San Diego Makes It Official: Brooks the ex-Husky and ex-Trojan is a Triton

The 6-foot-9 forward is one of three transfers joining the Big West school.

J'Raan Brooks officially joined the UC San Diego Tritons on Tuesday, with the Seattle native and former University of Washington forward announced among three transfers.

The once highly regarded 6-foot-9 Brooks, initially committed to Louisville at one time, looks to jumpstart his college basketball career after he was unable to earn much playing time at time in the Pac-12 Conference at either the UW or USC. 

He joins a Big West program coming from the portal along with a pair of 6-foot-4 guards in Vuc Vulikic from UTEP and Reed Farley from Harvard. 

Brooks, who played in 14 games for the 5-21 Huskies team last season, has three seasons of eligibility remaining. 

"I am thrilled to welcome Vuk, J'Raan, and Reed to our program," UC San Diego coach Eric Olen said. "They are talented players who bring diverse skill sets and have experience that has them prepared to help our team right away. Each of these guys is a terrific fit on the court both with how their games complement our roster and also the style of basketball we like to play."

Of the trio, he brings the most experience to the Tritons after averaging 9.8 minutes and and shooting 56.7 percent from the floor. He had high games of 8 against USC, his old team, and California. He was held back largely for defensive shortcomings in the UW zone.

Of the other two players, Farley comes to San Diego after playing in a dozen games and starting just one in three seasons for Harvard, while Vulikic, a Serbian, appeared in 14 games as a freshman and averaged 1.1. points per game.

All three of these players have a lot to prove for a Tritons team coming off a 7-10 season and adding eight new faces, including five freshmen.

Brooks was one of six players from the UW to enter the transfer portal, including Erik Stevenson (South Carolina), Marcus Tsohonis (Virginia Commonwealth), Nate Pryor (New Mexico State), RaeQuan Battle (Montana State) and Hameir Wright (no new school yet).

Follow Dan Raley of Husky Maven on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @HuskyMaven

Find Husky Maven on Facebook by searching: HuskyMaven/Sports Illustrated