SirValiant Martin "Val" Brown (born December 21, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player. He played high school basketball at Robert E. Lee High School in Springfield, Virginia, and then signed for the George Washington Colonials in the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

. During the 1999–2000 season, his freshman year, he was second in the nation in scoring with 24.6 points per game, behind

Courtney Alexander Courtney Jason Alexander (born April 27, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player who is currently an assistant coach of the College Park Skyhawks of the NBA G League. Professional career After playing high school basketball at ...

of Fresno State, after leading the nation for part of the season. After his freshman year at George Washington, Brown was named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year and was an Honorable mention All-American. He left the college after his sophomore year in 2001 and declared for the NBA draft but went undrafted, and started his professional career in the

NBA Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

. He has played in

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

throughout his 10-year career as a pro.

High school career

Brown was born in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

to Robbie and Marcella Brown. His father named him after

Prince Valiant ''Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur'', often simply called ''Prince Valiant'', is an American comic strip created by Hal Foster in 1937. It is an epic adventure that has told a continuous story during its entire history, and the full stretc ...

, one of the knights of

King Arthur King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...

Round Table The Round Table ( cy, y Ford Gron; kw, an Moos Krenn; br, an Daol Grenn; la, Mensa Rotunda) is King Arthur's famed table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that e ...

, and named his other son SirLancelot after

Lancelot Lancelot du Lac (French for Lancelot of the Lake), also written as Launcelot and other variants (such as early German ''Lanzelet'', early French ''Lanselos'', early Welsh ''Lanslod Lak'', Italian ''Lancillotto'', Spanish ''Lanzarote del Lago' ...

, another of the Arthurian legend knights. Brown was known as "Val" during his high school years at Robert E. Lee High School in Springfield, Virginia, and in his freshman year he was cited as one of the most impactful players of the varsity team by local newspaper ''Fairfax Connection''. At the end of his sophomore year, Brown averaged 19.9 points per game and was named an Honorable mention All-Met selection by the ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' as one of the best players in the Washington, D.C. area. For his junior year, Brown initially transferred to

Mount Zion Christian Academy Mount Zion Christian Academy (MZCA) is a private, college preparatory, non-denominational, co-educational Christian day school (grades K–12) and boarding school (grades 9–12) located in Durham, North Carolina. The Academy is most noted ...

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

, but left in December 1997 after a brief period and spent the rest of the year at Notre Dame Academy in Middleburg, Virginia. In the summer of 1998 Brown was invited to the

ABCD Camp The ABCD Basketball Camp was a youth basketball camp founded by Sonny Vaccaro that was held from 1984 to 2006. The camp gathered the highest ranked high school players of the United States, and was considered one of the top events of high school b ...

, a camp for the best high school players in the United States. For his senior year Brown returned at Robert E. Lee, and averaged 27 points, 5 assists and 3 steals per game, was an All-State selection by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

and was an Honorable mention All-Met selection for the second time in his career.

College career

Freshman season (1999–00)

Brown was recruited by

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

and Xavier, among others; however, he had attracted the interest of

Tom Penders Thomas Vincent Penders (born May 23, 1945) is an American retired college basketball coach, who last coached from 2004 through 2010 at the University of Houston. He is from Stratford, Connecticut and has a 649–437 career record. As a college ath ...

after his assistant coach Rob Wright saw Brown play at Lee High School and started recruiting him since he was 15 years old. Brown himself cited his desire to play for Penders when he was coaching at

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, and when Penders was hired by

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

, Brown signed there in order to play for him. Brown chose to wear jersey number 13 at George Washington; coach Penders was looking to replace

Shawnta Rogers Shawnta Darnell Rogers (born January 5, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player and former star at The George Washington University of the Atlantic 10 Conference. He attended Lake Clifton High School in Baltimore, Maryland, whe ...

, a point guard who had won the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year award in his senior year, and granted Brown extensive playing time relying on him as the primary scoring option on the team. In his freshman year, Brown was a ,

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...

who also played the

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

position sometimes. Brown made his debut on November 19, 1999 scoring 19 points against

Indiana State Indiana State University (ISU) is a public university in Terre Haute, Indiana. It was founded in 1865 and offers over 100 undergraduate majors and more than 75 graduate and professional programs. Indiana State is classified among "D/PU: Doctor ...

