Cal football recruiting has been relatively quiet lately, so let’s pivot to Cal basketball recruiting. The California Golden Bears have some big-time prospects on this front.
Currently, Cal has three commits for this class (Alec Hickman decommitted a few months ago)
- Four star wing Jemarl Baker
- Three star wing Juhwan Harris-Dyson
- Three star wing Trevin Knell (who will probably reclassify due to a likely LDS mission)
You can see a trend here. Cal is stocking up on shooting and versatility at shooting guard/small forward as they prep for the graduation of Jabari Bird, Roger Moute a Bidias, and Stephen Domingo.
With Sam Singer graduating and Ivan Rabb likely joining him, Cal still has spots to fill though, and could particularly use another guard and a big man.
The marquee target at guard is consensus five-star prospect Troy Brown. Brown has the size of a forward along with the passing instincts of a point guard, making him the ideal Cuonzo Martin prospect. Sky’s the limit for Cal in 2017 if they can get someone like Brown to come in and start right away.
A decision date is coming. Expect it to be November 9th on hoops national signing day.
Troy Brown, Jr. will likely make his decision November 9, which is National Signing Day. H/t @LVProspects
— Ben Parker (@slamdunk406) October 14, 2016
There haven’t been many changes for Brown since we last checked in on him in August. Brown listed a final eight of Alabama, Arizona, Cal, Georgetown, Kansas, Oregon, Ohio State and UNLV.
Here’s what Brown had to say on each school, from ZagsBlog.
Oregon: "I like their coaching staff. They're a great school. They play up-tempo basketball."
Arizona: "They have a great coaching staff, is really close to home and since one of my friends, Ray Smith goes there, I visited there."
Alabama: "They are a great school with Coach Avery Johnson. You can't go wrong there. I know a couple players that are considering them that I would like to play with."
Georgetown: "Their coaching staff is amazing with Coach [John] Thompson [III].Their history is amazing. You can't go wrong with them."
Ohio State: "They like tall point guards. They produce really good point guards out of being tall and lanky."
Cal: "I like the location of the school, the style, the environment, and everything around them. They've been on me since I was a freshman or sophomore, so they were there really early."
Kansas: "I like coach [Bill] Self and his determination to coach and make players better. Also, my sister goes there."
UNLV: "That's hometown, of course. UNLV is always gonna be in there of course."