2008 All-Central Virginia Boys Basketball POY Thomas Brown

Great athletes are often the ones who make those around them better.
Nelson County’s Thomas Brown is one of those athletes.
Brown, a two-year captain for the Governors, took on a new role this year — all for the good of the team.
“He stepped up his game from a leadership standpoint. His scoring was actually down, but he became a different player,” said Nelson County coach Brandon Garrett. “He got a lot better on defense and looked to get his teammates the ball. Going into the season, everybody knew about Thomas, but we have some other weapons too. He brought them out and gave them a lot of confidence. Without him changing his game we wouldn’t have made it as far as we did.”
That transformation was impressive enough to earn Brown 2008’s All-Central Virginia Player of the Year honor.
After averaging over 30 points per game his junior year, this season Brown’s average dropped to 24.2 points per game, but his assist rate went up (to 6.7 per game).
The adjustments paid off, as the Governors captured the program’s first state championship in March. The team also set a new school record for wins, reaching 30.
The title was especially sweet for Brown, who transferred to Nelson after playing at Albemarle his freshman year.
“What made it so special was that it was my last year,” said Brown, “and there are only eight teams [in Virginia] that were able to say they ended their season with a win, and fortunately we were one of those teams.”
This year, the 6-foot-2 guard helped Nelson to the Dogwood District, Region B and state titles, garnering player-of-the year honors in each category along the way. Brown plans to attend Hargrave Military Academy next year and hopes to transfer to a four-year college.
“We had to work really hard and it wasn’t an easy ride,” Brown said. “It seemed like we were a cross country team at the beginning of the season the way coach had us running, but at the end it paid off because other teams were kind of tired.”
Brown, 18, did a little bit of everything for the Governors — besides scoring and dishing out assists — he averaged 7.1 rebounds, 3.3 steals and shot 75 percent from the free-throw line. He is also Nelson County’s all-time leading scorer with 1,700 points in his career. But Brown knows none of the accomplishments would have been possible without his teammates.
“More guys stepped up. We just wanted it more,” said Brown of the transformation from their 9-12 season in 2007. “We don’t practice to be a third- or fourth- place district team; we practice to be a state champion.”