Missouri Basketball Already Has It's Most Improved Player: Kaleb Brown

Although the Missouri men's basketball team may have 11 new names on the 2023-24 roster, it's a familiar one receiving praise by coaches and teammates alike as being the most improved player during summer workouts and practice sessions, including the team's offseason trip to Jamaica: "Brown."

Ah, but this isn't Kobe Brown, of course. The most recent SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year has moved on the NBA after being the 20th-overall draft selection of the Los Angeles Clippers. Instead, it's his brother Kaleb, who is now looking to make a name for himself and has turned things up a notch, 

"I'm excited about what he's done, what he's able to do," head coach Dennis Gates said. "From a basketball standpoint, I've seen him make more shots from behind the arc, but having a positive assist-to-turnover ratio in practice and rebounding. I think it's all slowing down for him, and he's doing a great job."

His teammates were raving about him as well at SEC Media Days last week in Birmingham. The junior guard who is listed at 6-7, 245 pounds, is on pace to be a key contributor this season. 

“Man, he’s just been playing really good basketball — facilitating the ball really well," graduate student forward Noah Carter said. 'He’s been shooting the ball really well. He’s been playing good basketball, just helping the team a lot.”

This about someone who played just in 11 games last season while his brother helped guide the Tigers to their best SEC finish in school history and first NCAA Tournament game in 13 years. The younger Brown totaled nine points, six steals, five assists and four rebounds. 

In comparison, he had played in 27 games the year before, averaging 9.6 minutes under the previous head coach. So it didn't surprise many when Brown submitted his name for the transfer portal. 

Consequently, it shocked a lot of people when he decided to stay. 

"Kaleb Brown put his name in the portal, was ready to transfer, based off the lack of production, lack of playing time," Gates said. "But he had a reflection. He sat there, looked in the mirror, with open arms our staff, our program received him back. It's easy to transfer in today's climate. It's more popular to be a transfer than it is to be a guy that goes through a process. 

"Watching Kobe Brown, the older brother of Kaleb, go through the process of his career, I think had an impact on that, as well. But when he had a nurturing coaching staff, nurturing moment, people that's going to tell him the truth, his teammates, all others, you see a kid that went through a process."

As the coach alluded, it probably didn't hurt for him to have a front-row seat to how a year ago neither Kobe Brown, nor D'Moi Hodge, a British basketball player who is now with Los Angeles Lakers, were being talked about much in terms of next-level ability. The NBA undergrad committee didn't consider either as a draft prospect. That obviously changed in a big way under Gates.

Another factor may have been that Brown realized that he could still step out of his brother's shadow at Missouri as anywhere else, and he would be turning his back on one the few things he was certain. That's a sign of maturity, and shouldn't be overlooked, especially considering his previous three years.

Arguably, his last stability, if one can call it that, goes back to when playing for his father, Greg, at Lee High School in Huntsville, where he helped the Generals win a Class 5A Alabama state championship, and he was named the 2021 5A State Player of the Year. But that senior season was the covid year in high school, with his first season at Missouri the first post-covid year, and everything was still far from normal. Then, after his freshman season, the Tigers underwent a coaching change. 

A lot of players would have cut and run in that situation. Instead, as Carter put it, "he’s ten toes down with us. He's here to stay and he’s ready to help us this year.”

"I think it starts with their dad, they are sons of coaches, but also mom," Gates said. "I think Cheryl Brown does a tremendous job of supporting her sons, but also pushing them in the way that they need to be pushed. They expect those guys. and we look at basketball, Kobe Brown is 4.0 student, Kaleb Brown has done a tremendous job in the classroom. That character begins well before basketball is picked up."

He continued: "Maturation is what stands out the most. I see that in detail in his basketball game when it comes down to defensively he's able to grade out in our defensive system higher than any other kid in the program. Being the son of a coach, he knows the right places, the right reads. He's one of our best post feeders, one of our best connectors. I just need him to continue to grow in vocal, meaning you have to play the game connected with your teammates vocally. He's done a tremendous job growing in that way."

So it's B-R-O-W-N in the No. 1 jersey for the black and gold. Just make sure you get the first name right.