Recruiting

Tracking Bobo (aka J'Mison Morgan)

by Nestor on May 5, 2008 7:26 PM PDT in Recruiting

Guess we can't ignore the story any longer. The rumor/story of former UCLA blue chip recruit J'Mison Morgan, who had committed to LSU getting out of his LOI (Letter of Intent) has been bubbling up the tubes for last 24+ hours. As bluestreet noted (in SFVBruin's diary) it was Bruinau who first posted the scoop on Bruinzone.com:

J'Misson Morgan has reniged on his LSU commitment (LOI) and is coming to UCLA.

Bruinau appeared pretty confident as he called the info. "official."

Bruinau's confident post appeared more credible when few hours later this popped up LSU's rival.com site Tigerbait.com:

J'Mison Morgan, a class of 2008 five-star prospect from South Oak Cliff (Texas) High School, will ask for his release from LSU, according to his AAU coach Jazzy Hartwell. One school will likely be at the top of the list if Morgan does make a change.

Menelaus then pointed us to this on TransWorldNews:

J'mison Morgan, one of the top 40 high school basketball recruits in the nation, has decommitted from LSU Monday, opening up his recruitment to other options.

Morgan, a 6-foot-10, 275-pound center from South Oak Cliff H.S. in Dallas, has officially asked for a release from his letter-of-intent that he signed to the LSU Tigers....

UCLA will be strongly considered once Morgan is released from his National Letter of Intent due to the departure of freshman sensation Kevin Love. UCLA has a top-five recruiting class without Morgan, but with him, the Bruins may be able to return to the Final Four.

Jeff Eisenberg from the Press Enterprise who to his credit has been tracking the Morgan story for a while then posted this latest tidbit referencing the Dallas Morning Star:

South Oak Cliff senior center J'Mison "Bobo" Morgan on Monday confirmed that he has asked for his release from LSU. Morgan is considering attending UCLA in the fall.
"It was a real hard decision for me," said Morgan, an all-state center.
"My comfort level was at LSU, but I felt like UCLA was a better fit for me as far as exposure."

Now before everyone starts thinking that Morgan to UCLA is a done deal, please note that the reports indicate that Morgan has "asked" for a release. I have not seen any confirmed report yet that indicates that LSU has granted his request for a release. Also don't forget that there is a Kansas angle to this story:

This is where it becomes intriguing against with Morgan, who wanted an opportunity to play immediately and wanted a chance to win the national championship. KU and UCLA could both offer both those opportunities.

Morgan is seeking a release because LSU made a coaching change, replacing John Brady with Trent Johnson. He is the No. 25 overall player in the class of 2008. KU, of course, has seven commitments for 2008 and is down eight players from the national championship team.

This is where the speculation comes in. Two of the eight -- Mario Chalmers and Arthur -- could return. Another option, should KU eventually over-sign, is to remove a scholarship from a current scholarship player, which KU has done in the past, though usually just temporarily.

I have no idea how this situation is going to play out. Obviously if Morgan wants to play a team that will contend for titles with him in the fold UCLA with return of Darren Collison and the Fab-4 recruits would seem like an attractive option. But recruiting is a crazy world, and you never how these scenarios work out. I did have some reservations earlier about whether Morgan would fit into UCLA during the first go around. Obviously those concerns are mitigated by indications that Coach Howland and his staff will be more than happy to have him in the program. Simply I trust Howland.

If this holds up, it will be more than a big get. Morgan coming to UCLA will round up not only Coach Howland's best recruiting class since his arrival at UCLA, it will be probably mark the best recruiting class since the incoming class of 1998 (Barnes, Young, Rush, Moiso and Gadzuric) that Lavin wasted away. Moreover, Morgan's arrival to Westwood could position UCLA as a top-10 team heading into this off season.

Then again, I wouldn't get too excited. As I said above you never know how this kind of recruiting situations work out. It was just months we were all getting excited about Ryan Mallet playing for Neuheisel/Chow at UCLA. Although I concede that the obvious difference here is unlike Mallett Morgan has already been to UCLA on an official visit and has a prior recruiting history. Still let's wait this out and see the story works out before projecting depth charts for next season.

GO BRUINS.

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Ben Ball News & Notes: Incoming Warriors

by Nestor on Apr 25, 2008 4:07 AM PDT in Recruiting

Well that Riles is a lucky dude (What an amazing thread that was BTW. Folks if you have stories like that you want to share please post them in the diaries or email us whenever you want). He gets to come into UCLA at a time Coach Howland will be rolling out yet another sensational freshman class at Pauley. Luke Winn from SI.com posted on incoming Ben Ball warriors, who are already preparing to continue the tradition of BRUIN DEFNSE:

It was a rare sight, at least for a scrimmage affiliated with a shoe company's high-school All-Star game: Amid all the cherry-picked dunks and carelessly thrown passes in a nearly empty gym at Long Island University-Brooklyn, there were a couple of perimeter players assuming defensive stances and making a real effort to guard the ball. This workout took place the day before last week's Jordan Brand Classic, with no NBA scouts or college coaches present; the lone dignitary in the room was soon-to-be Rookie of the Year Kevin Durant, a deeply slouched spectator at the end of one bench. Score was kept, but the result was meaningless. And while what Malcolm Lee and Jrue Holiday were doing on the court -- defending -- was hardly worthy of a medal, it was a strong indication that next season, they will fit right in at UCLA.

