5-Star Basketball Recruit Jaylen Brown To Visit UCLA Despite Flood Damage
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) -Five-star basketball recruit Jaylen Brown will arrive to the UCLA campus Tuesday for an unofficial visit despite the major flood that ruined the Pauley Pavilion on July 29.
Before his visit to Westwood, the 6-foot-7 forward will go through the fifth annual Adidas Nations basketball camp at the Next Level Sports Complex in Gardena, CA along with other college hopefuls.
The four-day camp kicked off Friday as the top high school basketball players in America get evaluated by college recruits across the country.
After the major flood that ruined the new Pauley Pavilion court and locker rooms, which was installed in 2012, many people in the twitter world though it would ruin the UCLA recruit's chances in signing with the 11-time National Champs.
"[The UCLA coaches] said that Pauley is down, but it's alright. Everybody is tweeting me like it's going to have some type of effect on my decision or something. It's not. It's fine," Brown said to NBC Sports of his scheduled UCLA visit. "Kentucky fans have been using that to their advantage. It's hilarious. They're like, 'Come to Kentucky, we have clean locker rooms,' and stuff like that, but the UCLA fans go back at them like, 'We'll have brand-new locker rooms by the time you get there,' so it's funny to see stuff like that."
If the trip goes well, he will return to UCLA in September for an official visit to the campus.
UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero said workers will begin restoring the hardwood on Monday, and is hopeful of having it ready in time for the start of the upcoming basketball season.
Kentucky is the other school interested in the talented forward.
Long Beach City College will host the third-place and championship games as part of the adidas Nations camp, Monday.
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