A few weeks ago, Phenom Hoops headed up to Petersburg, Virginia for the VISAA championships, checking in on some of the best teams and talent around the state of Virginia. Blue Ridge has always been a hot-bed under head coach Cade Lemcke, as he continues to have success in producing talent of all levels.
It doesn't seem to be any different this year and we got a glimpse of one big-time prospect that you will want to know now before he blows up even more.
2022 6'8 Maliq Brown already holds a few big-time offers but this may only be the start for this young man with the potential he possesses on the court.
Patrick O'Brien said this while watching him from the sidelines:
'2022 6'8 Maliq Brown is one to start tracking now. He has a ton of upside to his game, moves incredibly well, and still is young and developing his overall offensive capabilities.'
To add to that, Brown was absolutely tremendous on the defensive end, blocking shots and creating havoc with his versatility and getting on the boards. The sophomore prospect has a huge upside and now that he is solely focused on basketball, the sky is the limit for this young man according to Coach Lemcke.
'Maliq will be our first four-year player that we have had and he has already passed two other ACC guys in Mamadi (Diakite) and Aamir (Simms) in where they were at the same age,” Lemcke said. “His basketball IQ, especially on the defensive end, is so high, the number of deflections he gets, the number of steals he gets, the number of rebounds… it is at such a high level and his offense continues to grow. The big thing we worked on this off-season was getting more aggressive offensively and then starting to be confident in his shot.
The next phase (in his game) is to get him comfortable as a 4-man or 3-man, instead of a 5-man… If what he has done in the last year, while also playing football, is any indication now that he is focusing on hoops, who knows where he will be in the coming years.'
Right now, he holds offers from Virginia Tech, Georgetown, TCU, Old Dominion, and James Madison but Coach Lemcke also mentioned that schools like Maryland, Louisville, Cincinnati, NC State, and several others are showing interest his way as well.
This past season for Blue Ridge, Brown averaged 9.9 points and 5.9 rebounds per game in only 12.5 minutes per game.
Side Notes:
In speaking with Coach Lemcke and as mentioned above, Brown used to also split time playing football, including this past season. Now, he will be focusing on just basketball but he had the talent to also be a big-time prospect on the field as well.
