Athletes - Dee Brown

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	Athletes - Dee Brown

Daniel (Dee) Brown (born August 17 1984 in Jackson, Mississippi) is an American basketball player. He is currently a senior on the University of Illinois men's basketball team. In his freshman, sophomore, and junior years, he played the position of shooting guard but has since moved to play point guard.

High school

Dee graduated from Proviso East High School in Maywood, Illinois, where he excelled not only athletically but also academically, finishing with a class rank of 16th out of 382 graduates. Dee was a star on Proviso East's basketball and football teams. Dee played quarterback for the football team, passing and rushing for more than 1,800 yards and 16 touchdowns in seven games as a senior season. His play at quarterback garnered the recruiting attention of many major collegiate football programs, including Florida State University and the University of Nebraska. His play on the basketball court, however, led Dee to be considered one of the best high school basketball players in the United States for his class. Dee was named Illinois Mr. Basketball and was a McDonalds All-American, and many recruiting analysts ranked Dee in the top 20 high school players.

College

Freshman Year

Dee was named a starting guard for 31 of 32 games in his freshman season at Illinois. Dee led the Big Ten Conference in both assists per game (4.97/game) and steals per game (1.9/game); a contribution that helped the Illini finish second in the Big Ten regular season standings and emerge victorious in the 2003 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament.

Sophomore Year

In his second season, Dee shared duties at point guard and shooting guard with his teammate Deron Williams. He started every game of the season, averaging 13.3 points per game and ranking second on the team in assists with 4.5 per game (behind Deron Williams). Williams and Brown, combined with talents of junor shooting guard Luther Head and the frontcourt tandem of Roger Powell and James Augustine, helped the Illini to a 13-3 Big Ten Conference regular season record, enough to win the school's first outright Big Ten Conference Championship since 1952.

In the NCAA Tournament, Dee helped the 5th-seeded Illini to an opening-round 72-53 victory over 12th-seeded Murray State. In their second round game against the 4th-seeded Cincinnati Bearcats, Dee scored 14 points and accounted for 8 of the team's 26 assists in a 92-68 victory, the Illini's first ever NCAA Tournament victory over a higher-seeded team. Illinois finally lost to top-ranked Duke, 72-62, in the regional semifinals.

Junior Year

In the 2004-2005 collegiate basketball season, Dee was one of a celebrated trio of guards (along with Deron Williams and Luther Head) that led the Fighting Illini to a 37-2 record and a second-place finish in the 2005 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship.

After the 2004-2005 season, Dee declared his eligibility for the NBA Draft. However, Dee broke his foot during the NBA pre-draft camp for draft-eligible players, and opted to withdraw from the draft and return to Illinois for his senior year.

Senior Year

With Williams and Head in the NBA, Brown (along with James Augustine) led the Illini to a 26-7 record. His last game was the 67-64 loss to Washington in the second round on the 2006 NCAA Tournament.

Awards and Recognitions

2004-2005

Consensus First-Team All-American
Finalist for Wooden Award (third-place finish)
The Sporting News National Player of the Year
Named First-Team All-American by The Sporting News, United States Basketball Writers Association, Sports Illustrated, CBSSportsline.com and the Wooden Award
Named Second-Team All-American by The Associated Press, NABC, and The Basketball Times
Named Big Ten Player of the Year, First-Team All-Big Ten, and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year

High School (2001-2002)

Illinois Mr. Basketball
McDonalds All-American
Gatorade Player of the Year for Illinois
Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette Player of the Year
First-Team All-State by the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, and the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association

Personal

Mother is Cathy Brown-Blocker.
Father is Fred Brown.
Scheduled to graduate in December with a bachelor's degree in sport management.
Given name is Daniel.
Reputation as one of the quickest guards in America has earned him the nickname "The One-Man Fast Break".
Attended the same high school as former NBA player and current NBA coach Glenn "Doc" Rivers and current NBA star Michael Finley.

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