By ADAM ZAGORIA
On the same day they landed a verbal commitment from Albany (NY) Academy wing Andre Jackson, Dan Hurley and the UConn staff went four deep in Canada for Javonte Brown-Ferguson, the 7-foot, 240-pound 16-year-old big man from Thornlea Secondary School in Ontario and the Under Armour Canada Elite AAU program.
Brown-Ferguson is currently in the Class of 2021, but is leaning heavily toward reclassifying to 2020.
With UConn poised to re-enter the Big East Conference in 2020, Hurley and his staff are keen to land a big man, a piece they believe can make them a Top-15 or 20-type team.
“They need a big for 2020,” Brown-Ferguson said. “They have good point guards and they just signed a big-time wing and now they need an impactful big so they can possibly go top 15.”
Brown-Ferguson has no shortage of suitors.
Arizona is expected to send associate head coach Jack Murphy and assistant Justin Gainey on Thursday (today).
Kansas head coach Bill Self and Texas A&M head coach Buzz Williams have recently been in, as have assistants from Seton Hall, Western Kentucky, Marquette, Indiana, Stanford.
Brown-Ferguson took an official to Texas A&M (Sept. 20) and next heads to Kansas (Oct. 4) and UConn (Oct. 24).
Brown-Ferguson, who lives about 30 minutes outside of Toronto, said he’s “70-30” in favor of reclassifying to 2020 and previously said he will make a final decision after the New Year.
He models his game after Anthony Davis and Nicola Jokic, but hopes to follow fellow Canadians like Andrew Wiggins, R.J. Barrett and others into the NBA.
“Yeah, 100 percent,” he said.
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