) and, ultimately, winning were a valuable part of the experience, the on-court learning process never stopped for Brown on this memorable trip to the Caribbean.
“Well every summer I go to play I learn something new,” said Brown. “As a player, this year I learned a lot about the pace of the game, and knowing when to ‘attack’ and when to run some offense.”
The learning didn’t stop there, though. After being up by 20 in the championship game against the Bahamas, the VI clearly had a Thunder-esque episode of complacency—although they (barely) pulled off the win, 91-89. Brown will always remember that game.
“Being up 20 practically the whole game and only winning by two—that tells you that you can never get complacent. That will help me out a lot for school to keep my mindset in the right perspective, so that I’m able to my best work this year on the court.”
Other than that, Brown is appreciative for the opportunity to be featured here at SLAMonline and has a few shout out’s he’d like to distribute.
“I just want to say thanks for this opportunity again. I want to thank all the members of the team for bringing back a championship to the VI. Big shout out to my big brother, Jareem Dowling at Morehead State now, who recently placed third in the 17U games in Puerto Rico last week. Last but not least be on the lookout for Temple this season and follow my journey @2ABEEZY2!”
Be sure to check back in with Aaron Brown in October for a pre-season discussion about his upcoming season at Temple and the Owl’s outlook/expectations for the ‘11-12 season.
