Posted by Jason Massey - Sat, Dec 31, 2005 - [Men's Basketball] - Viewed 536 times
By BRIAN WOODSON Bluefield Daily Telegraph
BLUEFIELD, Va. — As a child growing up in Kansas, Cedric Brown could have been described as a coach potato. Even with a goal in his front yard, the Bluefield College senior had no desire to play basketball.
“I’ve always loved to watch it, but I just didn’t have the interest to go out there and do it,” Brown said. “We had a basketball court in our front yard, but I was like ‘that is for my brother and my sister, I’ll let them go out there and play. I’ll stay in here and play these video games.’”
How times have changed. A growth spurt and a relocation to Charlotte prior to his junior year of high school changed his tune. Now the Rams’ standout can’t get enough of the game.
“I talk about that all the time with my friends,” Brown said. “What if? ‘What if you started playing when you were little and learned the fundamentals that you learned in high school and college, where would I be?’”
Probably not in Bluefield. Still, the talented 6-foot-6 Brown can’t think of anywhere else he’d rather be.
“I had many D-1 offers, but it all came down to it being the best place for me right now,” said Brown, whose 2-year-old daughter, Carmyn, lives in Charlotte. “I felt like I could play Division I basketball, no doubt, but this is the right place for me and I’ve come here and made an all-right name for myself.
“I want to play basketball further than this. I feel like if you can play ball they will find you, in a nook and a cranny, they’re going to find you. If they want me they will come and find me here at Bluefield.”
Currently in his second and final season at Bluefield, Brown had a monster junior campaign, leading the Appalachian Athletic Conference in scoring (19.9), rebounding (11.1) and blocked shots (3.2). He was the AAC player of the year, AAC defensive player of the year, and an NAIA third-team All-America selection.
“I knew I could do all I achieved last year, I thought was capable of that,” Brown said. “Coming in I was told I was going to be a rebounder and a guy who blocked shots.
“My role was probably going to be second or third in scoring on the team, but it was an incredible season. I achieved past my measurement and I set it pretty high so it actually went pretty well I thought.”
What went even better was his team. The Rams won their second straight AAC regular season and tournament championships, and a second trip in a row to the NAIA national tournament. Winning is foremost on Brown’s mind.
“I’m a tenacious defender and a tenacious rebounder, and just all-out effort,” Brown said. “I will do anything to win, regardless if it’s zero points and 20 rebounds or 50 points and zero rebounds, whatever it takes to win, I just want to win.
“All those individual accolades and all that, they can keep all that. If my team wins I’m happy.”
It was as a high school sophomore in Topeka, Kan., that his life — and size of his clothes — began to change. When he arrived at Myers Park High School in Charlotte the following school year, he had grown nearly eight inches. He took up the basketball coach’s offer to play on the team. While he said his success was limited, it was enough to allow him to play at the next level, starting at Hiwassee Junior College in Madisonville, Tenn.
“I was probably 5-8 or 5-9 and then I grew about seven or eight inches over one summer,” Brown said. “That was during my sophomore year and during that summer I was growing and growing. We didn’t have much money so I was still wearing those same clothes, even though I was getting taller.
“I call it a blessing in disguise, even though it hurt so bad. I was thinking ‘What is going on with my legs and arms and everything aching and hurting’ and then I wake up the next day and I’m 7-feet tall. That is OK though, if that didn’t happen, I wouldn’t be here.”
Brown spent two seasons at Hiwassee, making steady improvement, but was part of a ‘terrible’ program that actually lost a game by 84 points. There were two determining factors in his venture to Bluefield; His daughter, and winning games.
“It was a recruiting process after junior college was over, and I felt like this was the best situation for me,” said Brown, an avid fan of Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers. “The most determining factor is I have a 2-year-old daughter and I’m from Charlotte and that’s only two hours or so down the road.
“Also, the winning ways. Coming from the situation at Hiwassee, we didn’t win too much. Coming here and knowing their rap sheet before I got here, knowing that they were a proven winner.”
That tradition is continuing. Brown, who is playing for his fourth coach (Jason Gillespie) in four years, is ranked nationally in four categories, and is averaging 20.2 points, 9.9 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game. The Rams are 6-8, including four losses in a row, and two of those were in overtime. However, with a 3-3 mark in the AAC, Brown likes the Rams’ position, and he has several lofty aspirations in mind.
“My No. 1 goal is to win the national championship, if we don’t win the national championship with the talent we have, it’s a loss season,” said Brown, who is currently hobbled with a high ankle sprain suffered in a two-overtime loss to Tennessee Wesleyan. “As far as other things, I want to win the conference regular season and I want to win the conference tournament.
“I’m just a win, win, win guy. I don’t want to do nothing but win.”
