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Three days before his 26th birthday, former Florida Gulf Coast University forward Roman Brown flew back from Long Beach, Calif., on Wednesday with a handful of offers to play professional basketball overseas.

Two German teams and one from Australia courted the 6-foot-8, 240-pound Brown after he raised eyebrows while playing against NBA veterans, rookies and fellow free agents in the 17-team Southern California Summer Pro League.

"One of the offers was tempting, but it wasn't enough to change my decision to get my master's," Brown said.

A graduate assistant in the FGCU athletic department, Brown plans to complete his master's degree in Public Administration next spring.

After that, he'll give pro ball another shot with the help of agent Ted Drakos.

"Yes, sir. I sure will," Brown said.

A lanky leaper, Brown began his collegiate career at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock before transferring to FGCU, where he averaged 8.1 points and 6.4 rebounds for coach Dave Balza from 2002-2004.

Brown signed with the Florida Fame — an NBA Developmental League team that is searching for a new home — for their final nine games last season. Brown saw spot duty, averaging 0.8 points and 0.6 steals in 6.0 minutes.

Brown

Playing in the Long Beach Pyramid in front of NBA and international general managers, coaches and scouts, Brown saw considerable action. He averaged 3.5 points, 8 rebounds, 1 steal and 0.75 blocks in some 22 minutes per game while starting all four matchups for Team Slam, a collection of free agents who survived tryout cuts from over 200 prospects.

"Overall, it was a positive experience," Brown said. "I learned a lot about basketball, especially from the former pros."

Brown's main instructors were former NBA forwards Olden Polynice (15 seasons) and Sean Rooks (12). Both encouraged Brown to be more aggressive and he also began better grasping the differences in NBA power and small forwards.

"It was like basketball camp," Brown said. "Actually, I was pretty satisfied with where I was, but I know there's room for improvement."

And with Brown's decision to stay in school, there's plenty of time for that.