2005 college basketball award.(Know It All)

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Dee Brown G. ILLINOIS

Some things must be seen to be believed, and some must be seen to be understood. There might be no better way to measure Brown's excellence this season than simpy to watch him play.

Brown hasn't been statistically dominant the way some past winners of this award--Jameer Nelson, Shane Battier and Kenyon Martin, for example--have been. Brown, a junior, averaged 13.4 points, hardly extraordinary for a shooting guard and not even the best average on his team. But there are some small bits of support for Brown on the stat sheet: his 50.8 percent field-goal shooting, his 4.5 assists per game, his 1.8 steals.

All that is nice, but to truly appreciate Brown's value to college basketball's best regular-season team, you have to see him punish opponents with speed that instantly turns turnovers into baskets. He overwhelms overmatched guards with his strength, as when he had steals on three straight possessions against Michigan, the key factor in keeping his team unbeaten at the time.

Brown could not have accomplished what he has without the assistance of backcourt partners Deron Williams and Luther Head. Williams runs Illinois' attack brilliantly. Head makes shots and most often is assigned to defend the opponent's best ballhandler. But Brown's uncommon fusion of speed, strength, dexterity and audacity provides the Illini with the ingredient that elevates them well above other teams with terrific three-man backcourts, such as Washington, Duke and Georgia Tech.

"I watched Dee Brown all the way from the 10th grade. He didn't look then like the player he is now, but he looked like he was going to be the player he is now," says Illinois-Chicago coach Jimmy Collins. "I figure he'll be an even better player next year."