Cuonzo Martin Assembling Outstanding 2015 Recruiting Class for Cal Bears

Cuonzo Martin left his job as head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers to become the head coach of the California Bears after the 2014 season. Many saw that as a lateral move, but it also offered Martin the chance to get out from under the shadow of Bruce Pearl, who was still beloved in Knoxville.

Martin’s first season in Berkeley was nothing spectacular, as the team went 18-15 and did not make the postseason. The Bears didn’t exactly look like a team with a lot of momentum heading into the offseason.

After that type of season, Martin knew he had to upgrade the talent on the Bears’ roster. He set out to recruit a high-level class that would allow his team to compete with the powers in the Pac-12 Conference.

Martin got a commitment from five-star power forward Ivan Rabb in April, giving the 2015 class a player ranked in the Top Ten nationally in the class. Rabb joined four-star shooting guard Tyson Jolly and three-star small forward Davon Dillard in the class.

But on Friday night, Martin got his best recruit in the 2015 class when forward Jaylen Brown, a Top Five player in the Class of 2015, committed to Cal. That commitment means that only two teams in the country have a pair of Top Ten recruits in the Class of 2015: the Kentucky Wildcats and the Cal Bears.

What Martin is doing is nothing short of amazing. While the team rankings for the 2015 recruiting class were not updated immediately after Brown’s announcement, Cal will surely be in the Top Ten for this year’s class. Now, Martin must turn this talent into wins in Berkeley.

Tim Letcher is a Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimLetcher , on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.