Aaron Brown is so good that he is about to play in the tourney for the 2nd time…on his 2nd team! On Sunday he scored 13 PTS to help the Hawks beat VCU in the A-10 tourney title game to earn an automatic bid to this week’s NCAA tournament. His 1st college start came in the 2012 NCAA tourney with Virginia, and 4 years later his final college start will come against Cincinnati on Friday. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with Aaron about transferring to St. Joe’s and defending the 3-PT line.
In the 2012 NCAA tourney as a player at West Virginia you scored 2 PTS in a loss to Gonzaga: what are your memories of your 1st taste of the tourney? I was a freshman so I did not really understand what a privilege it was to play in the tourney. It was my 1st career start and even though we lost it was a great experience.
You spent your 1st 2 years of college in Morgantown: why did you decide to transfer, and what made you choose St. Joe’s? I decided to transfer because it was the best situation for me after a lot of things had happened. Once I decided to leave I knew that I would come to St. Joe’s because they were my #2 choice when I was in high school.
Do you still follow the Mountaineers, and if so, how far do you think they will go this year? I do catch a game here and there. Coach Bob Huggins is a very good guy and will always say hi whenever I drop by the West Virginia gym: there is no bad blood.
You play for Coach Phil Martelli: what makes him such a great coach, and what is the most important thing that you have ever learned from him? He is just a good dude who is always there to help by putting us in the right situation to be our best. I knew that from the 1st time he started recruiting me.
You beat several tourney teams this season including Buffalo/Temple/Dayton (twice)/VCU: which of these teams impressed you the most? They were all very good teams, which is why they all made the tourney. I cannot put 1 ahead of another because we had tough times with all of them.
Isaiah Miles was named the A-10 Most Improved Player/conference tourney MVP, led the team in many statistical categories (PPG/RPG/BPG), and also led the entire conference with 88.3 FT%: what makes him such a great player? His work ethic is great: he spent so much time over the summer and now it is paying off. He waited for his time and has learned a lot.
On Sunday you had 13 PTS in a win over VCU to clinch the A-10 tourney title en route to being named to the all-tourney team: how hard is it to win 3 games in 3 days, and what was the reaction like when you got back to campus? It is very tough to win 3 straight games: you have to focus on scouting reports and get some rest in a short period of time so that you can take care of your body. I went to class the day after we won and got a standing ovation: everyone is excited that we are bringing the attention to our school.
Your team is top-20 in the nation in 3P% allowed: what makes you guys so good at defending long-range shots? You just have to know the scouting report in terms of who to close out on, who has the hot hand, etc.
The A-10 was 1 of only 2 non-power conferences (along with the AAC) to have at least 3 teams make the NCAA tourney: what advice do you have for Syracuse (who plays Dayton on Friday) and Oregon State (who plays VCU on Friday)? I would say to not underestimate any A-10 teams because we all made the tourney for a reason. Do not take them lightly just because they are not a Power-5 school!
You ended up with a #8-seed and will be playing in Spokane on Friday against Cincinnati (who was swept by Temple this year): do you think that you deserved a better seed, and can you even remember playing against the Bearcats in the Big East 4 years ago? It did not matter what seed we got: we will be ready to go. We played them at home during my freshman year. It was a completely different team but they were physical and played man-to-man defense.