Dee Brown finishes his college career on a sour note in a loss to Washington. Ron Steele exits but not before he shows the entire country that one of the best PGs in America will be playing for Alabama next season. Adam Morrison struggles badly from the field but still manages to advance to the Sweet 16. Marco Killingsworth is eliminated from the tournament after not disappointing in his last game against Gonzaga.
The Stock UP prospects for this round can be found HERE.
Stock Neutral
Dee Brown, 60, Point Guard, Senior, Illinois
15 points, 6 assists, 1 turnover, 2 steals, 5-18 FG, 2-6 3P, 3-3 FT
Jonathan Givony
This was obviously not the way Dee Brown wanted to end his college career. Starting off the game about as poorly as weve seen all season, it was a miracle that Illinois even managed to stay in it until the very end. Brown had doughnuts on his stat-line until there were 5 minutes left in the first half, coming up with 0 points, 0 assists and 0 rebounds on 0-6 shooting and facing a 14 point deficit. He was completely shut down during this stretch by extremely long and athletic 6-7 swingman Bobby Jones, smothered by his size and length and unable to create anything for himself off the dribble. Weve spoken about the weaknesses he has creating shots for himself off the bounce, but here Brown was completely exposed.
To his credit Brown managed to get himself together and with 5 minutes made a 180 degree turnaround back to the player the entire nation grew to adore these past few years. He executed extremely well on the pick and roll and even started having success taking the ball to the hoop. A buzzer beating 3-pointer capped off an outstanding run that cut the deficit to just two points at the half. He continued his excellent play for most of the 2nd half as Illinois built up a comfortable lead, looking at his absolute best pushing the tempo of the game in transition and getting his teammates involved.
Brown then went cold again with about 7 minutes to go in the game, not even making one field goal during that stretch. A poorly executed play to try and tie the game with 6 seconds remaining in the game resulted in a contested 30 foot 3-point attempt that went off the back of the rim, ending Browns fantastic college career on a sour note, and again showing us how tough it can be to create space for himself to operate.
His fate is now in the hands of whichever agent he will choose and the NBA GMs who will watch him travel around the country for private workouts. Hes made a pretty good case for himself to be drafted in the 1st round, but that now depends on how he performs from here on out as well as how many underclassmen decided to enter the draft.
To his credit Brown managed to get himself together and with 5 minutes made a 180 degree turnaround back to the player the entire nation grew to adore these past few years. He executed extremely well on the pick and roll and even started having success taking the ball to the hoop. A buzzer beating 3-pointer capped off an outstanding run that cut the deficit to just two points at the half. He continued his excellent play for most of the 2nd half as Illinois built up a comfortable lead, looking at his absolute best pushing the tempo of the game in transition and getting his teammates involved.
Brown then went cold again with about 7 minutes to go in the game, not even making one field goal during that stretch. A poorly executed play to try and tie the game with 6 seconds remaining in the game resulted in a contested 30 foot 3-point attempt that went off the back of the rim, ending Browns fantastic college career on a sour note, and again showing us how tough it can be to create space for himself to operate.
His fate is now in the hands of whichever agent he will choose and the NBA GMs who will watch him travel around the country for private workouts. Hes made a pretty good case for himself to be drafted in the 1st round, but that now depends on how he performs from here on out as well as how many underclassmen decided to enter the draft.