It's not easy to get lost in the crowd when you stand 6 feet 8, but that's exactly what has happened to T.J. Brown, who is a member of the class of 2010 at Hampton High School.

Brown spent years trying to find his niche among an extraordinary class at Hampton that includes at least seven athletes who are 6-3 or taller.

Cut after tryouts for the seventh and eighth grade basketball teams, Brown has finally found his game. He is a starter and key member for the Talbots, who are the Post-Gazette's No. 1-ranked WPIAL Class AAA team.

"I refer to T.J. as one of the most improved players that I have ever coached in high school basketball," Hampton coach Joe Lafko said. "T.J. is continuing to be a major contributor, and his success this season is no surprise. He worked on his game throughout his junior year and before his senior year, knowing he can be an impact varsity-level player.

"He's getting some well-deserved recognition now, and he provides us with another forward who can be a force. We're so pleased with his development."

Brown is starting on a team that also includes 6-7 Bill Luther, 6-5 Tim Donegan and 6-3 Nate Sayles, all seniors, not to mention three sophomores who are at least 6-3.

Also in Hampton's senior class this school year are standout football players Jordan Paskorz, Joe Raimondi and Luke Sweeney, who are 6-4, 6-4 and 6-6, respectively.

All those tall classmates contributed to Brown not making the basketball team in junior high.

"I had to compete against Tim and Bill and Jordan Paskorz," Brown said. "I was taller than all of them then, but I just couldn't run in a straight line without running into someone and knocking myself over. I was probably the most uncoordinated kid in the tryouts.

"But then, I guess, after those years, I tried to work on everything to give it another shot, and once I made the ninth-grade team, you start getting good coaching and playing against good kids every day and things start to click. I just had to grow into my body a little bit."

Lafko praised Brown's dedication and work ethic, noting he joined AAU teams in the summer -- Brown effusively credits all his coaches, particularly AAU coach Mike Winek, who is Hampton senior guard Nate Winek's father, for his development -- and has shown gradual, steady improvement the past three-plus years.

From being cut from the junior high team two consecutive years to playing in college? That's how Brown's story will continue.

"Ninth grade was really the first year he really had any organized coaching, and at that point of his development, he needed a few years to commit to working on his game," Lafko said. "By the end of his sophomore year, he really bought into that and he spent a lot of hours with us, especially in the summer in the gym working on his skills."

Only in his first year as a starter at the varsity level, although he was a top option off the bench for the WPIAL Class AAA champion Talbots last season, Brown is Hampton's third-leading scorer at 12 points per game and has been a solid rebounder and defender. Hampton is allowing only 39.6 points per game, the lowest of any WPIAL team.

And now Division II and III colleges are recruiting Brown.

"Coach Lafko has been around for a while and is a great coach, so for him to say [I'm the most improved player he's seen] is most definitely a compliment," Brown said.

Brown, who played junior varsity ball as a sophomore and earned a late-season call-up to the varsity team that season, said that when the team had intrasquad scrimmages during the summer, he was routinely matched up against Luther or Donegan.

"That's how you get better, being matched up against other big guys," Brown said. "And there's not many better big guys than the ones on our team."

Hampton is 9-1 overall and has won all four games in Section 1-AAA play heading into tomorrow night's scheduled game against Deer Lakes.

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