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Five-star wing Brian Bowen makes his pick

Brian Bowen
Brian Bowen (Nike/Jon Lopez @NikeEYB)

After a truly roller coaster like recruitment, the decision is in for five-star swingman Brian Bowen.

The last remaining five-star in the class of 2017, Bowen told Rivals.com on Saturday that he's headed to play for Rick Pitino at Louisville.

A native of Michigan who has played his last few years at La Porte (Ind.) La Lumiere, Bowen just recently got hooked up with the Cardinals and felt an instant connection after a campus visit over the weekend.

"They reached out to me two weeks ago after they realized Donovan Mitchell wasn't coming back and just told me I could come in right away and be that missing guard they needed," Bowen told Rivals.com. "I went on my visit last week and it was just something that my I felt good about and my family felt good about. I have a lot of respect for coach Pitino and just how's he's developed guys for the league"

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At various points during his recruitment, programs like Arizona, Creighton, Michigan State and Oregon were among those to be considered behind the scenes leaders. However, Bowen always said he was committed to seeing how rosters looked and taking his time to find the right fit. It took some time, but Louisville is where he finally found his fit.

"There's a reason I took so long to decide," said Bowen. "I was waiting for the right fit for me and Louisville at the end of the day is where I'm meant to be."

By landing Bowen, Louisville has added some wing firepower to their 8th ranked recruiting class in 2017. He joins top 30 power forward Malik Williams, four-star combo forward Jordan Nwora, four-star point guard Darius Perry and Rivals150 forward Lance Thomas in a deep group.

"I can't wait to get on campus next week and get to work." said Bowen. "I'm excited to play in the ACC against the toughest competition in college basketball. We're just going to work on getting that National Championship next year."

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