California
A dreadful program in recent seasons, California made a great first step to revival by hiring Utah Valley head coach Mark Madsen, a former player at nearby Stanford. He’s rebuilt the Golden Bears this offseason with transfers like Jaylon Tyson from Texas Tech, Mike Meadows from Portland, and Fardaws Aimaq, who played under him a few seasons ago at UVU. Could he also lure Brown into the mix?
First and foremost, Brown is from outside Sacramento and this would be the closest option to home if that’s what he’s interested in at this point in his career. He’d be a major factor for the Golden Bears and could become one of their top-scoring options. Success clearly isn’t guaranteed, but he’d have the chance to engineer a major turnaround, which would be quite the story if it happens at Cal this season. The bottom line is he’d have the chance to put up impressive numbers and play a lot of basketball for a program in a power conference.
Kansas State
Last season, Kansas State was one of the biggest surprise stories in all of college basketball. Jerome Tang’s first season as a collegiate head coach was an overwhelming success, taking Markquis Nowell and Keyontae Johnson and leading the team to the Elite Eight. Both Nowell and Johnson are gone, leaving the Wildcats with holes to fill, holes they are currently filling with a decent freshmen class and former North Texas standout point guard Tylor Perry.
There are no direct comparisons or expectations, but Kansas State did a fine job landing Perry to replace Nowell’s production in the lineup. The same cannot be said in the frontcourt, leaning on returning players like David N’Guessan and Nae’Qwan Tomlin to take big steps forward. Brown becomes that force in the frontcourt and could legitimately put up the type of numbers Johnson contributed last season, all the while starring in a prominent conference like the Big 12.