UCLA Men's Basketball - The Rise of the National Recruiting Machine
by freesia39 on Sep 20, 2011 2:01 PM PDT
in Recruiting
Email
PrintYesterday, Kyle Anderson committed to UCLA and our recruiting class for 2012 quickly shot up to number 2 in the ESPN rankings, right behind Arizona.
Anderson is a great get for the UCLA program - a possible point forward, who is nicknamed Slo Mo, but as long as he's willing to work hard and learn how to play Ben Ball, he could join many of the warriors that have come out of the UCLA program recently.
The commitment of Anderson also marks a new era in UCLA Men's Basketball - or more accurately, a return to being a national recruiting force. Our current commitments are:
- Kyle Anderson is from St. Anthony High School in New Jersey.
- Jordan Adams currently attends Oak Hill Academy in Virginia but is originally from Georgia.
- Dominic Artis is from Richmond, CA and attends Findlay Prep in Nevada.
Our current targets are:
- Shabazz Muhammad, the top recruit in the class of 2012, from Las Vegas, NV.
- Shaq Goodwin, the #12 recruit, from Georgia (and wants to play football too!)
- Tony Parker, the #31 recruit, from Georgia
You will notice that of our six top targets, five are not from California. With a lack of high school All Americans coming out of California, UCLA must look outside of the West Coast in order to continue the success we expect as Bruins. With two commits already from the East Coast, the traditional media cannot ignore that UCLA is looking to bring in players from all over the country.
A break down on our recruiting classes over the past five years, after the jump.
The Class of 2011 is a small class, with Norman Powell and De'End Parker both hailing from California, and Khalid McCaskill walking on to the team, from New York.
The Class of 2010 brought us four new recruits, although one is Matt Carlino, but two from out of state - Lazeric Jones from Illinois, and Joshua Smith from Washington.
In 2009, our only out of state recruit was Mike Moser, and he's still West Coast. We all know what happened to Moser.
2008 is the class that time can only bring us to forget, with only one recruit left on the team, but only J'Mison Morgan from out of state.
2007 brought us Kevin Love and our last Final Four trip in 2008, but he is West Coast based.
If we want to bring another banner back to Westwood, we cannot depend on talent from California. John Wooden managed to lure some guy named Lew Alcindor to Westwood. They had a pretty successful time here.
This recruiting class will help, in a big way, to push us back into the national spotlight much like our Final Four runs a few years ago, and bring us back into national prominence. Every top recruit in the country should have UCLA on their radar now.
You can't ignore UCLA forever, east coast media.
17 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Allegedly, Shaq Goodwin could take up a football instead of a basketball scholarship
I wonder how that works once basketball season begins though
football would be his primary commitment
i remember someone posted information w/ a link in a comment thread a while back. IIRC, the way that the NCAA classifies sports scholarships, football is above all. According to NCAA rules he would have to participate in the primary sport (football) over the secondary sport (basketball). My guess is he would miss some November basketball games and, if we make it to a bowl game (I can dream, right?), he would have to attend to that. Again, this is all speculation based on what i’ve read here before.
My ideal recruiting combo
2 High IQ Talented Studs + 2 Hard-Nosed Run Through a Wall Role Players. That’s the recipe I’d like to see us use each year. With Kyle Anderson and
2008 taught us that you can’t just stockpile a bunch of four and five star players and hope it works… rather you need the right balance of guys with talent and the willingness to sarcifice. For every Jordan Farmar, I want a Mata-Real, for every Afflalo I want an Aboya.
I want to see the lunch-pale guys who’ll run through a wall come to the team alongside these McDonald’s All-Americans. Who from this 2012 class will play that role?
by CPOBruin on Sep 20, 2011 3:52 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs
oops third sentence got cut
I meant to say “With Kyle Anderson and Artis (and maybe Shabazz), I think we have the first part of the recipe covered, now how about the 2nd part.”
What if
the five star studs also happen to be guys who will run through walls for the team? Would that be okay? It appears — though nothing is certain until we see it happening — that Shabazz is both a five star and a run through the wall guy. Kyle may be a run through the wall guy, or he may have so much BB IQ and passing skill that he can pass the ball through a small hole in the wall to the guy who’s already on the other side. Actually, now that I think of it, both Farmar and Afflalo were run through the wall guys as well. I agree in principle that we need guys who put in that kind of effort, but some 5 star guys carry their lunch pail, too. If we’re very lucky, this may be one of those classes.
Don't forget Arnaud Moto - a Cameroonian
Who will be visiting officially sound, is very interested in us, and sounds like the backcourt version of Luc — potential to guard just about anyone. But we might not have room for him.
Has UCLA ever landed a consensus #1 overall recruit?
let me rephrase that. When was the last time UCLA landed a #1 recruit?
Troy is burning
by bruinbasketball on Sep 20, 2011 4:59 PM PDT reply actions
Had Scout and Rivals existed back then
I think Lew Alcindor would have occupied spots 1 through 10 : )
Actually, all we can be sure of about Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr. is that he would have been in the top 20 to 30.
That seemed appropriate since we’re talking basketball.
Shaq Goodwin or Tony Parker would help tremendously.
One of the big guys should now sign with us, and follow suit.
O.J. Mayo and Michael Beasley were No. 1&2 on Scout.com with Love #3, back then.
But that’s just Scout and Rivals.
Love was by far our most impressive pick in many many years!
Good Post Free but why you are technically right
I would include the Wear twins as recruits this year. There are part of the incoming class and will play a key role.
I think D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera should be a part of the conversation
Remember it is our guard play that is lacking elite talent and depth. Jordan Adams is a shooter, we could use an athletic slasher.
Isn't that supposed to Norman Powell?
He’s raw, but he’s incredibly athletic. I agree D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera is a very good kid that I’d love to have, but we might have the answer already in Powell.
Kyle Anderson is listed as a SF and a PT Gaurd. He can slash.
Powell and Parker are slasher’s too. So for the next two years we should have enough players to slash-and-bash. Especially if Tyler Lamb starts slashing and bashing like he did in High School. Larry Drew and Domonique Artis will be capable & quick point gaurds for next year too. But look for Kyle, Powell, Parker and Lamb to be getting to the rim by way of quickness and dribble penetration. Go Bruins!
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Bruins Nation
Related FanShots on Bruins Nation
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
