Top-25 recruit James Brown announces top 10 schools

Chicago (Ill.) St. Rita’s four-star recruit James Brown tells On3 he’s down to 10 schools, in no order: Duke, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Michigan State, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, Howard, and Eastern Michigan.

Brown, a 6-foot-10 class of 2024 center, also received offers from Michigan, Rutgers, Indiana, Nebraska, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Arizona State, Marquette, Georgia, Kansas State, and others.

The native of Illinois has scheduled all five of his junior year official visits. Brown will start at Missouri (10/1), followed up by Michigan State (10/7), North Carolina (10/15), Duke (10/20), and conclude with Illinois (11/4). He has also taken unofficial visits to Illinois, Notre Dame, and Wisconsin.

Brown is the No. 27 prospect in the 2024 class, according to the On3 Consensus, the average ranking from all four major recruiting media companies. He’s also ranked as the No. 5 center in the class and the No. 1 prospect in the state of Illinois. On3’s evaluators are higher on him, ranking him 23rd in the class.

James Brown discusses programs

In a previous interview with On3, James Brown discussed a handful of programs involved in his recruitment.

North Carolina: “I know a lot historically about the program. With their success and their many great players but that’s another school I’m prepared to learn a lot about. That’s a school that I like, even outside of their basketball success but educational success as well. That’s something that’s really important to me and my family, athletics, but education as well. I’m really excited to get to know Coach (Hubert) Davis and his staff and the whole Carolina program.

Duke: “I like the Blue Devils. Obviously, their opportunities on the court are endless, but the opportunities off the court are just as strong. I watched the Duke versus North Carolina game when it was Coach K’s last home game. The amount of alumni that came out and showed support and just the amount of people that support the Blue Devils in general, really says a lot. There is obviously something going on there that’s really special. You don’t win that much or that many players have endless opportunities, not only in the NBA but overseasons and all of that, so that’s really interesting to me.”

Illinois: “It’s my hometown. Brad Underwood is a great coach. My teammate Morez (Johnson) is committed there, so that’s very enticing. The opportunity to play with him in high school, AAU, and possibly even college. That’s obviously something that stands out. We’re really close with each other. Illinois assistant Tim Anderson has some ties to Meanstreets so that brings something to the table as well. It’s just a great program. I really like what Brad Underwood has been able to do in his time there. They have a great staff and great facilities overall. I don’t understand why more people don’t look there or go there, so it’s really a great program overall.”

Notre Dame: “I like Notre Dame. Coach (Mike) Brey is another coach that is able to make the game fun. I feel like each year coach Brey has a little bit of a different team almost, with new players coming in. I like how he’s able to adapt on the fly. That was one of the things they specified when I visited there. They had Blake Wesley this year. He’s a tough player, but he’s a little different from what they’ve had in the past. He was telling me how he was able to create a new system and themselves in a good position to make a decent run in the tournament.”

Wisconsin: “I don’t know a lot about them to be honest. We visited there because they expressed interest in me towards the end of my high school season so we visited up there and I ended up getting an offer. So that’s a school I’m really excited to learn a little bit more about. I like Coach (Sharif) Chambliss and what he had to say about what they like to do, previews of game situations, and stuff like that. So I’m excited to learn a little more.”