Brown emerged as Elgin's leader
While detailing the newcomers to Elgin's boys basketball team 16 months ago, coach Mike Sitter was asked to describe Kory Brown, then a 6-foot-2 sophomore being elevated to the varsity.
Without hesitation Sitter replied, "He'll be the next in a long line of Division-I basketball players to come out of Elgin."
It was notable level of confidence for a coach to show in a player yet to see a minute of action in a high school varsity game. Sixteen months later, Sitter's prediction seems spot on.
Brown made a splash during the 2009-10 season by averaging 11.1 points for a team that won only 7 games, but that paled in comparison to the breakout junior season he enjoyed in 2010-11.
After growing two inches to 6-4, the 16-year old from Hoffman Estates demonstrated a new level of confidence when he returned and an improved level of play to match.
Brown started hot and got better as the season went on, highlighted by a dynamite month of February in which he averaged 20.1 points and 10.1 rebounds per game to lead the Maroons to their first title in the Upstate Eight Conference since 2000-01.
He finished the season averaging 16.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3 steals per game for a team that won its first Class 4A regional title since 2007-08.
For these accomplishments, Elgin junior Kory Brown is the honorary captain of the 2010-11 Daily Herald All-Area boys basketball team in the Fox Valley.
"I felt that I needed to step up more than I was," Brown said. "I'm an unselfish player, but coach was telling me to be more selfish. No one on the team ever tells me that I hog the ball or that I'm shooting it too much, so I went by what they said.
"I kept moving and started shooting the ball more. I started to act more as a leader, and we ended up getting a lot of Ws."
Four wins came right off the bat as Elgin beat the host school and Stevenson en route to winning the Buffalo Grove Thanksgiving Tournament for the first time since 2002. Brown, who averaged 13.7 points and played great defense, was named tournament MVP.
The Maroons were beaten on Dec. 11 at Bartlett, 64-59, a loss that dropped their record to 5-2. However, the Hawks couldn't help but be impressed by Brown, whom they limited to 10 points. Brown can count Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith among his fans. Wolfsmith scouted Elgin on multiple occasions during the season.
"A year ago, he was a kid you would say has all the tools but you don't know if he'll become the player he can be," the Bartlett coach said of Brown. "But he has grown into a leader and a dominant force in the area. It's been really neat to watch him grow as a basketball player and a person the way he leads that team, all the big things he does for that team.
"Every time I watched Elgin play I was impressed with what he meant to that team. He's a load. He has the full package that elite players have: he can score, he can shoot and he defends real well."
More Elgin wins soon followed, and Brown had a helping hand in each. He penetrated the lane late in a game against Batavia and dished to Gerardo Mojica for a key bucket. He notched 20 points and 5 assists in a win over Hoffman Estates. And Brown drained a clutch 3-pointer from the top of the arc to tie Rockford Auburn in the waning seconds of an Elgin Tournament semifinal, a game the Maroons went on to win in overtime on Dennis Moore's game winner.
Brown scored 20 points to go with 8 rebounds and 3 steals in a big win at St. Charles North on Jan. 7. He followed that up with 14 points and 8 rebounds in a win over Streamwood on Jan. 14.
That was the first of three meetings between Elgin and Upstate Eight River rival Streamwood. Sabres coach Tim Jones got a better look at Kory Brown than any coach in the area.
"He's just a tremendous ballplayer," Jones said. "The way he can handle the ball, he can shoot the ball or go to the bucket he can do a lot of things. He's a very versatile player. He'll make some college a very nice ballplayer. I have a lot of respect for him.
"Hands down he should be the MVP in the River Division."
Brown scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a win over East Aurora on Jan. 25. Two days later he had 14 points and 13 rebounds in a road win at Batavia. The next night Brown finished with 8 points and 6 rebounds in a 29-point win at Burlington Central.
Those totals against Central were modest by Brown's increasing standards. Nevertheless, his talent was evident to Rockets coach Brett Porto, himself a former Daily Herald Athlete of the Year.
"His ability to do anything on the basketball court makes his stand out on that team more than anyone else," Porto said. "He rebounds, he brings it up, shoots from the outside, attacks. If he gets the rebound it's see you later."
Brown played his best basketball in February. He scored 17 points and made 5 steals in a win over DeKalb. He scored 13 points as Elgin completed a sweep of rival Larkin. He scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a win over St. Charles East.
In the UEC River-clinching victory over St. Charles North on Feb. 16, Brown notched 22 points and had 11 boards.
A week later in a comeback victory over Grayslake Central, he poured in a career high 30 points, snared 9 rebounds and blocked 5 shots.
"Kory put the team on his shoulders and carried the team for most of the month," Sitter said. " We were undefeated in February until the last game against Streamwood. A lot of that was due to Kory's improved play."
Brown's favorite moment of the season came in the rematch with Streamwood in a regional semifinal at Larkin on March 1. With time running out Brown grabbed a rebound and flicked it back over his shoulder before the buzzer. The shot rimmed twice before falling in for the game-winner as Brown tied teammate Jordan Dean with a team high of 17 points.
"That shot will stay in mind forever," Brown said. "It was a crazy tip-in that even I didn't expect to go in and it ended up dropping. What can I say?"
Brown's spectacular junior season came to an end on Tuesday, when he was limited to 10 points by Huntley in a 57-46 loss in a sectional semifinal. Still, Brown made one more fan of an opposing coach.
"He's great at taking the ball to the basket and great at finishing, fantastic in the open court," Huntley coach Marty Manning said, "but what really separates him from other players I see is how much he cares about winning and committing to defense and rebounding. You don't see that consistently out of guys with his talent level, but every time I've watched him play he's been going full-bore."
Brown said his inner drive is a result of his maturity as a second-year varsity performer.
"I have a much better understanding of the game," he said. "I look at the game now almost through different eyes. I see it from two perspectives: offense and defense.
"Offensively, I'm looking at the rim more to score, but at the same time I'm looking to see how many defenders they're throwing at me so I can see who's open and what I need to do to draw the defense closer and get an easy bucket or a wide-open shot.
"Defensively, a lot of times they try to get me away from the ball and move the other way. So I'm looking to help out a little bit more. When it is on my side I'm looking to play stronger and tighter defense."
It's all part of the evolution of a talented ballplayer, says Brown's coach.
"In the last month or two he really has had that confidence in himself," Sitter said. "He's seeing that he can do things on the court that other players can't do, that he can dominate every player out there.
"If you put a big guy on him, he's going to go to the rim. If you put somebody small on him, he's going to post them up. Or he'll step out and shoot over them. He's just improved leaps and bounds from his sophomore year.
"If he takes as big a step from his junior year to his senior year, he's going to be all-state. The sky is the limit."