In the five-star world that Jordan Brown lived in as a basketball recruit, the expected career trajectory sometimes goes like this:
High school championship of some sort, McDonald’s All-American game appearance, deep NCAA Tournament run as a freshman, then the NBA Draft a few months later.
One-and-done, decorated, and then rich. All before age 20.
Brown took a few steps down that path, dominating his Sacramento-area high school team for three seasons and then finishing up at elite Prolific Prep of Napa, California, as a senior. He made a McDonald’s All-American game appearance, then engineered one of spring 2018’s most dramatic recruitments when he kept his choices close to the vest and went all the way until mid-May before picking Nevada over Cal and Arizona.
Then he didn’t get to play very much for the Wolf Pack.
His choice had obvious appeal. Nevada was a hot team under then-coach Eric Musselman, returning its three stars from a 2018 Sweet 16 team, and the Reno campus was only a two-hour drive from Brown’s hometown of Roseville, California.
But the flip side of that loaded, proven roster was that there wasn’t much need for anybody else, even a five-star forward — especially considering Musselman’s known preferences for veterans, short rotations and versatile wing players.
Brown, a 6-foot-11-inch, 210-pound post player, averaged just 10.1 minutes over 33 games as a freshman for the Wolf Pack last season, scoring an average of 3.0 points a game.
“Why Isn’t Nevada giving Jordan Brown more minutes?” was the headline of a Jan. 21 Nevada Sports Net story, in which Musselman basically answered that question this way:
“Jordan’s done a great job, he’s working hard in practice. We’re 18-1. We have a lot of fifth-year seniors. We have to keep getting better defensively as a group, switching on pick-and-rolls. But Jordan has done a great job, he has a great attitude and he has an incredibly bright future.”
That future now includes Arizona.
At the end of last season, and 11 days after Musselman took off for Arkansas, Brown entered the transfer portal. He says he took visits to Arizona State and St. Mary’s but ultimately decided to go back to one of his original finalists.
That gave UA coach Sean Miller a significant bonus to a 2019 recruiting class that was already rated in the Top 5 nationally, in part because of five-star prospects Nico Mannion and Josh Green.
Brown represented another five-star recruit, even if he didn’t command as much attention in his recruitment this time.
Jordan Brown takes a shot over Ira Lee during last week’s Red-Blue Game in McKale Center.
“There’s nobody that we could have recruited out of the high school ranks that would be maybe to Jordan’s equivalent or better,” Miller said. “I mean, when you consider who he was coming out of high school, the fact that he played a year ago in Nevada for on a really good team, for an excellent coach. ...
“Now he has a year to sit out, but you’re going to see a player that’s very well-equipped and ready.”
That’s the only problem for the Wildcats. Brown will sit out the year, a requirement of conventional transfers.
But he may do so with the sort of upbeat attitude that Musselman spoke of, the way Miller described it.
“Jordan’s never said a negative word about his experience at Nevada,” Miller said. “You know, I think he and his mom and dad knew that Nevada had a really experienced top-flight program, one that could have challenged for a Final Four. And he’s now looking forward to building on the development that he got last year.”
That’s pretty much how Brown described it. He said he realized that “everybody has their own time,” and gave a high-road view of his season at Nevada.
“It was different,” Brown said. “It definitely wasn’t what I expected. But it was a good experience for me. I got to learn from the older guys although I didn’t play a lot in games. I still see the positive and everything. I just felt like it all worked out really.”
Jordan Brown, left, who struggled to find playing time at Nevada last season, will sit out the 2019-20 season at UA.
This season, Brown will get to test himself in a different way, against a group of five post players who all have different skill sets.
On one day, Brown might get his shot swatted away by Christian Koloko. Another day, Stone Gettings might back up for a 3-pointer. Ira Lee will test Brown with his aggression, and Chase Jeter will push him with his low-post skills.
“We’ve got a lot of bigs here ... there’s just so much variety that I get to play against,” Brown said. “They all just bring something different. Some bring energy. Some can really shoot the ball. Some are really dominating the post. It’s like you’re getting a little bit everything with them.
“I just feel like it’s really going to help me out in the long run and hopefully I can help them out for the upcoming season.”
