Stew's top 20: No. 5 - Tony Brown

Where to begin with a player like Tony Brown? It's probably best start at the beginning of Stew Morrill's time at USU. Brown began his career at Utah State along with Morrill in the 1998-99 season, ushering in his own four-year run of greatness to complement the epic run that Morrill began that same year.

From the start, Brown was a solid and reliable offensive force, scoring 18 points in his game as a freshman. The contributions in rebounding and assists didn't quite come around for Brown until his sophomore season, but he still managed to come out even on assists and turnovers as a true freshman. That alone is impressive for any freshman, and made even more impressive when you add in 11 points per game on 40.5 percent shooting from the field 36.3 percent on 3-pointers and a USU-record 92.1 percent from the free throw line.

As a sophomore, Brown added a little bit more scoring and a solid amount to his assist and rebound totals, all while improving his shooting from the field and from deep. His assist-to-turnover ratio improved by quite a bit as well. On the season, Brown averaged 11.6 points, 2.7 rebounds 3.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game.

He put up almost identical averages the next season as a junior during a two-year stretch of dominance by USU including an undefeated conference season in 2000 and a NCAA Tournament in in 2001.

Then as a senior, and the only returning starter from that epic 2001 season, Brown shared the spotlight with superstar junior college transfer Desmond Penigar. That seemed to only help Brown though, with all of his numbers across the board skyrocketing to 14.9 points, 2.9 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.6 steals per game, all while hitting on a career-best 48.9 percent of his field goals. It's no coincidence that with another dominant scorer, Brown's assist numbers went up like they did, along with his field goal percentage. To date, The Brown/Penigar duo of 2002 is the third-highest scoring duo to play for Morrill.

When it comes to career totals, Brown litters the USU record books like few other players have. He ranks in the top 10 in school history in points, assists, steals, 3-pointers made, 3-point percentage, free throw percentage, games played and games started. He ranks in the top five of a handful of those too.

Amazingly enough, despite all those impressive numbers, Brown never led one of his teams in scoring. He racked up team-bests in assists and steals as a senior in 2002, but outside of those, never led the team in any other major statistical categories.

Still, Brown's greatness is undeniable. His consistency across the board and on both sides of the court were essential in making a handful of great Aggie teams. He's also one of only two of Morrill's players to average double-figures in scoring in all four seasons. He also hit probably the biggest single shot of the Morrill era when he tied the game with 1.8 seconds remaining in regulation of Utah State's 2001 NCAA Tournament win over Ohio State. And topping it all off, a nickname as fitting as "Downtown Tony Brown" is about as good as you'll find!

In an era of so many great players, Brown was the one who set the standard for all other players to shoot for, even though many of his career marks remain tops of the Morrill era.