#IntELITE Forward Hailey Brown has picked Michigan Four-star international forward, Hailey Brown of Hamilton, Ontario has committed to Michigan. The 6-foot-2 forward picked the Big Ten school over multiple suitors including Duke and Harvard. Brown’s decision to pick Michigan gives them their first verbal commitment for the 2017 class.
For those that have followed international basketball regularly, Brown is a well-recognized name. For the last half decade, Brown has been featured as the face of youth basketball in Canada. At just 13 years old, Brown made her international debut playing for Canada, the following summer Brown was a key piece as Canada managed to win a Bronze medal at the U17 World Championships in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Since then, every summer has seen Brown as a member of at least one Canadian team. From U17’s in 2014 and 2016 and an additional U18’s in 2016 and two trips to U16’s in 2013 and 2015.
For Michigan, this experience will be crucial as Brown will most likely be able to step into college ahead of many of her peers. In many ways, her international experience has allowed her to learn how to prepare like a professional even though she is still an amateur. It doesn’t take long to notice that Brown isn’t your ordinary high school player, this summer our prospectnation.com staff had a chance to evaluate her play in Spain and her impact on the game was impressive. While she struggled to make shots from the field at times, her leadership, and enthusiasm for playing was impressive. Sitting courtside saw her anchor Canada’s defense and call out every play the opposition would run, it was recognizable that Brown knew the scouting report and was willing to help lesser experienced players such as Oklahoma commit Shayla Pellington and the next “it” kid in Canada Leticia Amihere. Brown’s instincts will allow her to get on the floor early at Michigan, if she can become more reliable as a shotmaker she will have as much of an impact on Michigan as she has Canada.
Although they have Brown who is a key piece in their 2017 class, Michigan’s work in 2017 is still in progress. This fall they have had a couple of ELITE 150 prospects on campus including Destiny Littleton and Sidney Cooks.
