The big man from Collsinville was an one man wrecking crew in the paint for the Cardinals with a 21 points, 15 rebound day.  Brown is one of the harder workers players in the state, who seems to eat, breath and live for rebounding.  He single handedly out rebounded Midwest City with a 15-14 margin, sparking his team to a 36-14 edge on the glass.  While only officially credited with one block, his general presence often turned Midwest City into jump shooters.  Brown finished his high school career strongly and will now head to Missouri S&T.

Brown averaged a double double last year and is one of the most productive post players in Oklahoma. He’s a great example of embracing and excelling in his strengths. The Collsinville Cardinal simply puts on his hardhat around the basket and goes to work. And he works hard, with rebounding being at the forefront of his resume, along with his “country boy strength” making him an outstanding screen setter and imposing presence at the rim. After falling short of State last season, Brown will be looking to lead the Cardinals to Norman before he heads off to Missouri Science and Technology for college.

Brown continues to be one of the most consistent performers in Oklahoma. He’s going to carve out space on the glass, set strong screens, establish deep on the block and surprise with being a little more nimbleness than expected as a roll man and when blocking shots at the rim. He’s the type of prospect that looks like he’ll get every possible last ounce out of his natural ability, due to his blue collar nature. Brown even has reliable soft touch in the 6 feet to 12 feet range. Regional programs looking for a culture setter, physical grinder around the rim would do well to target the Collinsville senior.

The first note from watching Brown last Wednesday “HEAVY SCREENS!!!”. The Collinsville big man was like a brick wall in setting screens early in his first contest. He’s “country strong” from setting those screens, to the way he boxes out and carves out space on post ups. Early on some of his movements on post ups were slow, giving time for smaller defenders to recover and contest or even knock the ball loose. But he showed improvement throughout the day with quicker movements and stronger finishing.

Brown recently picked up an offer from Murray State College in Tishomingo.

Game Watched: Iso JoernBrown continued his pattern of being a rock steady producer around the rim, on both ends of the court. He runs the floor, crashes the glasses on both ends and simply “makes it happen”.  He’s a basketball example of the quote “”In the long run luck is given only to the efficient”. To the untrained eye, it may look like “luck” when he’s the trailer who scores in transition, or an offensive rebound falls to his hands. But it’s the hard work he’s putting end that is creating those opportunities, and Brown makes the most of them.

Brown was an absolute monster on the boards against TJ Ford elite today. He consistently crashed the offensive glass and had and was able to get putbacks over defenders. When his guards penetrated he always seemed to be in the right place at the right time to get a basket for his team. When he did get the ball down low he take one or two dribbles and was able to finish around his defenders and over the top of them as well.

Brown excelled in his role as a lunch pail carrying, hard hat wearing post player.  He was all over the glass, especially on the offensive end.  He racked up points in both games via put-backs. He’s a text book example of knowing his role and staring in that role. He hustles to challenge as many shots as possible, showing some deceptive speed when recovering along with good timing and feel when contesting shots.

Because Brown is not the most athletic or powerful prospect, he’ll need to add more layers of skills to go with his high motor game to continue to win. His footwork on post ups will need to continue to improve. And at least in the two games watched, his jumper was off. If he can hit a consistent 10-15 jumper, that will open up new ways to contribute in the offense in the half court.

Zac Brown  was great for Collinsville. He utilized his size to grab one rebound after another and to play great interior defense. He had good shot contest that forced misses and multiple blocks, as well. There were a couple of times that he got a block without jumping. His rebounding was unstoppable at times. Several offensive rebounds and putbacks for him. Not only did he score off of putbacks, he was able to bully the defense down low for easy buckets. On the offensive end, he not only scored inside several times, he showed the ability to stay calm and to make a great pass to the open man. He kept his composure and jumped to fire a great pass to the corner for an open shot. It was a great all-around game for him in this one.

Collinsville junior big man Zac Brown is another forward/center that we’re very intrigued by moving forward. During our last update in September, Brown was on the radar but we hadn’t seen him enough. It only took a few weeks to realize he should have been included. He was dominant at our Top 250 Expo in October and then was impressive again early on in the scrimmage season with Collinsville. The Cardinals have one of the more intriguing first round match-ups on Friday night when they play Tahlequah in the Holland Hall regional. They split the season series with the Tigers and both games were close. It also gives Brown another chance to go head to head with Tahlequah’s talented front court. Like Cason at Kingston, Brown has been a double-double machine this year and has had some really impressive performances. In the Lincoln Christian tournament, Brown had 47 points, 46 rebounds and 19 blocks in three games. He’s a big name to watch moving forward.

Last month, we updated our prospect rankings and it usually doesn’t take very long to realize we’ve left a few names off or names far too low on the list. And on Sunday, I had that realization about Collinsville 2024 big man Zac Brown. While we watched a few big men dominate on Sunday, there is no doubt that Brown was the best “Big Man” that I watched in person from start to finish. And each writer that saw him on Sunday agreed that he was incredibly skilled for his position. Brown has soft hands and can absolutely dominate the paint. The size advantage helped him out tremendously but even when he was going against another prospect similar in size, the outcome never changed. Brown would get to the basket as well as show off some touch with turn around jumpers and little baby hook shots. Brown should have been ranked in the 2024 class and he should be considered one of the best forwards in the class.