8/23/2021 basketball Edit

Jameel Brown the latest in PSU's Team Final pipeline — could more follow?

• Happy Valley Insider

The three highest-rated Penn State basketball commitments in the Rivals era have now come from one AAU program in the Philadelphia region.

That, of course, is Team Final, which produced Lamar Stevens and Tony Carr, who each came to Penn State in the Class of 2016. Now, in the Class of 2022, the Nittany Lions are trying to land another program-altering package of recruits from Team Final, starting with guard Jameel Brown, who announced his commitment to the Nittany Lions Monday afternoon.

"I felt like Penn State was the right fit for me and my future," Brown said. "When I visited there, I really liked it a lot. I really liked the feel. Great campus. My family really liked it. So I just felt like it was the best place for me."

Brown became only the third four-star recruit to commit to Penn State since 2002 — a nugget that illustrates reality for a program that has often been forced to try to do more with less talent throughout its history.

New Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry is out to change that.

"When I put together our staff...we have a lot of 'people persons' on our staff," he said earlier this month. "Guys that love communicating. Guys that love building relationships, and they've got us in the door with a lot of really good players, and now it's on us to kind of close the deal."

With Brown, Shrewsberry has now closed the deal for the second time. Brown had previously committed to play for Shrewsberry while he was an assistant at Purdue. When Shrewsberry left this March to become the head coach at Penn State, Brown de-committed.

Now he's a prized prospect — a foundational piece — for a program that needed one.

"Just his vision and his experience with the NBA," Brown said when asked about what sold him on Shrewsberry. "He helped develop Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, Isaiah Thomas, a lot of those guys at the Celtics. I just felt like his vision for the game and for me, that's definitely going to help me a lot.

"It's nothing different that he's saying, it's just his resume speaks for itself. He went to the national championship with Butler, the Elite 8 at Purdue, and the NBA too, so his experience definitely means a lot."

Now, the Nittany Lions are hoping that Brown can help them land one or two of his teammates.

Four-star guard Otega Oweh and five-star big man from nearby Bellefonte Dereck Lively are both near the top of Penn State's board, and each of them plays alongside Brown with Team Final.

"Obviously, we want Dereck Lively to come, Otega Oweh," Brown said. "Those two guys I'm very close with. I'm going to Westtown with Dereck, so I'm going to be on him a lot. I'll definitely try to get him to come as well. He's from the area, so I don't think he would mind being a hometown hero for once."

Oweh is another player with a Penn State connection. His brother, Odafe (Jayson), played defensive end for the Nittany Lions before being selected in the first round this spring by the Baltimore Ravens.

"He definitely has some connections there, so I'll definitely try to get him too," Brown said.