From not having a team in early high school to receiving zero collegiate offers, former Parker School boys basketball star Conner Brown has faced plenty of hurdles in his playing career. But the adversity has paid off, as the Nebraska Wesleyan junior forward is now making noise that can be heard from nearly 4,000 miles away.
The 6-foot-4 Brown starts on the nationally-ranked Division III squad — averaging 6.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 25 games. The Prairie Wolves currently sit at 23-3 overall and 13-3 in the American Rivers Conference. After helping beat Dubuque 73-67 in the ARC Semifinals on Thursday, Brown and Nebraska Wesleyan will host Loras tonight in hopes of capturing the school’s first conference title since 2020 and fourth overall.
“I have never really been apart of a true winning program,” Brown told West Hawaii Today. “So being on a team and a culture that is backed by winning has been huge for me and what I’ve always wanted in my basketball career.”
Despite his individual and team success now, Brown has had to fight for everything he’s earned on the court. Starting high school at Parker in the fall of 2015, the Big Island Interscholastic Federation (BIIF) institution did not field a basketball team, and hadn’t for a decade. But that wasn’t going to deter the Waimea native from playing basketball on the island.
Brown — who was still fairly new to the sport at the time — gathered a handful of classmates who were also interested in playing and went straight to the school’s administration.
“He came up and asked for us to sponsor the team,” Parker athletic director and former boys basketball coach Greg Dunigan recalled. “They got six players to start off.”
From there, the school officially formed a junior varsity boys team with Brown’s father being named coach, and his freshman season became a success. The Bulls were in junior varsity again the following year, with Dunigan taking over head coaching duties. By the 2017-18 school year, Brown’s junior season, Parker was officially a varsity team. Brown averaged 24.4 points per game in his two varsity years — helping the Bulls stay competitive with some of the top programs on the island.
“We went through some lumps as a team, but we were competitive,” Dunigan said.
While Brown was rapidly improving throughout his secondary years, colleges didn’t garner much interest in him. Dunigan assisted in the recruiting process, sending film to coaches from all over the country.
“Even though I sent film, (college coaches) didn’t really notice him, because he was from Hawaii,” Dunigan said. “I told coaches that he was going to be a really, really good player by the time he was a junior (in college). But nobody bid on him.
“I still knew it would work out for him, because he put hours and hours into it. I’ve been coaching for over 30 years, and I had some very good players that put a lot of time into it. But for a person that loves basketball like he did … I had very few of those.”
It wasn’t until Brown individually reached out to a junior college program in Washington — Everett Community College — that he got his first chance. After redshirting his freshman season in 2019-20, the COVID-19 pandemic swept the nation, and Brown wanted a fresh start. He then took his talents to another JUCO program — Hartnell College in Salinas, Calif.
For the next two years, Brown ascended his college game, averaging 15.9 points, 7.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game while shooting an efficient 52.8% from the floor for the Panthers. His stellar play caught the attention of Nebraska Wesleyan, who was looking to fill an initiator role in Dale Wellman’s “Princeton offense.” The system revolves around motion, back-door cuts and setting screens on and off the ball.
“It’s a very systematic offense — everyone plays their own position,” Brown explained. “They thought I could translate well there.”
Since Brown had been playing in the Princeton offense for the previous two seasons at Hartnell, it was a match made in heaven for both parties. The Prairie Wolves offered Brown, and he soon packed up for the Midwest.
It’s no coincidence that Brown’s play in 2023-24 has helped put Nebraska Wesleyan back into conference contention. As a seamless fit, Brown and his teammates hope this season can be the start of something special for the program.
“We want to go win our conference championship and see how far we can make it in the NCAA (Division III) Tournament,” Brown said.
With at least a year left of college eligibility, Brown will aim to keep improving his game beyond this season, but he also has sights set on the future. Passionate about sharing his knowledge and experiences with others, he wants to eventually return to Hawaii to grow the basketball scene — as he credits his alma mater for sparking that interest in him.
“I’d love to stay around basketball – whether that be through training or coaching,” Brown said. “Or just helping kids understand that they can go make it happen and keep playing basketball for years and years after high school. I want to teach them that it’s not over after that. I definitely want to bring that back to this state and help encourage younger generations of Hawaii that they can keep playing basketball.
“Parker taught me that if you want to play basketball, you can play basketball — and if you keep working, it’s going to work out for you.”