Their future coach, the defense-obsessed Ben Howland, was still on the West Coast last Friday, having participated in press conferences for Bruins freshman Kevin Love and sophomore Russell Westbrook the previous afternoon. Both players declared early for the NBA draft, but Westbrook did not hire an agent. In a press release, junior Luc Richard Mbah a Moute announced he was following the same route as Westbrook. Junior point guard Darren Collison is taking his draft decision up to the April 27 deadline, but is expected to declare. There is also talk that junior forward Alfred Aboya might not return, either to come to the aid of his ailing father in Cameroon, or pursue graduate school. Add to that the graduation of forward Lorenzo Mata-Real, and UCLA has the potential to lose six of the top seven players from its 2007-08 Final Four rotation. Which makes it all the more important that Howland has perhaps the nation's best recruiting class -- including Jordan Classic participants Holiday (Rivals' No. 1 point guard), Lee (No. 9 shooting guard), and Drew Gordon (No. 16 power forward) as well as Jerime Anderson (No. 7 point guard) -- showing up on campus in the summer.

Howland, when reached by phone, was pleased to hear of Holiday and Lee's willingness to play D. It was, he said, as if they were getting a head-start on Bruin-ball. "If they're able to come in and play good defense," Howland said, "it increases their possibility of being significant players right away -- which they're probably going to have to be."

The best-case scenario for UCLA would be that one of its two current backcourt stars, Westbrook or Collison, returns to mentor the rookies, and Mbah a Moute comes back to anchor the frontcourt. A starting lineup of Westbrook and Holiday at guard, Josh Shipp and Mbah a Moute at forward, and either James Keefe or Gordon in the low-post might be good enough to get the Bruins to their fourth straight Final Four.

Make sure to read that entire piece. It’s excellent.

As we have said last few weeks we will wait to see how this NBA Draft/off season plays out. We still don’t know who is going to end up going and staying (except for KL, DC, and probably RW). And it looks like Coach Howland is not done recruiting for this year’s class either.

No I am not talking about J’Mison Morgan, who decided to stay with LSU. That shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone here. I said all along the chances of Morgan coming to UCLA (despite what we were hearing from the MSM) was zero.

However, keep an eye Ater Majok, 6-9, 215 Sudanese/Aussie PF, who is one of the best PF prospect in the country. According to Dohn Majok is in Storrs, CT this weekend taking a trip at official. He can take one more official trip and it could end up in Westwood:

"After the visit here, we will sit down and talk and decide what to do, and if Ater takes one more visit,'' Smith said. "If the Connecticut visit didn't meet expectations, or if Ater did not feel perfect about it, we could visit UCLA on our way back."
Smith said he will remain in Rhode Island during the weekend before the duo travel back to Australia. Majok, a 6-foot-9, 215-pound center from the American International School, already visited Baylor, Maryland and Kentucky.
"We haven't been in contact with Kansas," Smith said. "(UCLA assistant) Scott Duncan made a push, so he would be in line for the fifth visit."

Storrs v Westwood. LOL. That shouldn’t be a contest. But we will see.

Also keep an eye on what Alex Stepheson does after he finishes up his spring Semester in Chapell Hill.

Anyway, we will see how these stories play out in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, I am not all that worried about next season given the recruiting class that is already in place for next season. One way or other we are going to be all right.

GO BRUINS.

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Followup ...

by Nestor on Apr 21, 2008 5:46 PM PDT in Recruiting

Wanted to follow up on my last post on Sidney/Stepehenson with another one with couple of more articles on Stephenson.

One of our readers emailed us couple of old articles on Stephenson. The first was written by Seth Davis on SI.com, who raised a number of red flags re Stephenson. Stephenson was a ninth grader at the time (and was getting schooled by O. J. Mayo at ABCD camp) at the time Davis wrote this:

Stephenson was a trash-talking, finger-pointing, tongue-wagging blur who got in Mayo's face as soon as they took the court to start the second quarter. When Stephenson made a quick move along the baseline, the Brooklynites erupted. Then Mayo got mad. He started taking it right at the youngster and repeatedly scored at will.

Re. Sidney/Stephenson "Package Deal" for UCLA

by Nestor on Apr 21, 2008 4:05 AM PDT in Recruiting

Last week there was a lot of commotion in a number of Bruin message boards stemming from "package deal" story posted on Bruin Report Online, involving the #2-ranked player in the class of 2009, post player Renardo Sidney, and the #3-ranked player in the nation, 6-5 small forward Lance Stephenson.

Underbruin flagged the story in our diary section here providing some extra tidbits re. Lance Stephenson. Jeff Eisenberg from the Press Enterprise blogged about all the commotion around these two recruits as well:

With all the Internet speculation that New York city phenom Lance Stephenson and Los Angeles Fairfax center Renardo Sidney might be contemplating attending the same college, I called Stephenson's high school coach and asked him to address the topic.
Dwayne Morton, coach at famed Lincoln High in Brooklyn, confirmed that Stephenson and Sidney are good friends from the AAU circuit but cautioned that a package deal with the two of them is still a long shot.
"It has to be the right situation for Lance," Morton said. "He's not just going to go somewhere because of Renardo."
Luring both Stephenson and Sidney would be an incredible coup for any school as both are considered among the best players nationally in the class of 2009. Sidney attended a handful of UCLA games this season and told me in January he wants to remain in California for college, but the Bruins weren't thought to be contenders for Stephenson until the 6-foot-5 junior unexpectedly visited the UCLA campus this past weekend while he was in town to play on Sidney's club team in a tournament.

