Freshman year Brown was named a starting guard for 31 of 32 games in his freshman season at Illinois the one game he did not start walk on player Nolan Roberts took his place on senior night. He led the
Big Ten Conference in assists per game (5.0) and averaged 1.8 steals; a contribution that helped the Illini finish second in the Big Ten regular season standings and win the 2003
Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament.
Sophomore year In his second season, Brown shared duties at point guard and shooting guard with
Deron Williams. He started every game of the season, averaging 13.3 points per game and ranking second on the team in assists with 4.5 per game (behind Deron Williams). Williams and Brown, combined with talents of junior shooting guard
Luther Head and the frontcourt tandem of
Roger Powell and
James Augustine, helped the Illini to a 13–3 Big Ten Conference regular season record, enough to win the school's first outright Big Ten Conference Championship since 1952. In the
NCAA Tournament, Brown helped the 5th-seeded Illini to an opening-round 72–53 victory over 12th-seeded
Murray State. In their second-round game against the 4th-seeded
Cincinnati Bearcats, Brown scored 14 points and accounted for 8 of the team's 26 assists in a 92–68 victory, the Illini's first ever NCAA Tournament victory over a higher-seeded team. Illinois finally lost to top-ranked
Duke, 72–62, in the regional semifinals.
Junior year In the 2004–2005 collegiate basketball season, Brown was one of a celebrated trio of guards (along with
Deron Williams and
Luther Head) that led the
Fighting Illini to a 37–2 record and a second-place finish in the
2005 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. Brown was named a 2005 Consensus First-Team All-American, he was a finalist for the John R. Wooden Award finishing third, and was named the National Player of the Year by The Sporting News. After the 2004–2005 season, Brown considered declaring his eligibility for the
NBA draft. However, Brown broke his foot during the NBA pre-draft camp for draft-eligible players, and opted to not enter the draft and return to Illinois for his senior year. In March of this season, Brown was featured on the cover of
Sports Illustrated. The title proclaimed "It's March!" and included a picture of Brown popping the front of his jersey towards the crowd.
Senior year With Williams and Head in the NBA, Brown and fellow senior
James Augustine led the Illini to a 26–7 record. Brown had played
shooting guard for his first three years at Illinois. But since Deron Williams, who played
point guard in his years at Illinois, had left for the NBA, Brown returned to his primary position of point guard for his senior season. His last game was the 67–64 loss to
Washington in the second round of the
2006 NCAA Tournament. After the season, Brown was named Second-Team
All-American by the
Associated Press. He received the sixth-most votes, making him the leading vote getter on the second team. Also, he was named the winner of the Bob Cousy Award for 2006, given to the nation's top collegiate male point guard. Memorable games included a career-high 34 points at home against Michigan State on January 5, 2006, and 14 points in a win on the road against UNC in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge (avenging the loss to UNC in the previous season's NCAA championship game in St. Louis). Brown led in the Fighting Illini in points (14.2), assists (5.8), steals (1.6) and minutes (35.8). When he retired his famous orange headband, he ended perhaps the finest four years in the school's history. Brown is the winningest player in Illinois history (tied with James Augustine) with 114 victories, leads in all-time minutes (4,698) and started the most games (136) of any player in school history. Brown played in 137 games during his career, the second most in school history (tied with James Augustine), he was third on the Illini all-time scoring chart with 1,812 career points and second in school history in career 3-pointers (299), career assists (674) and career steals (231). His career assists total ranks fifth in Big Ten history, while his career 3-pointers and career steals totals rank sixth in Big Ten history. Brown is also Illinois' record holder in the NCAA Tournament for career points (179) and career field goals (64). == Pro career ==