Brown's shot keeps him a notch behind Cook, Barrett

Sporting News, The, Nov 27, 2000 by Mike DeCourcy

While the rest of the Connecticut players merely loosen up, stretching the muscles used on their jump shots, Taliek Brown instantly goes to work. Coaches believe every moment of every practice counts for every player, but it counts more for a freshman starting at point guard for a team that is expected to win.

At one end of the court in the Lahainaluna High gym, Brown stands at the free-throw line, and assistant coach Karl Hobbs is directly beneath the goal. Only 26 hours before, in his Division I debut against Quinnipiac nearly half a world away, Brown was 1-of-6 from the free-throw line. Shaq numbers. As the Huskies prepare to compete in the Maui Invitational in a field stacked high with Final Four contenders, they can not afford another performance of that sort.

Hobbs has Brown shoot a few with one hand so he could grow accustomed to keeping his elbow in tight to his body and his hand underneath the ball. Trying to convince Brown that excess motion is spoiling his shooting touch, Hobbs stops him when he cocks the ball back on his wrist and prepares to fire.

"Once it gets to that pocket," Hobbs says, "no more fooling around."

Brown's shooting struggles, from the line and the field, preclude him from inclusion among the finer college point guards, even though his career is barely a week old. In the opener, he lasted 29 minutes, passed for four assists and did not commit a turnover.

"He was OK. He's a freshman," coach Jim Calhoun says. "He's quick, he's strong, he can defend. He's going to be real good. I just don't know how he'd get this far without working on his shot. It's the only thing that's really missing."

Calhoun spent much of the preseason debating who would run his offense as the season opened, with Brown competing for the job against sophomore Marcus Cox. As the Huskies progressed, Calhoun discovered the two guards played some of their best ball when they were together and senior Albert Mouring was stationed on the wing opposite Cox.

No program has as much experience with a dual-point attack. Some of UConn's best seasons featured this approach. In fact, Calhoun was a pioneer of sorts when he paired Doron Sheffer and Kevin Ollie in the mid-1990s and allowed them both to initiate the attack. In 1999, Ricky Moore and Khalid El-Amin played in tandem and shared the playmaking for the Huskies' NCAA championship team.

These Huskies are a shade smaller when using the dual-point look, but Cox is a ferocious rebounder for a 6-4 guard. Brown (6-1) feels a sense of comfort when he knows he's not the only UConn point guard in the game.

"I don't always have to bring it up, and that just takes a little pressure off me," Brown says. "Sometimes, I can just take the wing. In high school, I did everything. So this is kind of different, but it makes it easier for me."

What ultimately may govern Brown's freshman success is whether he can maintain focus on his team's and his own gradual improvement as Omar Cook of St. John's and Andre Barrett of Seton Hall attract significantly more positive attention.

The three were high school seniors in New York last year and formed perhaps the greatest point guard crop in the city's rich history. They developed the friendliest of rivalries. Brown cannot afford to let it grow beyond that status.

As Cook (see "Jolt of lightning") played his first two college games, his talent and astonishing command of the game transfixed ESPN's Dick Vitale, who immediately began comparing him to New York City playmaking products Stephon Marbury of the New Jersey Nets and Kenny Anderson of the Boston Celtics.

Barrett, in his first game for top-10 member Seton Hall, showed off his 3-point touch by making 3-of-5, scored 17 points and contributed four assists and five steals. He had just one turnover.

Cook and Barrett play in the New York metropolitan area, which magnifies the media attention. They also compete in the Big East, so their success will be impossible to escape. Brown's performance will be compared to theirs, and it could be judged wanting. He promises if this happens, it will not concern him.

"I'd try to block that out, because I've already got a lot of pressure on me," Brown says. "I'm a freshman, a starting point guard. I've already got enough pressure. Coach, he's just taking his time with me because he knows I'm a freshman. But he still expects a lot from me, and I expect a lot from myself."

Part of the reason Brown chose UConn was the presence of Barrett and Cook in the Big East "They're going to push me, and I'm going to push them," Brown says. One particular area in which Brown will be pushed is 3-point shooting. He looks like a shooter at times, but he isn't consistent.

"I've just got to shoot it the same way every time," he says. "I'm just trying to get it consistent It's going to take time and patience, but it's going to get there. I'm going to work at it, so I know it's going to be them. I'm not even worded about it."

This may sound like arrogance or overconfidence, but it should be read as resolve. Brown believes he will conquer his shooting problems and thrive as a freshman point guard because he will accept all the coaching available and spend all the energy required to make it happen.