I have been tracking Sidney for a while through both the stories in the MSM and the subscription based recruiting networks. Lot of UCLA fans expressed their "concern" (to put it mildly) about Coach Howland and his staff being interested in recruiting these two kids. So I decided to dig into their stories a little more. And after reading up I still have not been able to reach a definitive opinion on whether I should be excited about seeing these two in a UCLA uniform or be adamantly against it. Let me walk you through what I have read and flagged so far via the Google. After the run down I would love to hear everyone's level headed thoughts (not rants) and also other data points re. these two kids we might be interested in reading.

As for rankings go these two are goldmine. Sidney and Stephenson respectively are the number 2 and 3 ranked recruits in the entire country per Scout.com. Sidney is the number 1 center in the country while Stephenson is the number 1 SF.

Sidney who Luke Winn of SI.com called out as "the Future King" in an article dated August 30, 2007, is an athletic freak. Here is what Luke had to say about Sidney in the aforementioned article (which also sets off some red flags):

Intrigue surrounds Sidney because he's a big man with stunning, guard-like skills; he's susceptible to lapses in effort but also more versatile than the NBA player to whom some recruitniks have him compared, Chris Webber. Of Sidney's potential, Vaccaro says, "Should he be the No. 1 pick [in 2010]? Physically it would be without question. The key is what happens, mentally and with everything else over the next two to three years."

When he's forced to pick a college in 2009, Sidney says it'll likely be between Oden's Buckeyes ("I like how they play," he says), Texas, Florida, USC, UCLA, Kentucky, UAB and Alabama. Mark Gottfried of the Tide has the distinction of being the coach who sent Sidney his first recruiting letter ... when he was in seventh grade. Columnists and coaches alike often bemoan the excessive attention heaped on teen phenoms, deeming it both premature and potentially damaging, but the Sidney camp is well aware of the value of this exposure. There were two reasons that Renardo Sr. moved his family from Jackson, Miss., to Lakewood, Calif., in '06: Better basketball, and "the same thing O.J. [Mayo] said [about USC] -- more marketing." "Mississippi is a small pond," says Renardo Sr. "I love it as my home, but you have to go to a bigger market to get [Renardo's] name out."

Sitting in the Sheraton late on the evening of Aug. 22, after a flight from L.A., the Sidneys displayed signs of their California conversion: Dad wore sunglasses in a dark restaurant, as well as two jewel-encrusted prep state title rings that had recently been won by Renardo and his older brother, who's now at Santa Monica College. Son wore a Bluetooth clip on his right ear, occasionally tapped away at his Sidekick, and spoke happily about "all the pretty girls" he sees in L.A.

Yet their roots had not entirely departed them; Mississippi remained in their accents, they professed a love for fishing and when they placed dinner orders, they both requested to customize the menu's pasta dish by adding shrimp. The term journeyman, in basketball, is generally reserved for wandering pros, but Sidney's path makes him a new-age hoops traveler: In his brief prep career he's been at a different school each fall and a different AAU team each summer.

Following his debut at ABCD in '05, Sidney enrolled as a freshman at The Piney Woods School in Piney Woods, Miss., but the state ruled him ineligible to play basketball because his family's home, in Jackson, was more than 20 miles from the school's campus. A story in the Washington Post in the summer of '06, after the Sidneys had moved to L.A. and joined the loaded Southern California All-Stars AAU team, speculated that Renardo might be the first American star to skip high-school ball altogether and merely play during the summers.

It was a headline-worthy scenario, but did not turn out to be the case: Sidney joined the team at Lakewood's Artesia High as a sophomore and helped lead it to a Division III state title. The summer of '07 also brought about a change in AAU squads. Renardo began playing for the LA Dream Team, which happens to be coached by Renardo Sr., and spent much of an 0-4 run in the Reebok Summer Championships trying to expand his repertoire by shooting threes -- with limited success -- rather than playing in the paint. Renardo Sr. says the departure from the S.C. All-Stars was simply because, "I wanted him to have his own team. I wanted him to call his own shots, and learn how to make everyone around him better. I'm trying to get him ready for D-I."

The Washington Post story Luke referenced in his article was written by Eric Prisbell, which provided shall say rather colorful details on what some of the California high schools were doing to "recruit" Sidney out or Mississippi:

More than 10 high schools have expressed interest in Sidney, his father said. Sidney ruled out some because, he said, players on their teams told him they don't always have to do their own work to get grades.

But the Sidney family listened to one recruitment pitch, even though it began surreptitiously. Two men showed up in Mississippi, telling Sidney they were reporters with a new magazine in California and that he was the subject of their cover story.

His mother immediately called Vaccaro; the elder Sidney met the men for lunch. Vaccaro said he believes the two men were trying to persuade Sidney to transfer to Compton's Dominguez High, which is sponsored by Nike.

"It was scary," the elder Sidney said. "That was definitely a Hollywood act. They told me two names, but I don't know if that is their real name. They could have been posing for an agent. . . . So you just never know."

Sidney said he and his family later visited California and the men gave them tickets on the floor for a Los Angeles Lakers-Minnesota Timberwolves game.

"They took us to the Lakers game; we went out to eat every day," Sidney said. "We hung out, late nights and stuff. We had fun. They showed us a good time. They wanted me to come out here just to visit Dominguez and see if I would like it or whether I'd go to it. We stopped messing with them. I never thought about [Dominguez]. It was in the ghetto."

