April 28, 2011

CHICAGO -UIC incoming freshman Marc Brown recently returned home from a week-long trip to France, where he was a member of the USA Elite National Team. Brown's squad competed in the Tourcoing Elite World Championships, against teams from seven other countries.

The U.S. team flew into Paris on April 20, and returned home Tuesday. Brown and his teammates played five games, and finished third in the field. The Americans started off with three-straight wins before coming up short against Serbia in the semifinals.

Brown felt the physicality of the competition provided another experience that will help him further prepare for the rigors of college basketball.

"It was a great experience, because a lot of the players we played against are already professionals," said Brown. "A lot of those guys overseas have been in pro leagues. I really think it was another step in preparing me for college ball. It was a more physical style of play than you see in high school. A lot of the bumps and contact you see in high school or even in college aren't called as fouls over there. They just let us play."

The Elite team was comprised of 12 Division I prospects, including McDonald's All-American Adonis Thomas, who will be attending Memphis. Brown played both on the ball and on the wing during the Championships.

"I was probably the second shortest player on the team, and I'm 6-foot-4," Brown said. "We had a really big lineup. It was good for me to play both positions. Coach (Howard) Moore and I have talked about how he wants to use me on the wing, so it was good to play some extra minutes on the wing against some really good competition."

Brown signed at UIC last November, and will be a key member of head coach Howard Moore's initial recruiting class. He originally committed to Florida State, and was recruited by Moore when he was an assistant coach at Wisconsin. Brown chose the Flames over the likes of Central Arkansas, Minnesota, Nebraska and Penn State.