September 24, 2015
What Brown will do for SJSU
6-foot-1 Terrell Brown knows nothing about being born mouthing a silver spoon. No national basketball analysts were even aware of his existence. Heck, even he wasn't sure about landing in Division I until relatively recently. But now the Moreau Catholic High senior is headed on scholarship to San Jose State University (SJSU) and beginning a re-set of the work and effort that has brought him a paid-for college education.
Playing for Team Arsenal and Coach Kelvin “KP” Potts in the spring and summer, Brown was initially contacted “before Las Vegas by [second-year Spartan Assistant Coach] Mike Lepore.” That was prior to late July when the North American amateur basketball world converges on Sin City for three major simultaneous tournaments featuring hundreds of teams and thousands of players.
He must have shone well because within a month all was a done deal.
Here's Frank Knight, the Moreau High head coach, on his senior guard: “Terrell played JV here at Moreau Catholic and was really what we would call a late bloomer. He did not come in with all the hype like many others and I think that's what motivated him to work on his game, a true chip on his shoulder. Terrell's best basketball is ahead of him. He has a super high ceiling and I think he was a steal for San Jose State. He will give that conference problems for four years.”
Brown noted his best skills as “defense, getting past people to get to the basket” and being a sparkplug of sorts offensively utilizing his quickness and speed. Get him in the open court and it's get ready to add points to his team's total.
But as a freshman and sophomore, “I was a shooter. That's all I did. As a junior, I figured out I needed to get after it and began going to the basket more.”
He credits the improvement in his ballhandling and pullup jumper from working with Potts. In the It's-A-Small-World Department, Potts played for Knight when the latter was head coach at Fremont High.
According to Brown, he's being viewed by SJSU as a combo guard.
With basketball, it has been a family affair of sorts. Brown's father tapes each of his son's Moreau High games plus Brown cites his older brother as his biggest hoops influence “because he is the one who taught me how to play. He pushed me.” Being so close to home will allow his family to conveniently see him play.
However, first comes his senior season. Moreau finished 2014-15 at 23-7 with a tough out-of-conference schedule and 14-0 in the Mission Valley Athletic League. At least four of the Mariners will go D1. Practices are, to say the least, interesting. “It's real tough. We go at each other but we are brothers on and off the court.”
Expect Brown to bring that competitiveness and camaraderie south to Silicon Valley as he also helps bring an edge while ‘localizing’ the Spartan squad.