Jabari Brown, a heralded five-star recruit from Oakland, Calif., informed head coach Dana Altman of his intent to leave the program this weekend, though a final decision has yet to be made.
Brown, according to Altman, told the coach of his decision on Saturday, the day before Oregon was set to face off with Southeast Missouri State. Altman did attempt to talk the true freshman into staying with the program, but it is unclear whether it had any effect.
“I don’t want him to leave,” Altman said. “I did try to talk him out of it, I want him to reconsider. I hope he does. The door is still open.”
Though Brown was removed from the team’s online roster earlier Sunday, he was placed back on in the aftermath of Oregon’s 86-61 victory. A statement from the athletic department labeled the removal as “done prematurely.”
The players meanwhile, claimed to have been informed of the decision just after Sunday’s game.
“We knew something was wrong,” senior forward Jeremy Jacob said. “We didn’t actually know what it was. Coach just told us, ‘Oh, he may be leaving.’ Nothing’s in stone yet.”
Altman, for his part, had not spoken to Brown on Sunday as of the game’s immediate aftermath, though he hoped to speak with him later in the day. Regardless of Brown’s final decision, the team will be forced to move forward.
“If he decided to leave, we’ll move on with the guys that we have,” Altman said. “We would miss him, but we’ll move on.”
Through the season’s first two weeks, Brown averaged six points and two rebounds per game while also committing a team-high eleven turnovers.