Their recruitment pitch included a phone call that the men said was from Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant. When Sidney got on the phone, the man purported to be Bryant and told him he should stay humble and work hard. To this day, Sidney doesn't know who he spoke to. Bryant could not be reached to comment.

Well Sidney didn't end up in Dominguez. As Luke mentioned he ended up in Artesia (which I believe was the same high school attended by the O'Bannons and Kapono - someone please correct me if I am off here) for 06-07 season. Sidney led Artesia to state Divison III championship, but then he transferred to LA's Fairfax High School. This is where it gets interesting. Here is an article by Eric Sondheimer in the LA Times from this past November, which gave some clues on why Sidney decided to transfer to Fairfax:

Sidney is considered the No. 1 center prospect in the nation for the class of 2009, but the challenge for Kitani is to get him to play hard and play consistently.

Perhaps that's why in Sidney's first appearance in a Fairfax basketball class the second week of October, after taking a month off because of a knee problem, he faced an immediate challenge from Kitani, who made it clear what he expected.

"I was breathing hard and getting frustrated," Sidney said of the practice.

That didn't prevent Kitani from getting his point across, stressing fundamentals. "Coach Kitani is a hard coach," Sidney said.

From what I have heard re. Coach Kitani he is indeed a very demanding coach to play for, who emphasizes playing hard and team discipline. Already Kitani has sent Shipp and Stanbeck to our program. So its pretty safe to assume Coach Howland and his staff have strong connections to Kitani's program and can count on getting frank feedback on his players. I didn't follow Sidney's season at Fairfax but the team ended up losing to City Finals this year to Taft, which was led by UNC bound Larry Drew. I think it will be telling if he comes back to play at Fairfax next season.

If Sidney decides to come back to Fairfax for his senior season it wll be a good sign in my book in that he was all right with playing for a coach who has a reputation for demanding Howlandeque discipline and commitment at the prep level.

Who knows ... perhaps Kitani was the perfect coach Sidney was looking for in terms of getting him to play hard and at least make an effort on the defensive front. Because reading stories such as the one written by Stephen Danley from the New York Times (dated August 16, 2007 - before he got to Fairfax), he sounded like a kid who was bored and wasting away his talent in the overhyped AAU environment:

Was Sidney simply a young man still learning how to push himself to play hard, or was he building bad habits as a result of the summer basketball culture?

Sometimes a player's greatest strength can be his undoing. When I attended ABCD camp as a player in 2001, Lenny Cooke was the recipient of the hype machine's attention. But his penchant for scoring ratcheted up the pressure. As camp went on, he dominated possession of the ball, taking most of his team's shots as the offense stagnated. Cooke had to score so many points to keep up with his reputation that it was actually hurting his game.

The next year, Sebastian Telfair fell into the same trap. His ability to make spectacular plays in the lane led to unrealistic expectations. In 2001, the great plays had come to him. His halfcourt alley-oop to Travis Outlaw is still the most incredible play I have seen in person. But the hype in 2002, when he was entering his junior season, was too much. He began forcing shots. In an effort to be spectacular, he made hard passes when easy ones were available. In short, Telfair's reputation had overcome his ability.

Is it possible that the same thing is already happening to Sidney? That his unique abilities, those that make him the equivalent of a guard on the floor, are holding him back? It is hard not to look at him backpedaling to halfcourt and wonder if the hype will be too much.

Speaking with him, one can sense his frustration. He talked about how he got "no boards" and did not block any shots. He insisted that he wanted to lose weight and to get back to playing the way he did in the eighth grade.

Imagine that, striving to be 13 again.

So what to make of Sidney?

Well when I read the stories from the Post and SI.com the two names immediately popped up in my heard were: Jaron Rush and Myron Piggie.

You can click on the link to read that Andy Katz story from the nightmarish Lavin years. UCLA suspended JaRon Rush in his sophomore season (99-00) when allegations surfaced that Rush might have taken money from agent (through his involvement with his former AAU coach Myron Piggie) putting his status as an amateur athlete before coming to UCLA. Thankfully IIRC after UCLA did the prudent thing by immediately suspending Rush. Rush ended up being suspended for 24 games and was eventually reinstated by the NCAA. UCLA didn't have to suffer any sanctions because IIRC it took all the right steps to handle the issue. In any event, after his sophomore season, Rush decided to prematurely turn pro and we never heard back from him since then.

Is the Rush and Sidney situation similar? Well who knows? From the stories I read above there are certainly red flags. If he is interested in UCLA he would have to absolutely convince Coach Howland and his staff (and the UCLA compliance department) that he is an amateur and nothing from his background will come back to haunt the university. Obviously there are the grade issues. If they don't work out, the whole recruiting process would be a non starter. But I imagine if Howland is seriously considering Sidney, he is also making sure there is a strong vetting process in place that will look into every single aspect of Sidney's background. There is one major difference between Rush and Sidney situation. Unlike Rush if Sidney were to come to UCLA he will get adult supervision under Coach Howland (Rush was left stranded under the immature idiot - Steve Lavin).

Not to mention if Sidney wants to play for Coach Howland, he will have to play within Coach Howland's system. This is a Coach who had no problem benching a kid like Love because he couldn't play defense. I would think Sidney would understand he is not going to get his mins by lollygagging around on the court, which bears the name on John and Nell Wooden.

