It's another day in our counting down to tipoff, and Day #23 is a special one. Of course so were Days #24 and #25 with two of the greatest ever Dogs of any era and two members of our own Dawgs'Bite Years Lineup.
Well, here's another lock for that team. #23 ever and always belongs to Rickey Brown.
Brown also owns a unique status as the highest-rated hoops recruit signed by Mississippi State in the 20th Century, and he's right there with the highest since for that matter. He is a native of Madison County, Miss., but moved to West Fulton HS Georgia for his high school career and thus earned all the more attention nationally. This in a day when prep recruiting was far more word-of-mouth than video and evaluations, mind.
So when Coach Kermit Davis was able to bring Brown back to the home state as a 1976-77 freshman, it made waves. Brown was also joining the Bulldog program as two strong signing classes were building up the program with all the pieces for a SEC contender. With Ray White, Wiley Peck, Gary Hooker, Al Perry, et.al. a year ahead Brown stepped directly onto his baseline starting spot and got busy.
Listed at 6-10 and frankly this may've been a little short, Brown immediately knocked out the first double/double season for a Bulldog since Bailey Howell with 19.3 points and 10.8 rebounds. Then as a sophomore he darned nearly was knocked out himself with a practice injury busting the orbital bone around an eye.
No long-term damage was done and Brown would play masked for a while, which cut into his numbers at 13.4 and 6.9. By the junior year things were clicking for the entire squad under Jim Hatfield, the only coach possible who could have messed up this lineup. And he did.
Despite Brown's 15.4 points and 8.6 rebounds the Dogs fell short of the NCAA by a game. The critical contest was at Kentucky where Brown was to make a power move and last shot. SEC officiating got involved as Brown was whistled for charging. Back then it was taken as gospel never to let refs have final say in games with the Wildcats.
The season fizzled into a NIT berth and utter humiliation as Alcorn State knocked off the Dogs in Humphrey Coliseum. Most of that lineup graduated, too, leaving Brown to carry the whole load in 1979-80. He did in a marvelous year of 20.5 points with 14.4 rebounds despite being total center (no pun meant) of attention.
Brown was a first-round pick of Golden State playing three seasons out west, then a couple more back in Atlanta. He moved on to Europe in 1985 for a full decade, paying for teams in Italy and Spain and earning a EuroLeague Championship along with some national titles.
As of today, Brown still ranks #5 in Bulldog career scoring, #6 in career average, and has one of just seven 40-point games ever by a Bulldog. He still #3 for career rebounds and #7 in blocks.
Now as to which position one wants to list Brownie on our all-time lineup, that's a fair question. True post or power forward in the older-school sense? Either works just fine because Brown could and did dominate back-to or facing the basket.
But on our team, he is the big forward with Erick Dampier in the post. Ohhhh, what a tag team that'd have been…