Jeff Borzello, ESPN Staff Writer 6y

Nevada lands McDonald's All American Jordan Brown

Men Basketball Recruiting, Men's College Basketball, Nevada Wolf Pack

McDonald's All American Jordan Brown, the No. 31 recruit in the ESPN 100, committed to the Nevada Wolf Pack on Friday morning.

Brown, a 6-foot-10 power forward, was the last remaining uncommitted player left in the ESPN 100 for the 2018 class.

He is the highest-ranked recruit to commit to Nevada since Reno native Luke Babbitt pledged to play for his local school in 2008.

Brown chose Nevada over Arizona and California, but his recruitment had several twists and turns.

UCLA seemed like a likely destination until Shareef O'Neal committed to the Bruins in February. Stanford then emerged as a potential landing spot, but the Cardinal faded. Brown also officially visited St. John's and Louisiana-Lafayette, where his father played, during the course of his recruitment.

Brown had 26 points and eight rebounds in the McDonald's All American Game in late March. The Prolific Prep (Calif.) product has won two gold medals with USA Basketball, making the U17 World Championship team in 2016 and the U16 FIBA Americas team in 2015.

Brown joins a 2018 recruiting class that includes fellow forwards K.J. Hymes and Vince Lee.

If everyone returns for coach Eric Musselman next season, Nevada could have a preseason top-five team on paper. The Wolf Pack won 29 games last season and advanced to the Sweet 16 before losing to Loyola-Chicago.

Nevada's top three scorers -- twins Caleb Martin and Cody Martin and Jordan Caroline -- all entered their names in the NBA draft pool but did not hire an agent and could return to college if they choose. Both Martin twins were invited to the NBA draft combine.

Those three players combined to average 50.6 points, 20.3 rebounds and 9.5 assists per game last season. They totaled 56 points in the loss to Loyola.

Brown's pledge leaves Nevada in a difficult scholarship situation for next season, however, as his commitment has the Wolf Pack at 15 scholarships -- two over the limit.

In addition to the aforementioned three potential returnees, Lindsey Drew and Josh Hall are also back. The Wolf Pack had four players sitting out last season after transferring into the program then added another sit-out transfer during the season.

This spring, Nevada picked up two immediately eligible graduate transfers in Ehab Amin (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi) and Trey Porter (Old Dominion).

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