, followed by an 18-point performance against

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

; on his third game with the Colonials, on November 21 against

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, Brown scored 31 points. He had two back-to-back 33-point performances against

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...

(November 27) and

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

(November 30). He was named the

BB&T Classic The BB&T Classic, originally the Franklin National Bank Classic, was a Washington, D.C.-based college basketball event held annually from 1995 to 2017. It raised funds for the Children's Charities Foundation, a fund-raising organization that fina ...

MVP after scoring a total of 50 points over two games (23 against Seton Hall and 27 against

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

). On December 11, 1999 Brown posted a new

Charles E. Smith Center The Charles E. Smith Center is a 5,000-seat multipurpose arena in the United States' capital, Washington, D.C. Opened on November 17, 1975, it is home to the George Washington University Colonials men's and women's basketball teams, as well as ...

scoring record with a career-high 42 points against

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

. By the end of December, Brown had been nominated

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Eastern ...

Rookie of the Week 4 times in 4 consecutive weeks, and articles about him appeared on several news outlets such as ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'',

ESPN.com ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN. It is owned by ESPN Internet Ventures, a division of ESPN Inc. History Since launching in April 1995 as ESPNET.SportsZone.com (ESPNET SportsZone), the website has developed numerous sections including: ...

, ''

The Orlando Sentinel The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company. The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by parent company, ''Tribune Pu ...

'' and ''

Dayton Daily News The ''Dayton Daily News'' (''DDN'') is a daily newspaper published in Dayton, Ohio, United States. It is owned by Cox Enterprises, Inc., a privately held global conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately ...

''. Brown was leading all freshmen in scoring, and was one of the nation's top scorers in the

. Coach Penders described him as an

Allen Iverson Allen Ezail Iverson (; born June 7, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. Nicknamed "the Answer", he played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) at both the shooting guard and point guard positions. Iver ...

-like player. On January 29, 2000 he had a season-high 8 assists against La Salle, and on February 2 he scored 36 points against Duquesne. He then scored 33 against

Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...

on February 9, 30 on February 19 against

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

, 35 against

UMass The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medical ...

on February 29, and ended his season with a 33-point performance again in a game with UMass. At the end of the season, Brown was the nation's leading scorer among freshmen, and the second best scorer overall with 24.6 points per game behind

's 24.8. He led his team in several categories, including scoring, free throw percentage, three pointers made, and minutes per game. He averaged 22.8 points over 16 Atlantic 10 conference games, and was named the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year and was part of the All-Atlantic 10 Second Team and All-Rookie Team.

named him an Honorable mention All-American.

Sophomore season (2000–01)

Brown decided to come back to George Washington for his sophomore season. He opened the season with 11 points against Texas A&M on November 18, 2000 followed by 32 points against

Old Dominion Old Dominion most commonly refers to: *The Old Dominion, a nickname for the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia ** Colony of Virginia *Old Dominion University, a public university in Norfolk, Virginia **Old Dominion Monarchs, the athletic teams represe ...

. On December 2 he scored 32 points against St. John's, which was ranked the #19 team in the nation. He was named BB&T Classic MVP for the second year in a row, and again scored a total of 50 points (32 against St. John's and 18 against Maryland) in the competition. The one against St. John's was his only 30-point game of the season: after a 28-point performance against

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

on December 9, he never scored more than 24 for the rest of his sophomore year. On January 6, 2001 Brown reached the 1,000 career points milestone against UMass, after 44 games. He had 25 double-figures games in his season, and in 12 of them he scored at least 20 points. On February 17 he scored 23 points against Dayton, and he ended the season with 24 points against

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

on March 9. In his second year at George Washington Brown played 31 games (26 starts), playing 31.2 minutes per game and scoring a total of 536 points (17.3 per game), which ranked him second on his team behind Chris Monroe. At the end of the season, Brown was named to the

NABC NABC is an initialism that may refer to any of the following: *North American Bridge Championships, North American contract bridge tournaments * National Association of Basketball Coaches, an American trade association of men's college basketball c ...

All-District 4 Second Team. In May 2001, Brown declared for the

2001 NBA draft The 2001 NBA draft took place on June 27, 2001 in New York City, New York. Kwame Brown became the first high school player to be drafted with the first overall pick in the history of the NBA. The selection of Kwame Brown by the Washington Wizards, ...

as an early entrant, thus ending his collegiate career. He scored a total 1,274 points at George Washington, which ranked 19th in program's history at the time, and his 738 points established a single-season record for the Colonials. He also ranked second all-time for career scoring average with 20.9 behind

Joe Holup Joseph J. Holup (February 26, 1934 – January 28, 1998) was an American basketball player. He played college basketball for George Washington University and later professionally in the National Basketball Association and the Eastern Professio ...

