Charleston's Brantley, Hofstra's Wright-Foreman Taken in NBA Draft 2nd Round

6/21/2019 12:24:33 AM

Bill Potter

RICHMOND, Va. (June 20, 2019) – College of Charleston’s Jarrell Brantley, a 2019 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) First Team selection, and two-time CAA Player of the Year Justin Wright-Foreman from Hofstra were both chosen in the second round of the 2019 NBA Draft, held at the Barclays Center on Thursday night.

Brantley was selected with the 50^th overall pick in the draft by the Indiana Pacers, with his draft rights being traded to the Utah Jazz. Three selections later, Utah picked Wright-Foreman with the 53^rd overall pick. The drafts of both Brantley and Wright-Foreman mark the first time the CAA has seen two student-athletes taken in the NBA Draft since 1992, when UNCW’s Mark Fish and Richmond’s Curtis Blair were both tabbed in the second round.

Overall, Brantley and Wright-Foreman are the 23^rd and 24^th players from a CAA member taken in the NBA Draft and first since William & Mary’s Marcus Thornton was tabbed by the Boston Celtics in the second round of the 2015 NBA Draft. Brantley is the third Charleston student-athlete taken in the NBA Draft, joining Anthony Johnson (1991) and Andrew Goudelock (2011), while Wright-Foreman joins Charles Jenkins (2011) and current Hofstra assistant coach Speedy Claxton (2000) as Hofstra student-athletes chosen in the NBA Draft since 2000.

With the two NBA Draft selections, the CAA was one of four non-Power 6 conferences with at least two student-athletes taken in the draft, joining the Ohio Valley, Mountain West and West Coast conferences.

A 2019 All-CAA First Team selection, Brantley wrapped his Charleston career with 1,914 points, third in program history. As a senior, Brantley posted 19.4 points and 8.4 rebounds, ranking fourth and sixth, respectively, in the CAA. The 6-foot-7 forward finished fourth in Charleston career rebounds (967) and is 10^th in career steals (150) and blocks (85). The 2016 CAA Rookie of the Year, Brantley earned All-CAA honors in each of his four seasons at CofC.

The two-time CAA All-Tournament Team selection helped the Cougars claim the 2018 CAA Championship, the first for the program since joining the conference in 2013-14. Brantley was a 2019 NABC All-District Second Team selection, his third straight season earning all-district honors.

In his senior year, Wright-Foreman finished second nationally in scoring with 27.1 points per game, breaking the CAA single-season scoring mark (949 points) in the process. Wright-Foreman’s scoring average trails only Navy’s David Robinson (28.2 ppg, 1986-87) in CAA history, while his 109 3-pointers in 2018-19 also rank second. Wright-Foreman closed his career with 2,327 points, ranking second all-time at Hofstra behind Jenkins (2,513) and fifth in the CAA record book.

With double-figure scoring efforts in his final 88 games, Wright-Foreman owns the seventh-longest streak in the history of NCAA Division I.

Wright-Foreman was named the CAA Player of the Year for the second consecutive season, becoming the ninth player in CAA history to earn the accolade multiple times as he led Hofstra to the program’s first outright CAA regular-season title.

In a standout senior year, Wright-Foreman captured 14 different weekly awards during the regular season. Wright-Foreman was a finalist for the Jerry West Award as the nation's top shooting guard and for the Senior CLASS Award, which honors seniors
who have notable accomplishments in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.

Additionally, Wright-Foreman was named the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) District II Player of the Year, the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Player of the Year as well as collecting first team honors from the CAA, the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and the Met Basketball Writers Association. He also earned Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American honors.

Colonial Athletic Association Players Chosen in the 2019 NBA Draft

Round	Overall	Player	Pos.	School	NBA Team
2	50	Jarrell Brantley	F	Charleston	Indiana Pacers (rights traded to Utah)
2	53	Justin Wright-Foreman	G	Hofstra	Utah Jazz