SirValiant Martin "Val" Brown (born December 21, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player. He played high school basketball at Robert E. Lee High School in Springfield, Virginia, and then signed for the George Washington Colonials in the NCAA Division I. During the 1999–2000 season, his freshman year, he was second in the nation in scoring with 24.6 points per game, behind Courtney Alexander of Fresno State, after leading the nation for part of the season. After his freshman year at George Washington, Brown was named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year and was an Honorable mention All-American. He left the college after his sophomore year in 2001 and declared for the NBA draft but went undrafted, and started his professional career in the NBA Development League. He has played in Uruguay, Puerto Rico, Canada and Germany throughout his 10-year career as a pro.
High school career
Brown was born in Washington, D.C. to Robbie and Marcella Brown. His father named him after Prince Valiant, one of the knights of King Arthur's Round Table, and named his other son SirLancelot after Lancelot, another of the Arthurian legend knights. Brown was known as "Val" during his high school years at Robert E. Lee High School in Springfield, Virginia, and in his freshman year he was cited as one of the most impactful players of the varsity team by local newspaper Fairfax Connection. At the end of his sophomore year, Brown averaged 19.9 points per game and was named an Honorable mention All-Met selection by the Washington Post as one of the best players in the Washington, D.C. area. For his junior year, Brown initially transferred to Mount Zion Christian Academy in Durham, North Carolina, but left in December 1997 after a brief period and spent the rest of the year at Notre Dame Academy in Middleburg, Virginia.
In the summer of 1998 Brown was invited to the ABCD Camp, a camp for the best high school players in the United States. For his senior year Brown returned at Robert E. Lee, and averaged 27 points, 5 assists and 3 steals per game, was an All-State selection by the Associated Press and was an Honorable mention All-Met selection for the second time in his career.
College career
Freshman season (1999–00) Brown was recruited by Kentucky, UCLA and Xavier, among others; however, he had attracted the interest of Tom Penders after his assistant coach Rob Wright saw Brown play at Lee High School and started recruiting him since he was 15 years old. Brown himself cited his desire to play for Penders when he was coaching at Texas, and when Penders was hired by George Washington, Brown signed there in order to play for him.
Brown chose to wear jersey number 13 at George Washington; coach Penders was looking to replace Shawnta Rogers, a point guard who had won the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year award in his senior year, and granted Brown extensive playing time relying on him as the primary scoring option on the team. In his freshman year, Brown was a , shooting guard who also played the point guard position sometimes.
Brown made his debut on November 19, 1999 scoring 19 points against Indiana State, followed by an 18-point performance against Oklahoma; on his third game with the Colonials, on November 21 against Houston, Brown scored 31 points. He had two back-to-back 33-point performances against South Florida (November 27) and Ohio (November 30). He was named the BB&T Classic MVP after scoring a total of 50 points over two games (23 against Seton Hall and 27 against Maryland). On December 11, 1999 Brown posted a new Charles E. Smith Center scoring record with a career-high 42 points against Siena. By the end of December, Brown had been nominated Atlantic 10 Conference Rookie of the Week 4 times in 4 consecutive weeks, and articles about him appeared on several news outlets such as The Washington Post, ESPN.com, The Orlando Sentinel and Dayton Daily News. Brown was leading all freshmen in scoring, and was one of the nation's top scorers in the NCAA Division I. Coach Penders described him as an Allen Iverson-like player. On January 29, 2000 he had a season-high 8 assists against La Salle, and on February 2 he scored 36 points against Duquesne. He then scored 33 against Dayton on February 9, 30 on February 19 against Rhode Island, 35 against UMass on February 29, and ended his season with a 33-point performance again in a game with UMass.