brown

Brown all-time moment No. 8: Glen Miller takes over Brown program

by

We’re counting down the top 10 moments in each Ivy school’s history as part of our Ivy League at 60 retrospective. Brown is next because the bandleader plays on…

Glen Miller wouldn’t have had the opportunity to turn the Penn basketball program into a still unextinguished dumpster fire if he hadn’t done a solid job in Providence.

Before Miller became Brown head coach in 1999, the Bears had enjoyed just one winning season in 23 years (the 1986 Ivy title season) and 14 total wins in the previous three seasons. Under Miller, whose previous coaching stop was at Division III Connecticut College, Brown quadrupled that achievement, reeling off four straight winning seasons from 2000-01 through 2003-04, including the school’s only NIT appearance in 2003.

Read more

Brown all-time moment No. 9: Earl Hunt pours 39 points on Harvard as freshman

by

We’re counting down the top 10 moments in each Ivy school’s history as part of our Ivy League at 60 retrospective. Brown is next because we need a man like Earl Hunt to help us navigate these turbulent times for the global stock market.

Earl Hunt’s numbers speak for themselves. His 2,041 points make him Brown’s all-time scoring leader and No. 4 on the all-time Ivy League scoring list. He was named an All-Ivy selection all four years of his collegiate career, including three straight first-team selections from 2001 through 2003. The guard’s Bears finished second in the league in 2003, the school’s best finish in 17 seasons, not to mention three straight winning seasons for a program that had faltered for decades prior to his arrival. Hunt was inducted into the Brown Athletics Hall of Fame last November for his achievements.

Read more

Brown all-time moment No. 10: Arnie Berman sets free throw record

by

We’re counting down the top 10 moments in each Ivy school’s history as part of our Ivy League at 60 retrospective. Brown is next because Arnie Berman is NOT a well-regarded contributor for The Nation magazine.

The first entry in our Brown countdown takes us back to Feb. 4, 1972, when an all-time Brown legend made serious bank  at the charity stripe – over and over and over again.

Read more

Former Brown forward Leland King transfers to Nevada

by

Leland King, who abruptly left the Brown basketball program in January as the team’s leading scorer, announced on Twitter this weekend that he is transferring to Nevada, where he will be eligible to play two seasons after sitting out the 2015-16 campaign.

The 6-foot-7, 220-pound King is in abundant company, as Nevada has welcomed Southern Illinois forward Jordan Caroline, Missouri State guard Marcus Marshall and Marshall guard Shawn Smith as transfers this offseason as well.

King was having the breakout season he was expected to have before walking away in 2014-15, posting 14.6 points and 7.8 rebounds per contest. He functions best as a pure scorer who can penetrate and should have space to do so with several other talented Nevada transfers, including Marshall, who had been averaging 19.5 points per game last season before leaving the Missouri State program.

Because of all the transfers that will comprise the Wolfpack in the future, it’s hard to figure exactly how King will run with the Pack in Reno, but Nevada could use his help, having gone just 9-22 last season.

UPDATE: As the great rb noted in the comment section, King told the Reno Gazette-Journal about leaving Brown for Nevada: “I was just looking for something different. I don’t feel I fit in there and I wanted to play in a bigger league. I was looking for a place that takes basketball a little more seriously.” Well, at least he was honest, and he was also accurate in identifying his “scoring ability” as his biggest strength.

Sizing up the Ivy transfers

by

It’s been an awfully busy offseason for transfers throughout the Ivy League. Shonn Miller is off to Storrs. Rafael Maia is pining for Pittsburgh, Alex Mitola is set for D.C. and Denton Koon is headed to Hempstead.

But which Ivy transfer is going to have the biggest impact on their team in 2015-16?

Read more

Rafael Maia transfers to Pitt

by

The transfers keep leaving.

