St. John's Basketball: 2017 recruit Zach Brown arrested...again

Four-star St. John’s basketball 2017 commit Zach Brown was arrested for robbing Walgreens.

St. John’s has lost three straight games in the Big East, including an embarrassing outing against the Georgetown Hoyas on Monday evening.

However, that wasn’t the worst news that came out of Queens on Monday.

2017 four-star commit Zach Brown was arrested on Sunday morning for robbing a Walgreens in Hollywood, Florida. According to Andy Slater of SlaterScoops.com, Brown and his brother were waiting in line at the drug store, but instead of paying for items, they reached into the cash register, pulled out money and ran off.

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"Witnesses immediately called police and said the store had been robbed, the report says. They also pointed out Brown’s car to cops. It had a broken window.Officers were able to catch up to Brown’s car, pulled him over, and arrested him.Police say they found $135 in five-dollar bills in the basketball player’s front pocket. Brown’s brother had $30 in his jacket pocket, the report says.Both were charged with first-degree petit theft, a misdemeanor. Zach was also ticketed for driving with a suspended license and having an expired tag on his car.St. John’s University says “the department of athletics thoroughly reviews allegations of misconduct for both current and prospective student-athletes. Per university policy and as required by law, publicly commenting on particular student cases is prohibited.”"

It was already a question as to if Brown would ever step foot on St. John’s campus. In addition to his current arrest, the high school center is facing felony charges of credit card fraud and robbery. This incident happened in Miami during the spring of 2016.

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Brown was highly touted by blue blood programs, like Duke, Maryland and others, before the original arrest. St. John’s gave Brown a chance, but now it looks highly unlikely that he will play college basketball at all.

And that’s unfortunate because Brown not only was likely going to be a program changing big up front, but he was a likely NBA talent. The 7’0″, 260 pound center from Miami is ranked 36th in ESPN’s top 100 for the class of 2017, is labeled as the 6th best center in the nation and is the third best player in the state.

Brown is physical, tough, aggressive and powerful. He snags rebounds with the best of them at the high school level and finishes with authority around the rim. He also has surprising good touch and strong hands to catch the ball in pick-and-roll situations.

His offensive game is still developing (he needs to learn more post moves instead of just bullying defenders), but he’s also a terrific defender, as he blocks shots and has solid instincts. Brown is not a freak athlete, however, one of the holes on the St. John’s roster lies at the five-position. They need a big physical body that can match up with the tough bigs in the Big East on a nightly basis. Brown was that guy.

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The Johnnies knew there was a risk-reward with landing a prospect like Brown. However, because of off-court issues, it seems like they’ll never get their hands on what could’ve been a promising player.

St. John’s Basketball: 2017 recruit Zach Brown arrested…again

By Carmine Carcieri | Jan 10, 2017

Four-star St. John’s basketball 2017 commit Zach Brown was arrested for robbing Walgreens.

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