Thanks to Insomniac's Lounge for digging this up. IIRC I read this quote from No. 23 in the "Morning Briefing" section of the LA Times during college and literally spilled Ice-Blended (I miss the Coffee Bean) all over my lap:
In either a 1992 or 1993 interview, Michael Jordan reflected on his days playing high school ball and revealed:
"I always wanted to go to UCLA. That was my dream school....But UCLA never recruited me."
Well it's too bad Howland wasn't around to coach the Bruins back then. Dean Smith's Tarheels benefited from UCLA coaches being out to lunch:"I always wanted to go to UCLA. That was my dream school....But UCLA never recruited me."
But, really, no need to shed tears of this. Thanks to Coach Howland, the scenario above will no longer be repeated. We just beat UNC head to head for arguably the number 1 recruit in the nation. While back in the 80s UCLA coaches had no clue about talents like Jordan being interested in UCLA, this time around the coaching staff of Ben Howland were recruiting Kevin Love even before he reached high school.
And Kevin Love is not going to be the last elite recruit to come to UCLA. Along with Love, Stanbeck is already in the fold, who may turn out to be one of the top-30 recruits in the country before it is all said and done. We are probably going to have a hard time staying in the hunt for Kyle Singler, who, for some reason, is enamored by Mr. American Express from Durham, but there is no reason to worry.
We are going to be in the driver's seat to land more elite recruits for the class of 2008, as Howland and his assistants are currently recruiting the next great pg to join the school of Goodrich, Pooh, Edney, Cameron, Baron, Earl, Jordan, and Collison. May be it will be Jrue Holiday, the current sophomore sensation pg (6-3, 180) from North Hollywood's Campbell HS.
BBR has more on what's next for Bruin hoops recruiting. BBR mentions other heavily targeted pgs from the class of 2008 featuring Jerime Anderson, Larry Drew Jr., and Malcolm Lee - all three players recently attended the UCLA advanced skills camp at Pauley, along with Mr. Holiday.
For the most complete analysis on UCLA's long term (hoops) recruiting plans, I'd recommend reading up Tracy Pierson from BRO ($) Yes, it requires subscription, but I think it is more than worth it to read the coverage on hoops recruiting. It will give you a clear picture about how Ben Howland and his staff are simply kicking ass and taking names in recruiting the best players from California and beyond. Love is just the start of something very special.
No more tears.
GO BRUINS.