NCAA Basketball: Nevada Wolfpack coaches react to Jordan Brown commitment

Social media got a reaction for the ages from the Nevada Wolf Pack coaching staff after landing McDonald’s All-American big man Jordan Brown.

The Nevada Wolf Pack basketball program has been on fire this summer, especially on the recruiting circuit. The Wolf pack got a whole lot better last Friday when it was announced McDonald’s All-American Jordan Brown committed to the program.

Nevada beat out the California Golden Bears and the Arizona Wildcats for the pledge of Brown. He is the highest-rated commitment the Wolf Pack have received in school history. Brown is 6-foot-10, 190-pound power forward with a five-star rating by many rating services. He’s rated 11th overall by Rivals.com, 17th overall by 247Sports and 31st overall by ESPN in the 2018 recruiting class.

Here’s head coach Eric Musselman’s reaction to the news:

As you can see, Musselman treated it like winning a March Madness game this past season. Brown’s addition gives the Wolf pack some much-needed size on the interior for next year.

Musselman’s reaction wasn’t the only one caught on video. Associate head coach Johnny Jones’ reaction was also captured to the delight of social media:

Kudos to the loved ones of the coaching staff as well for their involvement. The Nevada Wolf Pack are certainly a team that looks to be on the rise for 2018-19. After a 27-7 performance in the regular season, Nevada made a deep run in the NCAA Tournament at receiving an at-large bid. They lost to Loyola-Chicago 69-68 in the Sweet 16 but have a lot returning to the cupboard for next season.

Earlier in the summer, they got the commitment of grad transfer Trey Porter. Porter is a 6-foot-10, 235-pound big man with tons of experience on the interior. He averaged 13.2 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 31 starts for the Old Dominion Monarchs last year. Porter gives them experience in the paint while Brown’s addition gives them depth and potential for the future.

Finding enough scholarships

Trey Porter won’t be the only impact transfer next season, either. Transfers Jazz Johnson, Nisre Zouzoua, Tre’Shawn Thurman and Corey Henson will also be in the fold for next year.

Johnson averaged 15.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game in 33 starts as a sophomore in 2016-17 at Portland University. Zouzoua poured in 20.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists while shooting 36.7 percent from behind the arc in 2016-17 at Bryant University. Thurman averaged 13.8 points and 7.8 rebounds at Omaha in the Summit League in 2016-17. At Wagner University in 2016-17, Henson put up 14.6 points, 2.7 assists and 2.6 rebounds per game.

Each player brings a different dynamic to the fold for the 2018-19 season. The biggest concern in 2017-18 for the Nevada Wolf Pack was depth, now they may have too many players depending on how the dominoes fall.

Jordan Caroline and Caleb and Cody Martin all entered their names into this year’s NBA Draft pool, but none of them hired agents. If all three return, it will leave Nevada with 16 players potentially on the roster for 2018-19. The maximum scholarship players a program can carry is 13 players. Regardless of if they return, the Wolf Pack will still be in good shape, but what happens if all three do decide to return will be interesting to see.

Next: 3 Biggest Threats to Nevada in the Mountain West Next Season

The Martin twins and Caroline combined to score 50.1 points for the Nevada Wolf Pack last season. Replacing their production could be difficult to do but considering their transfers have been on campus already for a full season.