The recruitment of Jaylen Brown has always been one of the more fascinating ones to follow in the 2015 class, mainly because nobody could ever get an accurate read about which school he might be leaning towards.
According to the 247Sports Crystal Ball, a tool where industry insiders make predictions about where a prospect might commit to, Michigan was the favorite to land Brown as of Friday afternoon. Most considered Kentucky to be the runner-up, with Kansas and North Carolina bringing up the rear.
Then Brown shocked much of the country, committing to Cuonzo Martin and the California Golden Bears on Friday night.
Brown joined fellow five-star signee Ivan Rabb in what looks to be one of the strongest recruiting classes, at least on paper, in the program’s history.
With the top half of the Pac-12 looking like it should be the toughest bunch since the league expanded to 12 teams, many have wondered if this class can get Cal over the hump and help them capture the regular season title in Martin’s second year at the helm.
That task will be made a bit more likely thanks to one of the best starting line-ups in the country.
The combination of Tyrone Wallace, Jordan Mathews, Jabari Bird, Brown, Rabb, and Kameron Rooks gives Martin a lot of talented options, depending if he wants to go for more of a small ball approach–by having Mathews and Bird on the court at the same time–or a more traditional, two-big line-up.
Either way, it’s good to see talented prospects flock to the Pac-12 and help rebuild the league from where it was a little over four seasons ago.
