Dee Brown

Brown passed and ran for more than 1800 yards and 16 touchdowns in seven games as a quarterback during his senior season and earned recruiting overtures from Florida State University and the University of Nebraska for football.

Brown played in the Jordan Brand Capital Classic, McDonald's All-American, and City-Suburban All-Star games.

In addition to his athletic accomplishments, Brown also excelled in the classroom.

Williams and Brown, combined with talents of junior 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, Brown helped the 5th-seeded Illini to an opening-round 72–53 victory over 12th-seeded Murray State.

He earned Mr. Basketball honors in state of Illinois following his senior season, and was the ninth Mr. Basketball to attend Illinois since the award began in 1981.

Daniel "Dee" Brown (born August 17, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player and current college coach.

Brown also played football at Proviso East, starting at quarterback and lettering in 2000 and 2001.

Brown played at the University of Illinois from 2002 to 2006, receiving numerous awards and accolades, including the 2005 Sporting News National Player of the Year.

Brown was named Illinois' Gatorade Player of the Year in 2002, McDonald's All-American, Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette Illinois Player of the Year in 2002, First-Team All-State pick by the IBCA, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, and the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette.

Brown finished his high school career as Proviso East's all-time leader in scoring, assists and steals, averaging 25.6 points, 5.5 assists and 2.9 steals per game as a senior.

He shot 44 percent from the three-point arc as a senior and once made 12 three-pointers on his way to 42 points against Addison Trail High School as a senior.

Brown helped the Pirates to the Sweet Sixteen of the Illinois state tournament as a senior and averaged 19 points, eight assists, five rebounds and five steals per game as a junior while earning First-Team All-State honors from the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times and Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette.

His tenacity in transition offense earned him the moniker "The One-Man Fast Break" from the Chicago-based media, a nickname that stayed with him throughout college.

Brown led Proviso East to a 25–4 record and the West Suburban Gold Conference championship was ranked by RivalsHoops.com as the No. 2 point guard and No. 11 player overall in the nation and ranked the No. 3 point guard and No. 18 player overall by Blue Chip Hoops and Ranked by All-Star Report as the nation's No. 19 player.

He graduated from Proviso East in 2002, ranked sixteenth in a class of 382 students.

Brown was named a starting guard for 31 of 32 games in his freshman season at Illinois the one game he did not start walk on player Nolan Roberts took his place on senior night.

He led the Big Ten Conference in steals per game (1.9) and averaged 5.6 assists, second to teammate Deron Williams; a contribution that helped the Illini finish second in the Big Ten regular season standings and win the 2003 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament.

In his second season, Brown shared duties at point guard and shooting guard with 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).

In the 2004–2005 collegiate basketball season, Brown 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 Division I men's basketball tournament.

After the 2004–2005 season, Brown considered declaring his eligibility for the NBA draft.

However, Brown broke his foot during the NBA pre-draft camp for draft-eligible players, and opted to not enter the draft and return to Illinois for his senior year.

In March of this season, Brown was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

The title proclaimed "It's March!"

and included a picture of Brown popping the front of his jersey towards the crowd.

With Williams and Head in the NBA, Brown and fellow senior James Augustine led the Illini to a 26–7 record.

Brown had played shooting guard for his first three years at Illinois.

But since Deron Williams, who played point guard in his years at Illinois, had left for the NBA, Brown returned to his primary position of point guard for his senior season.

Brown was named a 2005 Consensus First-Team All-American, he was a finalist for the John R. Wooden Award finishing third, and was named the National Player of the Year by The Sporting News.

Brown was selected in the second round of the 2006 NBA draft by the Utah Jazz.

His last game was the 67–64 loss to Washington in the second round of the 2006 NCAA Tournament.

After the season, Brown was named Second-Team All-American by the Associated Press.

He received the sixth-most votes, making him the leading vote getter on the second team.

Also, he was named the winner of the Bob Cousy Award for 2006, given to the nation's top collegiate male point guard.

Memorable games included a career-high 34 points at home against Michigan State on January 5, 2006, and 14 points in a win on the road against UNC in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge (avenging the loss to UNC in the previous season's NCAA championship game in St. Louis).

Brown played for several international basketball teams from 2007 to 2015.

Brown attended Proviso East High School in Maywood, Illinois.

In their second-round game against the 4th-seeded Cincinnati Bearcats, Brown 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.