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A lot can happen in a year.

Like being eliminated from a hugely popular national talent competition, performing at sold-out concerts, releasing your debut CD and playing basketball on a Division I team.

But while it's been an exciting ride for Wrentham's Ayla Brown, time hasn't exactly flown for the 18-year-old Boston College basketball star, who was eliminated from last season's "American Idol" on the cusp of the Top 12.

"I was getting kind of antsy before (this season's 'American Idol') started, being like, 'When's the next one coming on?'" she said in a telephone interview. "I'm really excited because it seemed so long ago - it seemed more than a year. But it's been an awesome year, and I definitely can't complain."

Brown was eliminated from "Idol" competition during the second week of March in 2006. During the past year, she has performed at numerous venues, including last year's sold-out Kiss Concert and alongside the Boston Pops at the Esplanade, released her debut CD "Forward" and played basketball for Boston College. But it's not exactly like "American Idol" is a distant memory. Brown still talks to some contestants when she can and tunes in to every episode.

"It brought back a ton of memories when I was watching Hollywood Week, because I could feel what they were feeling," she said. "I just felt so nervous all over again for absolutely no reason, and it was exciting seeing them all go through it again. But I was thinking to myself, I'm so glad that I'm not there again in the group auditions, because that was the hardest part."

Brown remembers the tight restrictions contestants face at this stage of the competition. The show may seem like glitz and glamour, but behind the scenes it's mostly a waiting game with ever-present security guards.

"I think people think that you can just walk outside and get some fresh air, or go out to lunch or have your relatives come and visit you while you're waiting, but it was not like that at all," she said. "There was security everywhere we went. There was a place called The Grove right next door; we weren't even allowed to go there, but our parents could. Since I was underage, my mom (WCVB-TV news reporter Gail Huff) had to be there with me, but while I was just waiting around, she could go out and have lunch and I couldn't."

Contestants each get an hour with the vocal coach on rehearsal days, but depending on what order they're scheduled, could end up waiting for several hours before their slot comes up.

"If you were one of the first couples (of contestants), you'd wait a couple hours and they'd bring you back to the hotel," she said. "But if you were one of the last people, it was pretty hard sitting still for 15 hours in one room."

Younger contestants, Brown included, also had three hours of school each day.

Still, Brown said if she had the chance to do it all over again, she would without a doubt.

"I think it was the best thing that I've ever tried in my life," she said. "And it's opened up so many doors for opportunities, and I get to do something that I love, which before I didn't really get to do on a daily basis. It's been the best opportunity of my life."

Though NCAA rules prohibit her from revealing what she has planned musically, Brown, the daughter of state Sen. Scott Brown, R-Wrentham, said she will be performing again after basketball season is over. In terms of her "Idol" predictions, Brown said she feels strongly about the female talent and thinks a female will win. But she has a word of advice to contestants: Choose your song carefully.

"If I were a contestant all over again, I would, just like the judges, stress song choice because it is so important at this stage of the competition," she said. "Even if you do have a good voice, if you don't have the right song, you're not going to be as successful."

As far as the song choice she made that got her eliminated, the upbeat "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield, Brown said she has no regrets. Besides allowing her to introduce Bedingfield at last year's Kiss Concert, which she called a "very fulfilling moment," Brown said the song sends a message about the journey to success.