Jabari Brown is putting Cali back on the map
Words. Jason Jordan
Oakland (Calif.) High School shooting guard Jabari Brown is a bit perturbed at his place in the pecking order that is the national recruiting rankings.
It’s not the typical “I need to be ranked higher” or “I’m underrated” or “It’s politics” hot air that most players lead with. Brown has a legitimate gripe.
“I’m coming from California and it’s like most rankings don’t really give us a lot of credit,” said Brown, who runs with the Drew Gooden Soldiers AAU squad. “I don’t know why that is, but it’s something that we have noticed. I’m trying to change all that.”
In the most recent High School Hoop national Top 50, where we rank plays regardless of class, there is only one player from California on the list — Junipero Serra (San Mateo, Calif.) junior center Kevin Johnson, who is ranked 43rd. Brown is out to add at least one more name to the group.
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HighSchoolHoop: How has your team done this AAU season?
Jabari Brown: We’ve been doing really good. We started out at the EYBL a few weeks ago and we went 4-1.
HSH: I saw you there. Who did you lose to?
JB: We lost to All-Ohio by one point.
HSH: Coming into the season what was your goal?
JB: Well, I definitely wanted to win for obvious reasons. Then I wanted to make a push for the McDonald’s game next year and, for the schools that aren’t on me, I wanted them to hear about how I was playing to make them up their interest. Just get more looks.
HSH: Who’s on you right now?
JB: Washington, Cal, Arizona State, New Mexico, Wake Forest, Kansas, Maryland, Stanford… Those are the main ones right now.
HSH: All offers?
JB: No, just Washington, Cal, Wake Forest, Maryland and Arizona State right now.
HSH: You have a decent amount of teams who are on the East Coast. Will proximity to home factor in?
JB: Not at all. It’s whatever is the best fit.
HSH: What schools, if any, are standing out?
JB: Well, they’re all recruiting me really hard and I’m pretty open to anyone at this point. I’ll probably look at cutting my list down at the end of the summer to around five so I can take my visits next year.
HSH: There’s been a lot of talk about what position you’ll play at the next level. Where do coaches envision you playing?
JB: Well, most people know that I can score, but they don’t know that I can set my teammates up and get everyone involved. I can get about five assists a game. So I’ll be more of a combo guard in college.
HSH: You watched the McDonald’s and Jordan All-American games I assume?
JB: Yeah.
HSH: Cali was 0-for-2, what’s going on out there?
JB: Maaaan, I don’t know. I definitely noticed that there weren’t any Cali guys on any of the teams. I honestly feel like there’s a preconceived notion about West Coast players that we’re soft, but that’s definitely not true. I feel like there were a few guys this year that were deserving and for whatever reason they didn’t make it. I definitely want to represent for Cali next year though.
HSH: Where do you think the preconceived notion is coming from?
JB: Well, to be honest, we’ve had some guys get picked for the All-American game that went to college and ended up not being too good. I think that is a big reason. So stuff like that hurts guys like me in the eyes of rankings. Not really with coaches or anything because we still get our looks, but we don’t get ranked very high.
HSH: I can buy that. What are you averaging this AAU season?
JB: About 26 points.
HSH: I saw you play against Marquis Teague (Indianapolis) that was a big game for you.
JB: Yeah, I ended up with 33 points that game.
HSH: And you won big too, 118-66?
JB: Yeah we were ready to play against him. We played against D-One Sports (Winston Salem, N.C.) too with Quincy Miller and all them and we won by like 25 points in that one.
HSH: Do you get up to play against those guys a little more because of the lack of respect that you were talking about?
JB: Oh definitely. I don’t think that those guys look at it the same way I look at it when we play against each other because they’re ranked so much higher and getting so much more pub. I always get up for big games, but I definitely feel like I have something to prove in those types of games.
HSH: Where should you be ranked in your eyes?
JB: I am definitely a top-five guy at my position.
HSH: Are there any players that you really want to go head-to-head against?
JB: Well, I’m a two-guard so I’d probably say Austin Rivers and Brad Beal, guys like that. I want to play against them soon.
Got a burning question for Jason? Email him: JasonJ@DimeMag.com
