SAN JOSE, Calif. — Teammate Jalen James calls him “Air Canada,” and these are high-altitude times for Brandon Clarke.
As a San Jose State sophomore forward, he has asserted himself as one of the Mountain West’s top basketball players, just one season after being chosen by coaches as the conference Sixth Man of the Year.
Clarke, however, wasn’t the kind of player whom college coaches identified early as a top prospect. He took time to grow (literally) into that kind of player, going from 6 feet 2 inches as a high school sophomore to 6-8 now and developing his game along the way.