BOULDER — Offense was never an issue for Carlon Brown. At the University of Utah, he created shots as an unusually physical shooting guard. The 6-foot-5 product of Riverside, Calif., always had court charisma.
After a contentious junior year in 2009-10, however, Brown decided to hop to the other side of the Rockies and enroll at Colorado. He had led the Utes in scoring (12.6) and tied for the rebounding lead (4.1) in his final season. While he sat at CU a season ago, he worked on his weakness, defense.
Brown lined up daily against the best the Buffs had to offer, guards Alec Burks, the No. 12 pick in the NBA draft this past summer, and Cory Higgins. Together, they averaged 36.6 points per game.
Brown said his defense has improved.
“Thanks to Alec and Cory, guarding them every day in practice,” he said. “It was an attack I had to prepare for every day. Otherwise, I was going to get embarrassed.”
Now he’s penciled in to start at the big guard spot. A little more than a week into preseason practice, second-year CU coach Tad Boyle said he couldn’t be happier with Brown’s progress and his team’s early development. That should be encouraging for CU fans, as the Buffs lost 75 percent of their scoring from the team that made it to the NIT semifinals last spring.
“Carlon, for a guy who has only been in the program a year, he’s doing an unbelievable job,” Boyle said. “He brings the ability to make plays not only for himself but make plays for his teammates.”
Brown is clearly benefiting from a fresh start. When he transferred, he was one of four to leave the Utes’ program. He and ex-coach Jim Boylen did not air their differences. Boylen was fired a year later after a 13-win season.
“I don’t want to get into all that happened, but there was a coaching conflict all across the board,” Brown said. “It was just a place a lot of guys weren’t being used how we were told we were going to be used. I didn’t want to stick around for that.”
He considered transferring to Utah State and Kent State as well as CU. He said Boylen and athletic director Chris Hill wouldn’t sign the release papers for nonleague rival Utah State “because they didn’t want to play (against) me.” At the time, CU and Utah had no idea they would end up in the Pac-12.
CU assistant coach Jean Prioleau, whom Brown knew from having played against his TCU teams, helped persuade Brown to come to Boulder when Boyle’s staff set up shop.
“Utah to Colorado was a short move,” Brown said. “Being in a bigger conference. I wanted the opportunity to play against the best competition. The Mountain West was good; I’m not taking anything away. The Big 12 (CU’s conference at the time of the transfer) was a whole different level.”
So, after three years in Salt Lake City, Brown said of the move: “It’s pretty much a win-win here, more of a college environment. It’s just a better place for me. I really came here for basketball. My focus was on where I could be used in multiple ways and help the team win and help the program.
“I thought I did that at Utah, but it was time for a change.”
Natalie Meisler: 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com