BTW according to Scout.com database he doesn't have any offers yet. However, he has already taken trips to Texas and to Arizona State. And from what I have heard it could be a matter of time before he gets an offer from Texas (Barnes might be waiting to see what happens with him and UCLA).

Anyway, let's get to the other kid making up the blockbuster package. Again a number of folks in the message boards sounded off their alarm bells hearing Stephenson's name. So I looked around and flagged this article about Stepehenson serving a 5 day suspension for "horsing around. From the New York Daily News:

Defending PSAL champion Lincoln hosted Jefferson on Thursday evening in Coney Island, but the Railsplitters' standout swingman Lance Stephenson wasn't on the court. Instead, the highly recruited junior was in plain clothes, sitting in the stands, under temporary banishment.

After Stephenson got into an altercation with teammate Devon McMillan at the school on Wednesday - during which a piece of glass was shattered and cut both students - Lincoln principal Ari Hoogenboom slapped the Railsplitters' star guard with a five-day school suspension.

The suspension means that Stephenson will miss at least one more league game, when the Railsplitters visit South Shore on Tuesday.

Lincoln didn't miss Stephenson much on the court on Thursday, as it routed a talented Jefferson squad, 76-52, to improve to 8-0. (Justin Greene led Lincoln with 24 points). Still, Stephenson knows he screwed up.

"I'm really disappointed in myself," Stephenson said after the game. "I'm not happy this happened, but it was a good lesson that it happened. Now I know not to do it again. College coaches think I'm a hothead now. I'm really disappointed about that."

Stephenson said he and McMillan were "pushing" each other and "horseplaying" around in what he described as an "extra room" at the school, when the glass shattered.

"It splattered everywhere," said Stephenson of the glass. "It cut my eye and his fingers. If the glass never broke, I would still be playing basketball."

And according to some accounts the kid is a bit of a partier.

But before you all get too worried check out this report from Slam Online in its "Adidas Nations" recap on a camp held near Seton Hall University featuring 15 of the top players each from the 2009 and 2010 classes, respectively:

Kalish [Daren Kalish, Adidas Sports Marketing Manager of College/Grassroots Basketball, BN Ed.] also squashed misgivings anyone might've had about adding an Alpha-Dog like a Lance Stephenson to a camp that is about promoting teamwork, selflessness, and not singling out one star over the others. Stephenson wasn't able to participate this weekend due to his Lincoln High competing in the New York State playoffs but he had more than one staunch supporter who was willing to speak on his behalf.

"It's funny because he's adapted to this easily," said St. Patrick's star and UNC-bound Dexter Strickland. "We room together and play in the same backcourt together but we've never had any friction like people thought we'd have, since we're both good scorers."

There you go. So much for the perception of this kid being a selfish player.

I have looked around. Except for the suspension story I have not been able to locate any other negative stories on Stepehenson. I have not also been able to find any other stories re. arrest, suspension, drug bust or academic troubles re. either Stepehenson or Sidney. If there are out there and I missed them, please link them or cite them (with key excerpts) in our commend threads (don't post "rumors" or "reports" from scouts without specific attribution).

So where does that live us re. Sidney and Stephenson? As I mentioned above I still haven't made up my mind. I can see the obvious concerns and red flags. At the same time I have total confidence in Coach Howland, who I believe will not take any action that will jeopardize the integrity of our basketball program.

And I obviously don't subscribe to absurd theory of not taking one and done kids. I understand that the system needs to be changed (and someone can take up the cause of mandatory 2 year rule for the NCAA). However, while the current system in place, Coach Howland has to play with the cards he has and do what he think is necessary to put together a team that will be a good mix of super star blue chippers and other talented athletes who might be in program for 3-4 years.

If these two young men are willing to commit themselves to play within the defensive based team foundation Coach Howland has established at UCLA, are qualified academically, and are cleared after a rigorous vetting process by the UCLA compliance officials, then I am not sure I have a lot of objections to them coming to UCLA. If Coach Wooden got a kid like Bill Walton (who from what I read wasn't exactly a cookie cutter Wooden player before he came into Westwood and had his share of shall we say colorful run-ins with the Coach) to buy into his system, Coach Howland could the do the same with kids like Sidney or Stephenson. No?

Still that said ... I understand why people have concerns. But I want folks who are concerned to express why they are worried here on BN based on reported facts re. these two kids rather than info they have gleaned from other boards.

I will just end with this note. Given Coach Howland's track record in the kind of kids he has brought into our program and the way they have conducted themselves on and off the court in my book he has earned my trust.

GO BRUINS.

31 comments | 0 recs

Heads Up Re. Sidney/Stephenson

by Nestor on Apr 20, 2008 7:44 PM PDT in Recruiting

Lot of commotion around the internets re. this kid ...

... Renardo Sidney, the number 1 center prospect (no. 2 national recruit) in the nation, and this kid ...

... Lance Stephenson, the number 1 SF (no. 3 national recruit) in the country, possibly coming to play for Coach Howland in a "package deal."

Will post my thoughts tomorrow am.

GO BRUINS.

