The JUCO Files Part 25
It's simple: JUCO is college basketball's backbone. There's a world of talent to discover, of which many belong in Division I. Here in-depth analysis on five must-follow prospects for D1 coaches:
Why JUCO?
It’s not only the Diego Pavia case that’ll potentially lead to NJCAA athletes maintaining their four years when they transition to the NCAA. Fringe D1 prospects must go play JUCO basketball to maintain their valuable minutes while developing must-have skills and going through adversity. The result after two years is a associate’s degree and valuable experience today’s average D1 program seeks.
Instead of paying average players a lot of money in the portal, they’ll gladly shift to JUCO prospects who’ll come in fresh, and are in most cases even better prepared than their D1 peers. It’s a situation where everyone wins, while programs can save on their NIL resources compared to when they’ll work the transfer portal.
All previous articles, totalling to over 100 players, can be found here.
Prospects
1. Jaylon Brown — Lamar Community College
Point Guard — 6’2” — Freshman — Dallas, TX
Link to Bio and Stats — Link to X Profile
Handles, offensive creativity and flair summarizes Brown’s game. He’s a born scorer with good touch around the basket. He’s great at simply playing the angles to create his advantages; a pure hooper for who the game is starting to slow down. The other side of the coin is that Brown’s mainly focusing on finishing his advantages by himself, with the 76 turnovers to 72 assists in 32 games showing signs. On the other hand, Brown’s living in the paint, making him more vulnerable for turnovers. These are ‘good’ live-ball turnovers instead of him being sloppy. The contrary is true, Brown’s handles look translatable to play the same way at the next level.
But he’ll have to share the ball more in the future. The 31-second mark shows a good example. There aren’t many Division I coaches who’ll allow their guards to not involve their teammates for more than 10 seconds. Even isolation ball has its limits. However, I’m not weighing this in heavily, as that’s mostly how the JUCO game is played among its guards. The floater and balance after bumping his defender show a good sign of how he’s improving his body control with some good footwork in the process. He’s also showing some good playmaking flashes, with the 1:04-mark being an example. He can’t find the angle to get in the paint, and immediately moves his hips after a strong last step to hit the above-the-break three-point shooter. He’s throwing in some eye manipulation as well, with the 1:32-mark being an example. I’m impressed with the playmaking even though he’s not showing it much at under 3 assists per game this season.
At close to one offensive board and over a steal per game, some good flashes of Brown’s activity and motor. He’s gambling for steals at times, but it’s visible that he’s getting advantages on defense with his footwork and strong first step. He’s a tough defender above everything, where the physicality will improve in the next few years as he’s still growing into his body. Overall, Brown’s in a position where he’s a lock to be a starter for high-major Division II programs, whereas he’ll also draw some low-major Division I interest. With him being a freshman, returning to JUCO and playing for a nationally ranked program could be another decision. Regardless of what he’ll decide, there’s no denying that Brown will play Division I basketball in his career.
2. Jeremiah Ibeziako — Coffeyville Community College
Power Forward/Center — 6’8” — Freshman — Lagos, Nigeria
Link to Bio and Stats — Link to X Profile
Physicality, face-up scoring and overall skill summarizes Ibeziako’s game. We see a high demand for forwards with physicality and skill in the lower Division I ranks, which makes him a much-wanted commodity. But he’s much more than that. The combination of upper body strength, strong frame and verticality is simply putting him apart from most of his peers. The athleticism is separating him, but he still needs to work to maximize what’s physically possible for him. As of now, he’s mostly a paint-diver and play-finisher after screens and cuts for Coffeyville, a feasible role that’ll easily translate to the next level.
The 11-second mark shows a good example of how he’s utilizing the verticality and face-up creation with the pump-fake before landing two feet in the paint for the dunk. The 23-second mark shows him using his decently fluid hips. The common denominator is that he’s mostly screening and diving, meaning that the best is yet to come. He’s an efficient finisher, but one who’s forced to dunk everything home because he doesn’t have good overall touch around the basket. That’s not an issue for now, but something for him to work on and improve in the next few years. However, you can’t teach some intangibles in his game such as the speed and verticality. The 1:20-mark shows many impressive leaping on his blocked shots while he’s very fast in the open floor as well. He’s bringing role versatility as he’ll embrace a energy-five role on top of his face-up scoring. The 2:30-mark shows a great example of his footwork while Ibeziako plays bully-ball in the paint.
The 2:51-mark has him use his fluid hips after the post-entry pass. There’s still a lot to discover in Ibeziako’s game. Many Division I coaches shouldn’t overthink his combination of athleticism, physicality and role versatility. There’s a clear-cut starting role for him on many lower-ranked mid-major programs in the country.
All JUCO Prospects
I’ve written 24 other articles like this one in which I covered a total of over 100 JUCO prospects, which all can be found here.
Note: I’m still busy with getting Ersin’s NBA Draft Newsletter NCAA approved. For college coaches that would like to subscribe, I offer a $6 per month package with the standard coverage of solely the articles.
Paid subscribers get full access to this article which will cover two more in-depth scouting reports.