LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville basketball fans watching Mikel Brown Jr. run the floor for Team USA at the U19 World Cup aren't just seeing a talented recruit.
They're seeing something this program hasn't had in a very long time.
Louisville has known great freshmen. Darrell Griffith was the most sought-after player in the country. Pervis Ellison set an impossibly high bar by leading the Cards to a national title. Wesley Cox, just a year after freshmen regained NCAA eligibility, averaged 14.2 points per game.
No freshman since has topped that mark.
That could soon change.
Brown, a five-star point guard from Orlando, isn't just a scorer — though he's scored plenty. Through his first three games in Switzerland, he dropped 58 points, including back-to-back 24-point performances against France and Cameroon. He added 12 assists in those two games, just for good measure.
But it's not the buckets that got my attention. It's some little things.
Against Jordan, Brown played just under 12 minutes. Long enough to splash a three, hand out six assists, swipe two steals and post a plus-minus of +22. He made the game better — and everyone around him better — in just two short rotations.
And when he wasn't on the floor? He was up, smiling, locked in — a bench presence, a teammate, a guy who clearly gets it.
That's what excites Louisville coach Pat Kelsey the most.
"What's awesome about Mikel is, down there (in the practice gym), he just wants to be one of the guys," Kelsey told Sidney Depp of Floyd Street Media in an interview. "But you know, his humility, I think, is what makes him great, the sacrifices he makes on a daily basis, to his teammates, not walking out on that floor and saying, 'I'm this and you're that like that.' ... His makeup is what makes him good."
Louisville's luck with freshmen has been hit or miss. Aside from Griffith and Ellison, there have been flashes — Samaki Walker, Samardo Samuels, a young Rodney McCray doing all the dirty work. But truly transformational. Pretty rare.
Brown might just be that.
He has the skill. He has the motor. He has the makeup.
And if you're a Louisville fan, it's hard not to imagine how that will look in Kelsey's offense.
"He's a special talent. He's a championship point guard," Kelsey said just after Brown committed. "... I was a point guard. I missed 1,000 points by 867. But I think our system is a fun system to play in. and Chucky (Hepburn) absolutely thrived and I'm sure Mikel is that same thing."
Quick sips
• USL alum leads Team USA. Diego Luna scored a pair of quick goals to send the USA past Guatemala and into the Concacaf Gold Cup final with a 2-1 win Wednesday night in St. Louis. USA Today casually described him as "American star" in its game story, but it's worth remembering that it hasn't been that long since he was left off the U.S. Olympic roster, nor that he was plying his trade in the USL with the El Paso Locomotive.
• Another good soccer story is right here at home, where St. X junior-to-be Brandon Dayes just made his USL debut with LouCity FC in its win Saturday over North Carolina. Read Tom Lane's story here.
The Last Drop
"When you look at his athleticism, he is already, for sure, at the level of the first-team players. Then it's about reading the game and tactics — and that's our job. Our job is to make sure we're preparing him for that."
-- LouCity FC coach Danny Cruz on 16-year-old player Brandon Dayes
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