9 comments | 0 recs

Instant Impact

by Nestor on Apr 12, 2008 10:39 AM PDT in Recruiting

From future seniors in football, let's talk about some incoming freshmen Ben Ball warriors. Some of you are already on this. If you are anywhere near Portland (OR) today, you may want to check out our Fab-4 playing in the Nike Hoops Summit. The Oregonian ran a feature today on our future Ben Ball warriors, who are excited about coming in an making in an instant impact:

"You're going to see what we're going to do at UCLA," Holiday said after a practice at the Nike campus near Beaverton. "Everybody up here, all of them are great players, and they all do everything. I think we're going back to the Final Four. If those guys leave, I think all four of us that are here have the ability."

"Those guys" are center Kevin Love and guards Russell Westbrook and Darren Collison, who will surprise few if they make themselves available for the NBA draft. Regardless of their decisions, Anderson also is excited about the possibilities next season.

"All of us are real capable guys, so it's a lot of fun to see what each other can do," said Anderson, who has played with Holiday on a traveling team. "I've been playing with Jrue for a couple years now, so I know his game pretty well, but seeing Drew dunking on people and Malcolm doing his thing, it's a lot of fun."

Holiday -- whose parents played basketball at Arizona State and whose brother, Justin, is a freshman forward at Washington -- is the jewel of the class.

He averaged 25.4 points, 11.2 rebounds, 6.8 assists, 4.4 steals and 2.4 blocks for North Hollywood (Calif.) this past season and became the 16th player in California history to score more than 2,600 career points. Scout.com and Rivals.com rate him the No. 3 recruit in the class of 2008.

Lee (6-5) and Anderson (6-1) aren't as polished as Holiday but have tremendous versatility. The fleet and muscular Gordon (6-8) is a relentless force inside, having averaged 17 rebounds as a senior.

The four are primed to play big roles as freshmen. If Love, Westbrook and Collison leave for the NBA draft, as expected, coach Ben Howland will need the newcomers to get acclimated quickly for the Bruins to make the Final Four for the fourth year in a row.

Read the rest of the feature here which has more quotes from Gordon and Anderson. Although let's not get way ahead of ourselves and start thinking about another Final-4 at this point. I think they key to next year will be the return of LRMAM and AA2. If we get those two guys back, we are going to have a chance to put together a very decent season allowing us to take a run at our 4t straight conference title (which is going to have a down year with defection of boat load of NBA talents up and down the conference).

However, it is a testament to the kind of job Coach Howland has done that even if in the worst case nuclear scenario, he has a kind of class lined up that had the mindset to make immediate contributions, and do what they can to keep our basketball program at a good place.

GO BRUINS.

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Future Ben Ball Warriors On Display

by Nestor on Mar 26, 2008 6:26 PM PDT in Recruiting

While the current version of Ben Ball warriors are preparing to take on the Hilltoppers, two of our future warriors are going to be on national television in a matter of mins. xapis 828 is already on it. The 2008 McDonald’s All American game is on tonight on WWL (6:30 pm PST). All the recruiting junkies know by now that two future Ben Ball warriors are going to be suiting up for the West squad. The folks at rivals.com has a little write up on the festivities leading up to tonight’s game. Guess what our two future Ben Ball warriors were shining in:? That’s right DEFNSE:

Jrue Holiday- Never out to individually impress, Holiday's serious minded approach to the game has had a positive effect on the West squad since he began practicing on Monday. Primarily scoring with his unorthodox tendency to finish with his left hand in the lane, Holiday has been happy to keep the ball moving and get his points off moving without the basketball and hitting the glass. His best work was on the defensive end today where he did a sound job defending Jennings. It will be interesting to watch him defend Evans on Wednesday night.

Malcolm Lee- Lee displayed his defensive prowess locking up Demar DeRozan along with others during the West practice. At 6-foot-4, Lee can get low to the ground and move his feet with the best of them while pressuring the ball with his hands. He and Holiday are custom built for the UCLA system, but Lee is going to need some time in the weight room before he can have the impact that the physically stronger Holiday is ready to have.

I am sure once ML gets to Westwood he is going to develop under Coach Howland’s regime just like JF, AA, DC, RW … you get the picture.

Meanwhile, ML’s backcourt mate - Holiday - has been in the news in recent week weeks. Thought it was worth taking note of a recent online feature the WSJ ran on college hoops recruiting.

The focus of this piece was the chaotic and hyper recruiting that goes around NPOY caliber recruits such as Holiday:

The feature has a nice little amusing side note on Timmeh's recruiting of DeRozan and Lil' Romeo (a topic WSJ zeroed in on recently).

But one of the main thrust of the feature is how Jrue Holiday has been able to remain steady through the whole recruiting circus. Love the end of the feature where Jrue conveys his "plan" re what he wants to bring to UCLA.

Enjoy and consider this a Mickey D All American game open thread.

GO BRUINS.

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Jruuuuuue Holiday: National Player Of The Year

by Nestor on Mar 19, 2008 4:34 AM PDT in Recruiting

Raisin was already on the good news last night.

For the second consecutive year Coach Ben Howland will have a NPOY in his incoming recruiting class. Last year it was of course this week's SI cover boy, this year it is none other than our local kid Jruuuuuuuuuuuuuuue Holiday. From the Daily News:

Campbell Hall of North Hollywood basketball standout Jrue Holiday was named the 2007-08 Gatorade National Boys' Basketball Player of the Year.

Holiday, who led the Vikings to three state championships in four seasons, including the Div. IV title this year, will receive his award this afternoon at a ceremony on campus.

The 6-foot-3 guard averaged 25.4 points, 11.2rebounds, 6.4assists, 4.4 steals and 2.4 blocks per game this year for the Vikings, his last before joining UCLA next season.

