4-star, top-10 national transfer, who heard from Syracuse basketball, set for top 4

Mikeal Brown-Jones, a four-star prospect in the current transfer-portal cycle who has heard from a flood of teams, including Syracuse basketball, eyes a final list of contenders.

The 6-foot-8, 220-pound Brown-Jones, a prolific-scoring forward who had a terrific senior season at UNC Greensboro, said via his X page that he plans to disclose his four finalists on Monday.

Per On3 national analyst/scout Jamie Shaw, Brown-Jones entered the transfer portal on March 18, which is when the portal opened for business, with the current window running for 45 days.

Over the weekend, On3 national reporter Joe Tipton said on X that Brown-Jones had heard from a wide variety of schools, including the Orange.

Others who have reached out to Brown-Jones include Kansas State, Ole Miss, Auburn, Georgetown, St. John's, Miami, Wisconsin, California, Virginia, Arkansas, Pittsburgh, Iowa, UCLA and Georgia, among others.

When I wrote this column on Sunday afternoon, I hadn't come across any analyst predictions for Brown-Jones in his portal recruitment via the 247Sports Web site, Rivals.com or the On3 Web site.

Syracuse basketball recently reached out to forward transfer Mikeal Brown-Jones.

On Sunday, in its national transfer rankings, 247Sports had Brown-Jones as four stars, No. 23 overall and No. 6 at power forward. Rivals.com, meanwhile, placed him as four stars and No. 11 nationwide.

Over at the On3 Web site, Brown-Jones checked in as four stars and No. 8 across the country. It's no wonder that so many strong programs have reached out to Brown-Jones since he entered the transfer portal.

Brown-Jones, who is from Philadelphia, has played the past two seasons for UNC Greensboro out of the Southern Conference ("SoCon"). Before that, he competed in two campaigns for VCU out of the Atlantic 10 Conference.

In the 2023-24 term, when he was a senior at UNC Greensboro, Brown-Jones averaged 28.4 minutes, 18.9 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.1 assists per contest, while connecting on 54.0 percent from the field, 43.1 percent from beyond the arc, and 78.7 percent from the free-throw line. He was on the 2023-24 All-SoCon first team, and deservingly so.

Brown-Jones, as a member of the 2020 class, was rated three stars while proving a key contributor in his final two seasons of high school at the powerhouse IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. In one of those terms, 2018-19, IMG won the annual GEICO Nationals and went 31-1 overall.

Since the transfer portal opened, besides Brown-Jones, the Syracuse basketball coaching staff has reached out to Mount St. Mary's senior guard Dakota Leffew, who is also in the portal.

At least three members of the Orange 2023-24 roster are hitting the portal. They are sophomore guards/wings Justin Taylor and Quadir Copeland, as well as junior forward Benny Williams, who was dismissed from the 'Cuse program in early February.