Given how important basketball is to redshirt sophomore AJ Brown and his family, it is no surprise the Orlando native’s short and long term ambitions lie within the game.
Brown’s mother and father, Ronald and Sheraida Brown, both played basketball in their youth and were quick to get their four kids involved. Alongside Brown, his twin sister Siarah and younger brother Isaiah play basketball at the collegiate level.
“My dad just put the ball in my hands at a very young age,” Brown said. “I think that’s what got me very passionate about everything I’m doing right now and why I love it so much.”
Brown’s father frequently served as his coach growing up, with his siblings being his greatest competitors. Although he claims he came away the victor in most of those in-house one-on-ones, the constant exposure to the game brought about a competitive nature and passion for all facets of the sport.
That passion led to Brown playing in some of the top youth circuits. One was the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League, where Brown helped lead his team to the Elite Eight in the circuit’s 2021 tournament. He averaged 10 points per game and shot 37% from 3-point range in the tournament. Those experiences helped shape Brown’s goal of one day owning his own organization in pre-collegiate basketball.
“I definitely want to start my own organization and give back to the youth,” Brown said. “(I want to) get into the sports field, something with marketing … just something to help people put their brand out there, or help people market themselves.”
As a recruit, Brown’s ability to market himself in youth circuits allowed him to gather several offers from high-major schools such as Alabama, Clemson and Penn State, along with high-caliber mid-major programs like Virginia Commonwealth, Iona and Yale. Per 247Sports, Brown is the third highest-rated recruit in Ohio history.
Brown’s goal to start his own youth basketball organization stems from his father, who ran an organization in addition to being Brown’s coach. As a sports management major at OU, Brown is setting himself up to follow in his father’s footsteps.
“My dad did it all throughout our younger years. When I was a youth, he had his own organization,” Brown said. “(My siblings and I) played throughout elementary school, and then we grew out and started playing for the circuit teams.”
In Brown’s ideal version of his organization, he would manage several youth basketball teams, giving high school players the opportunity to showcase their games at the highest level.
“We’re going to have about five teams, (ages) from 10 to 15,” Brown said. “We’re going to go to the little tournaments first, then we’re going to build up the team, do the recruiting we need to do, then make the EYBL, the Adidas circuits, the Under Armor circuits and all that. Just start low and build our way to the top.”
Brown is now in his second healthy season at Ohio. He made his name known in his freshman year with his career-high 28-point explosion over Ball State in the 2023 Mid-American Conference Tournament. Although he suffered a season-ending surgery just nine games into what would be his sophomore year, Brown has bounced back as a redshirt sophomore, averaging career highs in points, assists and steals, while also upping his percentages across the board.
His improvement plays into another career goal: playing professionally.
“It’s been a dream since I was a little kid, and I put in the countless hours, the hard work,” Brown said. “Now I just have to keep putting in the hard work, putting myself in situations to be successful at the end of the day.”
