Facing the possibility of splitting playing time three ways for another season, Kamyron Brown chose to transfer from the UO men’s basketball program while the program went looking for another point guard.
That point guard, junior college player Malcolm Armstead from Chipola Community College in Florida – where he is a teammate of signed UO recruit Jeremy Jacob – has not sent Oregon a letter of intent officially, a UO sports information official said, but he is well-known to be a target of Oregon’s.
If Brown had stayed and Armstead signed, Oregon would have been one scholarship over the 13-scholarship limit. Instead, Brown, a sophomore who played in 61 career games averaging 4.4 points per game, exits Eugene after the conclusion of spring quarter with “no bitterness on my part” and looking for a program where he can be the featured guard, he said Monday night on a conference call.
He called the decision, which he informed head coach Ernie Kent of Saturday when they met to talk about the situation for the first time, “like a business approach.”
“You’ve got to see what the team needs to grow. If they needed another point guard, they needed another point guard,” said Brown, an Anaheim, Calif. native. “He’s a junior college player, so I guess they’re going out and looking for experience.
“I look at it like it is a positive both ways.”
Brown talked with his family over the decision, which he said he began to consider after the season ended. Transferring “wasn’t a thought at all to me last year,” he said.
The transfer was publicly announced in a brief media release Sunday afternoon; Ernie Kent could not be reached for additional comments Monday.
“I sat down with Kamyron and we both agreed the best situation for him to continue his growth as a player would be in another basketball program,” Kent said in the release. “Kamyron will be allowed to continue working with our players, coaches and support staff through the end of the school year.”
The coaches will also help Brown find a new school, but he hasn’t contacted prospective ones yet, he said.
The problem at Oregon was simply minutes, Brown said. Oregon’s up-tempo style “was a great fit for me,” he said, but he started only 13 times in his career, averaging 17.6 minutes per game.
Even if the Ducks weren’t recruiting Armstead, Brown said he likely would still have transferred.
“If they didn’t recruit him, there would possibly be a chance of me staying, but I still needed somewhere where I could get a majority of the minutes and not split it three ways or four ways,” he said. “I never really had a problem with any of the coaches. They made me a better person.”
Brown said he did not contact Drew Viney, a childhood friend of his who transferred to Loyola Marymount after one season with Oregon last year, until after he completed his decision.
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Brown to transfer, undecided on destination
Daily Emerald
May 10, 2009
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