Recruit Jamal Brown, a 6-6 forward from Baltimore, is headed to Seward (Kansas) Junior College, and he will likely go on to the University of New Mexico once he is eligible, www.prepstars.com reported last week.
Head coach Tom Penders said he only knows that Brown will attend a junior college, and he doesn’t know what the future holds for Brown or whether he will someday play for GW.
“I don’t expect anything,” he said. “We’re not holding him to his letter of intent, but I can’t say whether he’ll eventually play here or not. Our priority was to get three guards and we did that, so Jamal was like the cherry on the sundae. He’s a great kid, and I wish him the best.”
Before making the decision to go to Kansas, Brown already had crisscrossed the eastern United States. He attended Dunbar High School in Baltimore as a junior, where he became Baltimore Player of the Year. He then transferred to Maine Central Institute his senior year, where he was a teammate of Parade Magazine National Player of the Year DerMarr Johnson.
Brown originally made an oral commitment to the University of Pittsburgh, but after a coaching change, he reconsidered, and eventually signed a national letter of intent with GW. Brown also played on the AAU team D.C. Assault with Johnson and GW freshman guard Val Brown.
Penders also said senior guard Daniel Soares, sparingly used off GW’s bench, has left the University.
“Danny’s a good kid,” Penders said. “He may come back to school in the spring, but he won’t be on the team this season. The scout team is something I don’t overlook, and Danny did a good job with that. He asked if he could come back next year, and that’s a possibility, but I couldn’t make any promises.”
Soares was a walk-on from Brazil who appeared in 13 games in the last two years, scoring a total of five points in his GW career. Soares came to GW as a transfer from Lewis and Clark College.
Basketball Notes:
* Penders reports this year’s uniforms will incorporate buff, and not yellow, fulfilling a goal Penders had mentioned in a Hatchet interview in April.
Penders said the men’s team will have three sets of uniforms – one blue, one buff, and one white. He said that And One is still the sponsor, but the uniforms will be more traditional and not as “loud.”
* Penders said Sunday “Midnight Madness” was discussed, but that there are a lot of ideas, and no decision has been made.
“I certainly want to do that,” he said. “But we’re not sure yet.”
Saturday, Oct. 16, is the first official day of practice nationwide. Last year’s “March Madness,” where a public practice is held at midnight, was GW’s first.
