Roundup From BN Walk: News & Notes

Let’s start our walk with the huge recruiting news from yesterday. Brian Dohn has this on Neuheisel and Chow’s big recruiting get:

The 6-foot-3, 205-pound Brehaut made a big impression during a workout in front of Bruins offensive coordinator Norm Chow last week. He secured the offer from UCLA after a strong showing this weekend in a two-day event in Santa Barbara attended by Bruins coach Rick Neuheisel, who was there to watch his sons participate in the camp.

"I love how coach Neuheisel is always so upbeat and always so positive," Brehaut said. "I just love his charisma. He's a great guy. Coach Chow, he's a class act. You have tremendous respect for every program he's been at. He's always had success."

A week ago UCLA was deciding whether to make an offer to Brehaut or his close friend, Josh Nunes of Upland High, and the decision was made after UCLA's top two offensive decision-makers saw both quarterbacks firsthand.

"We knew what was at stake with coach Neuheisel and stuff," Brehaut said. "We both knew we were going to remain good friends afterward. No matter what, we knew whichever one of us went to UCLA, the other one was also going to go to a great school."

It was going to be either Brehaut or Nunes for UCLA. As excited I am about Brehaut, I also feel a little bummed out for the Nunes family who were also excited about a possible offer from UCLA. But I imagine that kid is going to end up going to another great school where he will have a very good college career.

As for Brehaut, he is all fired up:

"I'm beyond excited, I'm so pumped up,'' Brehaut said. "A lot of my friends and family were always for USC, and I don't know, I just grew a love for UCLA and it's been there ever since. It's been since like third or fourth grade."

Smart kid who is not a bandwagoner. Sounds like a leader to me.

While Brehaut is excited about coming to Westwood next season, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute might be on his way out. For now he is on his way out to Orlando pre-draft camp:

UCLA power forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute received his chance to make an impression in front of every NBA team after receiving a late invitation to the pre-draft camp this week in Orlando.

Mbah a Moute's brother, Armel Minyem, said the invitation came in the last few days.

"This will give him more exposure," said Minyem, who is speaking to NBA teams on his brother's behalf. "I'm in the process of scheduling some workouts for him after the camp."

Minyem said Chicago, Boston and Portland each expressed interest in working out Mbah a Moute, who has not signed with an agent. He has until June 16 to withdraw from the June 26 NBA draft and return to UCLA for his senior season.

That was from Dohn who also reported that whether or not LRMAM returns could be impacted by his decision to play for the Cameroon national team:

UCLA power forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute said he was to play for Cameroon in the 12-team Olympic qualifier July 14-20 in Athens, Greece, but he will not make up his mind until he knows whether or not he is staying in the NBA draft.
Mbah a Moute is working out at the Home Depot Center, and said he was unsure how NBA teams would react to his playing in the qualifier if he was drafted.
However, Mbah a Moute said he would play for Cameroon if he decides to return to UCLA.

Right now my gut feeling is that we are not going to see LRMAM in a UCLA uniform next season. IIRC Luc like AA2 was on pace to graduate in three years. I think if he gets a guarantee from a team like Boston that he will be taken in late first round, he will be gone. And honestly, I am not all that worried at this point, especially if AA2 comes back for another season. With Keefe, Morgan, Gordon and Aboya, Howland will have a pretty solid frontcourt to work with that will complement the depth we have piled up with our blue chip guards. Anyway, we will just have to wait till June 16th and see how it all shakes out.

We will end the walk with the following comments from John Savage, whose team made the playoffs after successfully fighting to stay alive last two weeks.

"We’ve had some series that we’ve had to win, and we’ve had some games we’ve had to win," Savage said. "Nobody really likes being put in that position, but that’s the position we put ourselves in. That only helps build the team. When you can get through some tough times, your team benefits from those tough times and a lot times you’re stronger because of that. A lot of teams don’t face adversity at all throughout the year, and when they do and it’s in the postseason, you see those teams collapse.

"We’ve been through the last two years’ regionals and super regionals, and people saying that we’re done, people saying that you’re overrated, people saying that you don’t deserve to be ranked where you’re ranked. So this team hasn’t flinched, and at the end of the day, you have to give this team credit because they did step up when they had to and they won the ball games down the stretch that we needed to."

Hopefully his team will not sit on the laurels of just making the playoffs. Right now UCLA finds itself in a very difficult regional with Cal State Fullerton. However, instead of thinking about any possible matchup with the Titans down the road, Bruins need to lock in on the Cavaliers this Friday. They will have to do what they have been doing last few games, by approaching it one game at a time. We have seen what this team can do when it can put it all together. Hopefully we will get to see that talent shine through this coming weekend.

GO BRUINS.