The Road to St. John’s Basketball: Justin Brownlee Before the Red Storm

The video above may be surprising to many Red Storm fans, as the junior college Justin Brownlee has only some resemblance to the one who spent two years in Queens.

He averaged close to 20 points per game at City College of San Francisco, and the video below shows just how dominant he was. We saw only flashes of this incredible athleticism from Brownlee during his time at St. John’s, but he became a well-rounded post player during his senior season.

The Tifton, Georgia native had less flashy alley-oops and more smooth fall-away jumpers in his time with the Johnnies, and he was an integral part of the Red Storm’s run to the NCAA Tournment, despite playing part of the season with a fractured thumb.

After averaging nearly 7 points in 18 minutes per game as a junior, Brownlee came out of the gate in his senior season showing the athleticism and polished game that made him such a force at Chipola Community College and CCSF. Under coach Steve Lavin, Brownlee averaged 12 more minutes per game and capitalized on the opportunity. He averaged 12 points and 5 rebounds in 2010-2011 and won Most Outstanding Player of both the Great Alaska Shootout and the Aeropostale Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden.

Former coach Norm Roberts nabbed Brownlee off the open market as part of his four-man 2009 recruiting class. The 6’7″ forward was drawing interest from others high-major schools, including Arizona, Memphis, Tennessee, and Kansas. Near the end of the season, Brownlee was popping up on numerous NBA Draft boards and, though he has slipped, expect him to get some workouts from teams.

For his size, he is smooth and has a high basketball IQ. Though Lavin tamed his itch to shoot from the outside, he can hit that shot, if he is open. He is also a good passer and has his moments defensively. Last season, he was the Johnnies’ best finisher at the rim and can play above the rim, as he showed with his highlight-reel dunk in a blowout of Duke in late January. It will be interesting to see if an NBA team takes a chance on signing him and, if they do, they could find a solid, multi-talented player at the next level.

Check back to Johnny Jungle for the second installment in this ongoing series, when we profile rising-sophomore Dwayne Polee II.