Murray State University Athletics
Former Racers Finding Professional Success Internationally
6/18/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
While the 2003-04 Murray State men's basketball team was en route to winning the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament title and earning the program's 12th NCAA Tournament appearance, several former Racer players were enjoying professional success on the international basketball stage.
Former MSU standouts Marcus Brown, D.T. Mayes and James Singleton had impressive seasons representing teams in Russia, Austria and Italy respectively.
Brown, who ranks third on MSU's all-time scoring list with 2,236 points, was the Ohio Valley Conference's Player of the Year in 1995 and 1996 while leading the Racers to three OVC titles. Since completing his collegiate career in Murray, Brown has become one of the top players in the powerful ULEB Euroleague, which features teams from throughout Europe and Asia.
In 2003-04, Brown lead CSKA Moscow to a third-place finish in the Euroleague while also earning All-Euroleague First Team honors. He finished fourth in the league in scoring at 18.4 points per game and was the only American born player to earn a First Team selection.
Mayes, who led the Racers to two OVC titles and two NCAA Tournament appearances in 1997 and 1998, averaged 21.26 points per game in his two seasons at MSU, which is No. 1 all-time just ahead of Racer great Jeff Martin's 21.23 ppg. He capped his MSU career by being named the 1998 OVC Player of the Year.
In 2004-04, Mayes, a native of Montgomery, Ala., was named the Most Valuable Player of the Austrian Eurobasket league for the second straight year after averaging 24.8 points per game. He was also named Guard of the Year, was a member of the All Import Team, the All Bundesliga Team and All Defensive Team and led the Gmuden Swans to second place in Bundesliga-A of the Austrian Eurobasket.
Singleton, a native of Chicago, Ill., was a member of the 2002 OVC Tournament champions and was a two-time All-OVC selection during his two seasons at MSU. He opened his first season of professional basketball in impressive fashion averaging 15 points and 12 rebounds per game to lead Sicc Cucine Jesi to the league title in Lega Due A2 and qualify the team for A1 status for the first time.
"I think it's speaks highly of the tradition of winning and tradition of great players to come through the program here at MSU," said head coach Mick Cronin, who is preparing for his second season with MSU basketball. "Each one of those guys had great careers at Murray State and their success at the collegiate level has led to even bigger and better things for them professionally. They're doing a great job of representing Murray State University."
Brown recently returned to Murray to visit with fans at the Pepsi Racer Classic golf tournament and seeing the MSU campus brought back a lot of great memories from his days of winning at Racer Arena.
"Coming back to Murray is always special for me because of all of the great people here and all of the great love and support I got while I played here," said Brown. "My four years at Murray were unbelievable. Murray will always hold a special place in my heart."
Brown said he plans to finish the necessary requirements to earn his degree from MSU, which should require only one more semester of work. The pursuit of his degree was halted in the spring of 1996 when the West Memphis, Ark., native was selected in the second round of the NBA Draft by the Portland Trailblazers, the first step in a professional career that has now covered seven seasons.
"Earning my degree and graduating from college is very important to me," said Brown. "I want to do it for myself and my family. I'm excited to get the chance to finish it out at MSU."
Brown wasn't the only former Racer to return to western Kentucky as Singleton recently returned to the MSU campus to prepare for a busy summer of basketball.
Singleton is slated to play for the Seattle Supersonics during the NBA Summer League session and has several other workouts planned. He also has standing offers to return to Italy to continue his international career if he so chooses.
"I'm really, really pleased with how things are going right now," said Singleton. "I was fortunate to have a great season in Italy, and that's led to several opportunities back here in the U.S. this summer. No matter what happens here this summer, I just want to keep an open mind and play basketball where ever I can because that's what I love to do."