He's just the second player in area history to surpass 2,600 career points, finishing with 2,666. Mitchell Butler, who played at Oakwood of North Hollywood, scored 2,682points over his career.

Can you imagine what Coach Howland would have done with Mitchell Butler? (who BTW IIRC was also the valedictorian of his high school class). Anyway, Coach Howland was thrilled for the Holidays, as was his current head coach. From the LA Times:

"I've been telling people all year long that he's the most complete player in high school basketball," Coach Terry Kelly said of Holiday, who will receive his award during a ceremony today on campus.

It's the second consecutive year a high school player who signed with UCLA has received the boys' award. Last season's honoree was freshman center Kevin Love.

Two-time NBA All-Star Baron Davis, a UCLA recruit out of Santa Monica Crossroads, received the award in 1997.

"It's a terrific honor, a very special honor to be recognized as national player of the year," UCLA Coach Ben Howland said. "I'm excited for Jrue and his family because it's a great accomplishment. He led his team to another state championship, so he had a great year."

The award is based not only on outstanding athletic performance but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character on and off the court.

We are all proud of Jrue. Congrats to the Holidays. I know everyone is consumed with tomorrow night. But I cannot wait to see Jrue with U.C.L.A. stitched in front of his basketball uniform.

GO BRUINS.

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Thundering 'lights From The Lone Star State

by Nestor on Mar 11, 2008 5:58 PM PDT in Recruiting

I know this is March and its Madness time on BruinsNation but ... well you just have to watch this video.

Aundre Dean ... Running Back ... Katy Texas from Bobby Gerry on Vimeo.

So ... what was that again about UCLA just being a basketball school?

Thanks so much to a friend in Texas who emailed us that highlight package of Aundre Dean from the Lone Star state. If this doesn't get your passion bucket over flowing, not sure what will.

BTW don't forget while Dean is the thunder of this incoming recruiting class, we are also going to have a little bit of lightning in the backfield.

So thunder and lightning rocking and rolling under CRN/Chow at the Rose Bowl in couple of years (if not sooner).

GO BRUINS.

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The Morning After Signing Day

by Nestor on Feb 7, 2008 4:38 AM PST in Recruiting

Let’s get right to it. Lots of signing day related stories in Southern California’s two main local papers zeroing on UCLA’s best recruiting class in last five years. Chris Foster from the LA Times writes about the ‘talent infusion’ from this class headlined by two blue chip running backs from Texas and UCLA’s own backyard:

The talent infusion was needed for a program that has meandered in recent seasons. UCLA was 6-7 in 2007.

"We addressed a lot of critical needs, especially at skill positions, both on offense and defense," Neuheisel said.

Particularly at running back. Besides Knox, the Bruins landed Aundre Dean of Katy, Texas, who was ranked among the top 10 running backs nationally. Dean had 4,609 yards rushing and scored 53 touchdowns the last two seasons.

"He's a ready-made physical player," Neuheisel said. "He's a prototype tailback."

Add to that Knox, who scored 103 touchdowns in four high school seasons. He was twice selected the Los Angeles City Section player of the year.

"We're excited to have both of these guys," Neuheisel said. "It's a huge deal for [Knox] to be staying home."

A huge deal indeed. DN’s Ramona Shellbourne has a feature on Knox’s stressful day. The kid was going back and forth all day while deciding between UCLA and Notre Dame. He was getting lobbied from both directions. However, it appears that a clutch phone call from DeWayne Walker shifted the tide in favor of UCLA:

On Tuesday, UCLA defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker called him in a last-ditch effort to keep the star running back from Birmingham High in Lake Balboa at home.

It worked.

"He just said: 'You're one of the best high school players ever in this city. You already have a legacy. If you go to college in this town, it's just going to be that much more. You can rule this place,' " Knox said, just moments after announcing his decision to sign with the Bruins on Fox Sports Prime Ticket.

"That sold me. This is my home. All my family is here.

Well he will have few thousands to add to his extended family now. We can’t wait to see MK ripping it up in (Bruin) blue and gold.

The class features blue chippers in a number of other positions. From Dohn:

UCLA signed three quarterbacks, but none are in the same class.

Quarterback Nick Crissman of Edison High of Huntington Beach will enter as a true freshman but Prince must decide whether he will enroll in January 2009 or go on a two-year Mormon mission and enroll in time for the 2010 season.

Kraft, who originally went to San Diego State before attending Mt. San Antonio College, has two years of eligibility remaining, but could compete with seniors Ben Olson and Patrick Cowan for the starting position. With junior Osaar Rasshan next on the depth chart, Neuheisel said it could leave UCLA in a precarious spot, which is why Kraft was recruited.

"When you name a starter, if you're not named a starter, kids can do different things when they're left and their eligibility is to a point where there's not much time," Neuheisel said. "You have to protect against the possibility maybe one or two might say, `I'm going to play someplace else.' I certainly hope that doesn't happen, but you have to protect against it."

UCLA secured a few of the top defensive backs in Southern California, led by Dominguez of Compton's Aaron Hester, Crespi's E.J.Woods and Moore.

The Bruins also brought in size at receiver in 6-foot-4 Nelson Rosario of El Camino of Oceanside, 6-3 Jerry Johnson of Venice and 6-3 Antwon Moutra of Culver City.