This time, it’s Brown senior forward Rafael Maia, who now joins Pittsburgh as a graduate transfer for the 2015-16 season. In his final campaign for the Bears in 2014-15, the Sao Paulo, Brazil native led the Ivy League in rebounding and field-goal percentage while providing the Bears one of the best post presences in the entire league.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Maia chose Pitt over Nebraska and USC, and that Maia is the second graduate transfer addition for the Panthers this offseason.

Like Shonn Miller, Alex Mitola and Denton Koon upon their graduate transfers, Maia is immediately eligible.

Maia seemed to pick up his game in league play after then-leading scorer Leland King left the team just two contests into the conference slate, shaking off a December slump in which he scored just 13 points in a four-game stretch. Maia takes smart shots and can post up with the best of them, as he showed with solid efforts against Northwestern and Illinois in nonconference play.

ALL FOOLS’ DAY: Brown basketball budget to be used on hockey team

by

Athletic director Jack Hayes announced Wednesday that Brown, which has easily totaled the lowest amount of basketball expenses among all Ivies since 2004 according to Office of Postsecondary Education statistics, will transfer the remaining monies in its basketball budget to the budget for its men’s hockey team.

“Hockey rules at Brown, inasmuch as it rules at all,” Hayes said in a statement. “I just wanted to be transparent for once about where our institutional support really lies.”

The basketball team will raise funds going forward by pooling together lunch money taken from the players by coach Mike Martin.

Columbia Weekend Recap: Hosting Yale and Brown

by

NEW YORK – On Friday night, Maodo Lo showed his class.

Unfortunately, the rest of his teammates didn’t show up until Saturday.

The Columbia Lions fell to Yale in a heartbreaker, 63-59, on Friday night, as Lo put up 20 points on 6-for-8 shooting from long range but didn’t get much help from the rest of the squad. The full team came to play on Saturday, using a late 22-4 run to blow the Brown Bears out of the building, 86-65. It was Columbia’s largest margin of win in Ivy play in 11 years, but that’s little consolation for the disappointing loss on Friday night.

After four games, the Lions are 2-2 in Ivy play.

Let’s run through some of the major observations of the weekend…

Read more

Leland King leaves Brown basketball … now what?

by
Leland King led or was tied for the team lead in points and rebounds as just a sophomore this season. (nbcsports.com)
Leland King led or was tied for the team lead in points and rebounds as just a sophomore this season. (nbcsports.com)

Brown Athletics announced today that the team’s leading scorer, sophomore forward Leland King, has decided to leave the program for personal reasons.

The news is very unexpected with Brown just two games into Ivy League play (both losses, making Brown the only Ivy with two losses thus far).

And now that King is gone, so are his 14.6 points and 7.8 rebounds per game, a huge blow for a team that has already struggled on both offense (worst assist-turnover ratio in the conference) and defense (worst scoring defense in the conference) this season.

King had missed Brown’s last two road games, including the Bears’ 69-65 loss at Yale Saturday, a game in which senior forward Rafael Maia and sophomore guards Steven Spieth and Tavon Blackmon combined for 50 points, 18 rebounds and nine assists in King’s absence.

Senior guard Zeve Sanderson left the team earlier this team as well, and highly touted freshmen Aram Martin and Matty Madigan also left the program after their freshman campaigns in 2013-14.

Why is Brown basketball down?

by
Tavon Blackmon is averaging 7.4 points and 2.9 assists this season, (providencejournal.com)
Tavon Blackmon is averaging 7.4 points and 2.9 assists this season. (providencejournal.com)

So what’s up with Brown?

The Bears have always been a solid defensive unit under coach Mike Martin. They boast a frontcourt that features two-time Ivy Defensive Player of the Year Cedric Kuakumensah and fellow defensive stalwart Rafa Maia. Sophomore guard Steven Spieth also came into this season with a bit of a reputation as a strong backcourt defender as well.

And yet the Bears also have what is comfortably the worst defense in the conference statistically at this early stage of the season. They can’t defend in transition at all.

Read more