Jabari Brown, easily the most highly-touted recruit of the two-year Dana Altman era at Oregon, announced Sunday that he is leaving the team.
Jabari Brown Leaves Oregon Basketball Team
Jabari Brown, Dana Altman’s prized class of 2011 recruit, has left the Oregon basketball team.
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Brown, who was ranked by Rivals.com as the 19th best player in the class of 2011, started the first two games of the season for the Ducks at shooting guard. He averaged six points and two rebounds, but was plagued by 11 turnovers.
Altman left the door open for Brown to possibly return on Sunday night.
"I will say right up front I don’t want him to leave," Altman said. "I did try to talk him out of it. I hope he does reconsider, the door is still open. He’s a good young man who hasn’t gotten off to the start he wanted, (but) I think it’s a little too early to not try it out a little bit more."
Brown was Oregon’s leading scorer during an August tour of Italy, averaging 15 points over five games.
Altman has attempted to rebuild the Oregon program by landing some high-profile transfers, but he hadn't made a large dent on the recruiting scene until Brown signed. The young man from Oakland was supposed to be a major piece of the puzzle for the Ducks going forward, which makes Altman's willingness to give him a second chance understandable.
Oregon has bounced back from a season-opening loss to Vanderbilt with a pair of victories to run its record to 2-1.
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