Jameel Brown announces return to Penn State basketball
The transfer portal continues to yield positive results for the Penn State basketball program. But this time, it’s for one of its own. Jameel Brown, a rising sophomore guard, announced his exit from the portal and return to the Nittany Lions for a second season on Monday.
The news provides resolution to another piece of the puzzle for new Penn State head coach Mike Rhoades and his staff. Filling the seat vacated by Micah Shrewsberry, Rhoades has worked to build a team. And, he’s done so by starting with the foundational level of the program.
“It’s about recruiting right now and then building relationships with our players,” Rhoades told Penn State’s Brian Tripp of his first weeks on the job.
Surveying Penn State’s roster
The reason behind that emphasis has been straightforward. Inheriting a program that saw all five of its top scorers graduate and move on following the 2022-23 season, one that included a trip to the Big Ten Tournament championship game and the NCAA Tournament Round of 32, the cupboard needed restocked.
Along with those exits, Shrewsberry’s departure sent three of Penn State’s five Class of 2022 members into the transfer portal. Brown’s exit leaves big man Kebba Njie and wing Evan Mahaffey to still make decisions. Fellow freshman guard Kanye Clary announced his return for a second season on Thursday last week. Forward Demetrius Lilley is also expected to return.
A process that Rhoades was prepared for, and has focused on from the onset, he said the progress thus far has been good.
“They’ve been great, very positive. The number one thing with building relationships, it takes time and communication. That’s how you build trust,” Rhoades said on Friday. “It’s one day at a time. But it’s the work of the coaches and the coaching staff to do all that. The players just need to be kids aand just keep working on their game, keep going to school, keep doing it the right way and it’s our job to build those relationships.”
In addition to Clary, Brown and Lilley, Penn State has also welcomed commitments from two former VCU players. The first came from Ace Baldwin, the reigning Atlantic 10 Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. The second came last Wednesday when Nick Kern, a rising junior, announced that he’d join Baldwin at Penn State.
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What Jameel Brown brings to the table
From the outside, Brown is something of an unknown to Penn State fans following his true freshman season. He appeared in just 14 games, averaging only 4.6 minutes per outing. And, he connected on just 2-of-14 3-pointers, averaging only 0.9 points per game.
Internally, though, Brown has been generating outstanding impressions since his first days on campus last summer. Described as a “glue guy” who wins constantly, Brown shoots it, passes it, and makes plays as a combo guard.
By March, with the Nittany Lions gearing up for the Big Ten Tournament, Shrewsberry acknowledged his comfort with playing a deeper bench on a short turnaround, pointing specifically to Brown’s preparedness for the moment.
“Jameel Brown has been Chase Audige and Hakim Hart in practice,” Shrewsberry said. “He’s doing some stuff. He threw this left hand pass off a pick and roll the other day from the wing to the opposite corner, on the money. I got no problem putting him in because I’m seeing what he’s doing. He’s preparing himself.”
Penn State hosted four visitors from the transfer portal this past weekend. Baldwin and Kern were joined by teammate Jalen DeLoach, as well as Virginia Tech forward Darius Maddox. Additionally, both Njie and Mahaffey were also on hand.
