BUFFALO, N.Y. — After playing Division I college basketball and making it to the NBA, some guys might get a big head and forget where they came from, but not Damone Brown.
He was one of the best basketball players to come out of Buffalo in the late 1990s. Brown was a star at Seneca Vocational, then went on to play for Jim Boeheim at Syracuse University and was a second-round draft pick of the Philadelphia 76ers in 2001.
"That experience is something that you don't get to experience every day, and playing professionally, that's one in a million. So just to have those experiences and have those memories is something I'm going to hold onto forever," Brown said.
Along with Boeheim, Brown was also coached by Larry Brown and Lenny Wilkens, among others. And now it's his turn to pass along his passion for the game to others.
"I was fortunate to have some great coaches, and play for them, and learn a lot from them, so everything I learned I give back to them," Brown said.
Brown returned home and is now in his second season as head coach of Bryant & Stratton men's basketball and connecting with his players on more than an Xs and Os level.
"What you going to do with basketball when its over? Because obviously it has to end at some time. He wants you to do things other than basketball after its over with," guard Tyrell Mitchell said.
Added forward Jonathan Range: "Patience. Just patience with everything. Nothing happens overnight, or in one possession, if we're going to talk basketball, but mostly patience inside the gym and out."
As for the future, well, Brown isn't worried about other opportunities that might come his way. Right now he's all about the making the Bobcats a small college powerhouse.