Jaylen Brown Named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year

Cal Bears’ freshman forward Jaylen Brown has been named the Pac-12’s Freshman of the Year, the eighth Cal player to earn the award.

Forward Jaylen Brown lived up to the hype in his debut season with the California Golden Bears. Brown was the number-one player in his recruiting class, as ranked by Scout, and second to LSU’s Ben Simmons, the likely number-one pick in the next NBA draft, according to ESPN’s and Rivals’ rankings. The McDonald’s All-American Brown chose California-Berkeley, a decision he would make “10 times out of 10”, over Michigan and Kentucky, and transplanted himself across the country, from Marietta, Georgia to Berkeley, California.

Brown joined an already talented nucleus of players, and along with fellow freshman Ivan Rabb, turned Cal into a force in the Pac-12. He was the top freshman in the conference, and was recognized as such with the Pac-12’s Freshman of the Year Award. Earlier on Monday, Brown was named First-Team All-Pac-12, making him the first Golden Bear freshman to get such an honor since Leon Powe in the 2003-2004 season. His name was also featured on the conference’s All-Freshman Team earlier on Monday, and is a finalist for the Wayman Tisdale Freshman of the Year Award, given to the best frosh player nationally.

Among freshmen in the Pac-12, Brown tied for the lead in scoring at 15.3 points per game, matching Washington’s Dejounte Murray. Murray himself made a very strong case for the award.

Murray pulled down two more total rebounds than Brown, and dished out more than twice as many assists. He also more than doubled Brown’s steal total, but Brown doubled up in blocks. Brown was also the better shooter, shooting 45.3 percent from the floor and 30.9 percent from three-point distance, while Murray shot 40.7 percent overall and a nearly identical three-point mark at 30.3 percent. Their free-throw shooting was very similar, as Brown shot 64.5 percent and Murray shot 65.4 percent. Murray also played 137 minutes more than Brown, as the Huskies didn’t boast the kind of depth that Cal possesses.

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Brown’s teammate Rabb made a solid case for himself as well during his freshman year. Rabb and Brown were the only Bears to start all 31 regular season games, and Rabb was fourth on the team in scoring at 12.2 points per game. He was 26th overall in the conference in scoring, and seventh among freshman. He shot 60.5 percent from the field, making him one of two Pac-12 players to shot over 60 percent, and led all Pac-12 frosh with 8.4 rebounds per game. Rabb was named Second-Team All-Pac-12, and joined Brown on the conference’s All-Freshman Team.

Brown is the eight Cal men’s basketball player to be named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, which matches Arizona and UCLA for the most winners in the conference. Brown joins forward Dave Butler (1981-1982), forward Leonard Taylor (1984-1985), guard Jason Kidd (1992-1993), forward Tremaine Fowlkes (1994-1995), forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim (1995-1996), forward Powe (2003-2004), and guard Allen Crabbe (2010-2011).

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Cal also now boasts a clean sweep in Basketball All-Freshman Awards, as Brown joins Kristine Anigwe from the women’s team. Anigwe was named the Pac-12’s Freshman of the Year on the women’s side, as well as being the lone freshman on the All-Pac-12 First Team. She averaged 20.3 points per contest and scored a freshman school-record 567 points.

Anigwe was a key factor in Cal’s stunning upset in the Pac-12 tournament, as the 10th-seeded Bears knocked off the number-two seed, Arizona State, in what was the biggest upset in women’s tournament history, by seeding. Anigwe scored a game-high 24 points on 10-of-11 shooting as the Bears shot a tournament record 69 percent to come away with a 75-64 win.

Next: Two Cal Players Named to All-Pac-12 Teams

Brown and the Golden Bears will be looking to avoid the upset in their tournament, which begins on Wednesday. Cal, the number-three seed, will play the winner of Arizona State and Oregon State on Thursday.