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Wooddale 4-star Jalen Brown talks state tournament cancellation and who's recruiting him

Khari Thompson
Memphis Commercial Appeal

Jalen Brown was just starting to hit his stride when the boys basketball state tournament was postponed then canceled because of the coronavirus.

His mom battled cancer during the season, and he had a wrist injury that caused him to miss multiple games.

But he averaged 21.6 points in Wooddale's final three games, helping the Cardinals secure their second straight state tournament berth. 

"Toward the end Jalen was getting back into his groove and everybody was trying to key in on Johnathan (Lawson) so much that they forgot about Jalen," coach Keelon Lawson said. "So when that happened he was able to come in and do a lot of things and get himself back in the groove. That was going to be our biggest thing going into the state, having a two-headed weapon like that."

But the state tournament was canceled Wednesday after Gov. Bill Lee's announcement that schools would remain closed for the rest of the academic year.

“I was just getting back into it," Brown said. "I wanted to play state but we didn’t get to play. I wanted another gold ball."

The 6-foot-4 guard said he was looking forward to playing AAU before trimming his college list.

Brown said he’ll be playing for Woodz Elite, which is on the Nike EYBL circuit. Nike has cancelled its first two sessions that were set to take place in April. Nike has a pair of May tournaments and a July tournament on its schedule but hasn’t announced if they will take place. 

"I really wanted to play because it would be my last year playing AAU 17U," Brown said. "And a couple of college coaches were wondering if I’d still be on the Nike circuit. I told them yeah, but they haven’t got a chance to watch me yet."

Brown, a four-star guard, is the No. 4 prospect in the state and No. 81 overall in the nation for the Class of 2021, according to the 247Sports Composite. He said the schools that are recruiting him the most are Alabama, Clemson, Missouri, North Alabama, South Alabama and Tulane.

"Missouri is closer to Memphis so my family can be there," Brown said. "Tulane, my cousin KJ Lawson goes there, so the coaches know me and call about me all the time. Clemson is just high major DI, a big school. Same with Alabama, big high major DI."

Brown and Johnathan Lawson reunited at Wooddale this year after they were on East's 2018 state championship team as freshmen. Lawson helped lead Wooddale to the Class AA state title last year along with older brother Chandler, who now plays at Oregon. This year, Lawson won Gatorade Tennessee player of the year. 

Brown had a breakout season at Trezevant last year as a sophomore, but his dad got a job at Wooddale so he transferred again. He averaged 13.6 points and 4.7 rebounds in his first season with the Cardinals. 

"For my senior year, I'm just looking forward to topping everything off and coming back even harder," Brown said. "This year I had a lot of breakdowns and stuff, I was going through it, my mama was going through it. So I'm looking forward to becoming a better leader, having more college coaches hitting my line, and becoming a better player."