After it was all said done our class was ranked number 10 by Scout.com and number 13 by Rivals.com. Offensive Line stands out as the main question mark coming out of this class. Over at Bruin Roar CPBruinFan has written up a solid analysis of this class, which includes the following grade for OL:

Offensive Line: D+

Jeff Baca (OG)
Connor Bradford (OT)

OK, so not everything is peaches in this class. The offensive line was a real let down. Not to say that all the players are bad, they aren't, but the small number of commits and the lack of overall talent was a big disappointment. What makes this hurt even worse is that the Bruins really have a glaring need in this category.

What's kind of scary is that UCLA didn't pick up many guys in the 2007 class either. Only one kid committed last season, Mike Harris, and he wasn't that highly rated. The Bruins did pick up a number of guys in the 2006 class, including Micah Kia and Nick Ekbatani, but the other guys in that class (including Jake Dean, Sean Sheller, and Sonny Tevaga) haven't stepped up as serious candidates for starting time.

The absolute #1 priority in the 2009 recruiting class has to be offensive lineman, just to make up for the last two classes.

Pretty much agree with that assessment. And the priority is evident to CRN:

Neuheisel said that the Bruins could have signed up to 25 players, but with 21 in and perhaps one more coming, "I think we’re in good shape right now." He’s not unhappy to have a few more scholarships to award next year. "There’s optimism currently and I think optimism a year from now can be even higher. So to have more ‘golden tickets’ as I like to call them, isn’t a bad thing."

In terms of priorities for 2009, it’s linemen. "I think it’s something we desperately need to address in the next class. I think it’s true on both sides of the ball. We’ve got two great young guys on the offensive line in Connor Bradford and Jeff Baca; I think both will be bona fide players here. We need to go out next year and make that a point of emphasis, to go and get some quality, quality interior defensive linemen and offensive linemen."

Well I have no doubt CRN is not going to waste any time to hit the trail for 2008-09 and focus on bringing in talented reinforcements for battle in the trenches. Something tells me he is not going to wait till his 5th season to put together a monster recruiting class.

As for the class he was successfully able to keep intact his first season here are some of his thoughts from yesterday:

>> "When I went into Anthony Dye’s home, I saw all the hockey pictures. The guy was hitting slap shots when he was he was seven years old and liked to ‘muck it up’ in the corners, in the terms they use. That’s an unusual athlete. I think he’ll find a home in our secondary in the very near future."

>> "Johnathan [Franklin] would like to start at tailback. You know, his nickname is ‘JetSki.’ And why he got the name is the dirt kicks up from his feet when he starts digging in and starting turning up [for] the hard yards. So if JetSki wants to play tailback at the outset, we’re going to give him a chance to do that. But he’s of those kinds of guys that – and I told him this in his home – if I see a line that’s a little shorter that he might be able to get on the field a little faster, he’ll do that in a New York second. He just wants to help our football team. He’s a great kid." Franklin is also considered an outstanding defensive back and could play at either position.

>> "Aaron Hester has just blossomed; he’s a speedster from Dominguez High School. He’s grown by leaps and bounds in the last year. Now he’s got a great set of shoulders on him and he’s got that great wingspan that’s such a weapon for shut-down corners."

>> On Damien Holmes, he said "One of the hard parts in recruiting is finding your defensive linemen, finding guys that are big enough and aggressive enough and also carry the grade-point average to get into a place like UCLA. Damien Holmes is a poster child for those three things. He enjoys the contact, he enjoys playing with his pads low and doesn’t have any problem with his hands being on the ground and playing very physical at the point of contact. But he’s also a bona fide great student."

>> "Rahim Moore from Dorsey High is a very versatile secondary player because he can play free safety and he can play the corner. He’s got a long wingspan and he’s got a frame that – coming from the NFL, which I just did – I know they’re looking for. He could be a rangy type, like back from my era, Kenny Easley or Don Rogers."

>> "Datone Jones is a great-looking defensive end prospect. When you’re playing in a four-down [linemen set], you’ve got to create pressure off the edges. We just witnessed the New York Giants win the Super Bowl based on the pressure that was brought by those front four guys. Datone Jones is a guy that can grow – if he does all the things that are necessary – to be eventually on a New York Giants front four. He’s that kind of body, he’s [got] that kind of intensity that he brings and that kind of speed."

As I said yesterday it is refreshing to see a UCLA football head coach have this kind of command over details. It certainly reminds me of the head coach of our other major revenue athletic program.

One more recruiting related article to share and this one comes from Jill Painter in the Daily News. Jill was at the Serving Spoon yesterday. If you haven’t heard by now Serving Spoon is a restaurant in Inglewood owned by the parents of Bruin recruit Jerry Johnson. 13 Bruin recruits showed up there yesterday am (which included Nelson Rosario who left San Diego with his Dad at 5 am to be there for the 8 am event) to sign their UCLA LOIs. One of the recruits who was front and center among this group was blue chip safety Rahim Moore from Dorsey High:

On UCLA's big recruiting weekend in December, there was no head coach. So Moore, who put his head in his hand and cried well after he signed, gave a fiery pep talk to fellow recruits.

"I just told everyone, "Let's finish what we started,"' Moore said.

"Let's make everyone become one. It wasn't going to get better anywhere else. I told them, `Down the line, we can be the best."'

Rahim reminds me a lot of AA. Hopefully he and his boys can replicate what AA started four years ago in the greatest university in the world.

GO BRUINS.

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