A Viking’s Journey

Hudson Valley students, young and old, have come from all over. Some live in the Capital Region, some have come from overseas, and some used to go to other colleges and universities throughout the United States. Brandon Dean is a starting Guard on the Hudson Valley men’s basketball team and his journey is as unique as any.

In Dean’s life, he has lived in different states and different school districts with different environments. However, there has been one constant: basketball.

“I started playing it as a kid to stay out of trouble and my friends played it too, and I’ve played ever since,” Dean said.

Dean grew up in New York City before moving to New Jersey, where he would begin playing organized basketball. “Fifth through eighth grade, I played on a really good team and we went undefeated almost every year,” said Dean.

Looking for a change of pace, Dean’s mother decided to move down to Florida. Dean went to high school at Flagler Palm Coast, where he set the school’s all-time scoring record with 2,374 points.

Scoring was never his main option as a kid, but when called upon to be the number one option on a team, it became natural to him. Some of the credit can go to his favorite player, Kobe Bryant.

“I’m a huge Lakers fans and a huge Kobe fan,” Dean said. “He has an assassin’s mentality. In his mind, nobody can stop him from doing what he wants to do on the court and that’s how I try to be.”

The 2010 season was Dean’s senior season and it was his most dominant. He averaged 28.4 points per game and 6.3 assists per game.

After playing so well, he received plenty of attention from schools trying to recruit him, including Florida State University, Jacksonville University, University of Central Florida, Florida A&M, Florida Atlantic University, Davidson College, Eastern Tennessee State University, Shaw University, and Wofford College.

“It was a great feeling know that all of those schools wanted me. It made me realize that I was getting closer to my dreams,” Dean said.

All Dean had to do was make a decision on one of the offers in front of him. He decided to wait after an AAU National Tournament to sign his letter of intent. During the tournament, he tore a ligament in his ankle and watched as all of his options suddenly began to disappear.

“When I tore the ligament in my ankle, all the schools took their offers away,” said Dean. “At first, I felt like it was all over, my grades even started to slip. But then I realized that my injury must have happened for a reason and god wouldn’t put me through anything I couldn’t handle.”

Dean settled for Santa Fe College in Gainesville, Florida, at first. During his time there, he was the team manager for the University of Florida’s men’s basketball team.

“I was really close with Coach Donovan and I really appreciate the fact that he let me do that,” Dean said.

After transferring to Daytona State College to get his grades up, Dean moved back to New York City in attempt to be accepted to Monroe College in the Bronx.

“That didn’t really work out so well, but the coach there gave me Coach Dag’s number and that’s how I got there,” said Dean.

The team became close right away, after a mutual agreement amongst each other. “After a couple of practices, we all agreed that we didn’t like the same drills,” Dean said.

Fellow Freshman Guard Jose Reyes and Dean did not take long to become closer than anyone else on the team. “Jose and I feed off of each other’s energy on and off the court and he is like family to me,” said Dean.

“He’s a great addition to the team, a great teammate, he does so much for the squad that’s not noticed, and it’s a pleasure playing with him,” Reyes said.

This is Dean’s first year that he is playing collegiate basketball and through 20 games, he is averaging 14 points per game, six rebounds per game and three assists per game.

“I feel like I could be playing better. I always think that no matter what,” Dean said. “My mom always told me to never be satisfied with being great, always strive to be better.”

The Vikings are 13-7 on the year and Dean and the rest of the Vikings have the same goal.

“We all want to win the National Championship. That was the plan since day one,” said Dean.