Since Wolverine247 first reported the Wolverines making a move on 2015 five-star forward Jaylen Brown's 247Sports Crystal Ball earlier this week, Michigan has taken a commanding lead, holding a sizable majority of the votes, led by 247Sports National Analyst Jerry Meyer and Andrew Slater of 247's Duke affiliate.

Jaylen Brown Wheeler Where will Jaylen Brown commit to? 55%

33%

9%

3%

The natural question has been why is Michigan making a run, and why now?

The feathers originally believed to be in Michigan's cap regarding Brown's recruitment were two-fold. One, Michigan is an Adidas school, and Brown has said in the past that he would prefer to play at an Adidas program. While that sentiment started to fade over the last couple weeks, the strong belief is that the current Crystal Ball run on Brown is fueled by a reigniting of the notion that he's serious about choosing an Adidas program.

Where Michigan separates themselves from Kansas (the other Adidas program left) is that Brown has plenty of family ties to the general area. Mom is from Muskegon, MI and it's a place and state he's familiar with. One other potential factor is a tidbit dug up after some Twitter hunting is a tweet from the Wheeler HS student section account, an account that has been referenced in reports in the past:

@travisjharris toss up honestly. Only school in his top 5 that i'm fairly certain he won't go to is Kansas. Other than that, no idea. — Wheeler HAWKS (@Wheeler_Cats) April 28, 2015



Should KU be eliminated based on that one single tweet? Of course not, but it's still worth noting in a recruitment that has been very quiet for the last couple months.

I talked to as many people in the know as I can regarding his recruitment. While there's nothing concrete out there to suggest who Brown is going to choose, I was at least able to develop a current pecking order of his top five based on those that know more than I do.

1. Michigan - The adidas/family connections combined with Beilein and Jordan putting in a lot of time with him has paid off.

2. Kentucky - Mostly because it's Kentucky, but "it's Kentucky" has reeled in plenty of big names for the Wildcats in the past.

3. Cal - The mystery team in the race for sure.

4. Kansas - They're an Adidas program, and the Cheick Diallo commit could help, but most are bearish on their chances.

5. North Carolina - The academic scandal is not helping their cause with big-time prospects right now.