's 21.4.

College statistics

, - , align="left" , 1999–00 , align="left" ,

, 30 , , 28 , , 36.8 , , .332 , , .264 , , .810 , , 3.3 , , 2.1 , , 1.5 , , 0.1 , , 24.6 , - , align="left" , 2000–01 , align="left" ,

, 31 , , 26 , , 31.2 , , .369 , , .294 , , .719 , , 2.7 , , 1.8 , , 1.5 , , 0.2 , , 17.3 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , , 61 , , 54 , , 34.0 , , .348 , , .275 , , .772 , , 3.0 , , 2.0 , , 1.5 , , 0.2 , , 20.9 , -

Professional career

Brown decided to forgo his final two years of college eligibility, and declared himself eligible for the

. At the 2001 NBA Draft Combine, Brown was measured at without shoes, weighing , with a

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

. During the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

pre-draft camp, Brown moved to the

position, after playing at shooting guard in college. During the draft, Brown was not selected by any of the NBA franchises. He then joined the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eas ...

for the 2001

Shaw's Pro Summer League The Reebok Pro Summer League, known originally as the Shaw's Pro Summer League, was a professional basketball developmental league hosted by the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) during the league's off-season at Clark A ...

in July. 76ers' coach Larry Brown did not give him much playing time, and decided not to play him for the final games of the tournament. After the summer league, Brown was not signed by the 76ers, and he joined the One World All-Stars, an exhibition team that toured the United States playing college teams. In September 2002 Brown was allocated to the

Roanoke Dazzle The Roanoke Dazzle were an NBA Development League team based in Roanoke, Virginia, U.S.. In operation from the inaugural D-League season of 2001–02 through the 2005–06 season, the Dazzle marked the return of professional basketball to Roanoke ...

of the

. He played 8 games during the 2002–03 National Basketball Development League season, averaging 3.5 points and 1.1 rebounds in 8.1 minutes of playing time; he shot 28.1% from the field (14.3% from three) and 66.7% from the free throw line. In September 2003, Brown signed with Trouville, a club of

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

which played in the

Liga Uruguaya de Basketball Liga or LIGA may refer to: People * Līga (name), a Latvian female given name * Luciano Ligabue, more commonly known as Ligabue or ''Liga'', Italian rock singer-songwriter Sports * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Lig ...

. He stayed with the club until the early months of 2004. In November 2006, Brown was signed by the

Quad City Riverhawks The Quad City Riverhawks were a team of the Premier Basketball League that previously played in the modern American Basketball Association (ABA). History The team began play as a member of the ABA in 2006. The team played at the Activities Cen ...

of the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger, American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, ...

. After playing for Gigantes de Carolina in

's Baloncesto Superior Nacional, Brown spent the 2007–08 season in the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball m ...

, playing for the Butte Daredevils. In 12 games with the Daredevils, Brown averaged 4.8 points, 1.7 rebounds and 0.8 assists shooting 44.9% from the field (40% on three-pointers). In November 2008 Brown joined

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

team Halifax Rainmen of the Premier Basketball League; he was released in late January 2009 after averaging 7.1 points in 23 minutes per game over 7 league appearances. He then went back to Puerto Rico and played for Leones de Ponce, appearing in 2 games and averaging 1.5 points per game. He spent the 2010–11 season playing for

MTV Wolfenbüttel MTV Wolfenbüttel is a German association football and sports club based in Wolfenbüttel, Lower Saxony. History MTV Wolfenbüttel (1848–1945) MTV Wolfenbüttel was founded as a gymnastics club in 1848. A football section was founded in ...

References

External links

Career stats at ProBallers.comProfile at RealGM.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, SirValiant 1980 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Canada American expatriate basketball people in Germany American expatriate basketball people in Uruguay American men's basketball players Baloncesto Superior Nacional players Basketball players from Washington, D.C. George Washington Revolutionaries men's basketball players Leones de Ponce basketball players Point guards Roanoke Dazzle players Shooting guards Sportspeople from Fairfax County, Virginia Gigantes de Carolina (men's basketball) players