I just reached out to Dion Brown to get a feel for where Stanford sits in all of this since there is a lot of chatter about them being the biggest threat to Cal in the race to land his son. I asked him if he has a feel for Jordan's chances of getting admitted into Stanford and where things sit on that front. He told me: "I have no idea yet. Stanford is cool. We will talk with the coaches in more detail next week."
Whether or not Stanford can get him in remains to be seen. There was a time when Stanford didn't feel they could get him in and now they think there's a shot since he currently has a 3.6 GPA. A source has described it to me as a "tbd situation" and it looks like Stanford is hoping to have more clarity on the matter next week. Not all GPA's are created equal and there are other factors as well such as ACT scores that also go into consideration.
Just to give you a quick sense of the GPA's of other top Stanford basketball players, Reid Travis had a 3.9 coming out of high school, KZ Okpala had a 4.4, and Chasson Randle had a 4.0. So, the 3.6, if accurate, is lower than what those guys had. That said, an individual with knowledge of the Stanford admissions process told me on Wednesday that he should be able to get in with a 3.6. That was their opinion. It looks like what's making Brown push things out is he's waiting to see if he can get into Stanford or not. If he can, I think they are a real threat.
Stanford's major appeal seems to be that they are close to home and they can play Jordan at the power forward spot due to the presence of Reid Travis, assuming he comes back next year. They also had a better team last season and I do know that Dion has expressed concern over how bad Cal was last year. If Dion wants his son to stay close to home while playing in a good system that can feature his talents, Stanford seems like the best alternative to Cal.
That all said, I still like Cal's chances in all of this. They've been recruiting Jordan hard and have demonstrated a lot of patience as well. Perhaps too much patience. The relationship he has with former Cal players, most notably Ivan Rabb, isn't something to ignore and I do think that Cal's message of coming in to be the franchise is a plus as well. I don't know how hard Stanford has been on him during the duration of his recruitment, but Dion has told me that things between them have really progressed over the last 3 months. From what I can tell, they haven't been the consistent present in Brown's recruitment that Cal has, but they do appear to be gaining a lot of momentum.
I think what's also a good sign for Cal is that they seem to be sitting in a good spot with 2018 3-star center Connor Vanover. They offered him last weekend and have him taking an official visit on April 6th. If he commits to Cal, that will give them a true center that can allow Jordan to play the power forward spot, which is what he wants to play. Dion has been telling Cal he wants them to get another big and I think adding Vanover would satisfy his wishes. As an added bonus, Cal is also after James Akinjo as well. If Cal can land both Vanover and Akinjo, they'll have a really stellar freshman class to pair with Jordan.
Right now, I feel like this is a race between Cal and Stanford. Cal has the upper hand at the moment, but that could change if Jordan is able to get admitted to Stanford and if he decides to take an official visit there. If he likes his official visit to Stanford and feels like that is the best place for him, then I could totally see him going there. It's going to be interesting to see how things unfold in the coming weeks.
Note: I will check back in with Dion at the end of next week. He's been pretty good to keep me in the loop.
Whether or not Stanford can get him in remains to be seen. There was a time when Stanford didn't feel they could get him in and now they think there's a shot since he currently has a 3.6 GPA. A source has described it to me as a "tbd situation" and it looks like Stanford is hoping to have more clarity on the matter next week. Not all GPA's are created equal and there are other factors as well such as ACT scores that also go into consideration.
Just to give you a quick sense of the GPA's of other top Stanford basketball players, Reid Travis had a 3.9 coming out of high school, KZ Okpala had a 4.4, and Chasson Randle had a 4.0. So, the 3.6, if accurate, is lower than what those guys had. That said, an individual with knowledge of the Stanford admissions process told me on Wednesday that he should be able to get in with a 3.6. That was their opinion. It looks like what's making Brown push things out is he's waiting to see if he can get into Stanford or not. If he can, I think they are a real threat.
Stanford's major appeal seems to be that they are close to home and they can play Jordan at the power forward spot due to the presence of Reid Travis, assuming he comes back next year. They also had a better team last season and I do know that Dion has expressed concern over how bad Cal was last year. If Dion wants his son to stay close to home while playing in a good system that can feature his talents, Stanford seems like the best alternative to Cal.
That all said, I still like Cal's chances in all of this. They've been recruiting Jordan hard and have demonstrated a lot of patience as well. Perhaps too much patience. The relationship he has with former Cal players, most notably Ivan Rabb, isn't something to ignore and I do think that Cal's message of coming in to be the franchise is a plus as well. I don't know how hard Stanford has been on him during the duration of his recruitment, but Dion has told me that things between them have really progressed over the last 3 months. From what I can tell, they haven't been the consistent present in Brown's recruitment that Cal has, but they do appear to be gaining a lot of momentum.
I think what's also a good sign for Cal is that they seem to be sitting in a good spot with 2018 3-star center Connor Vanover. They offered him last weekend and have him taking an official visit on April 6th. If he commits to Cal, that will give them a true center that can allow Jordan to play the power forward spot, which is what he wants to play. Dion has been telling Cal he wants them to get another big and I think adding Vanover would satisfy his wishes. As an added bonus, Cal is also after James Akinjo as well. If Cal can land both Vanover and Akinjo, they'll have a really stellar freshman class to pair with Jordan.
Right now, I feel like this is a race between Cal and Stanford. Cal has the upper hand at the moment, but that could change if Jordan is able to get admitted to Stanford and if he decides to take an official visit there. If he likes his official visit to Stanford and feels like that is the best place for him, then I could totally see him going there. It's going to be interesting to see how things unfold in the coming weeks.
Note: I will check back in with Dion at the end of next week. He's been pretty good to keep me in the loop.
