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UCLA Basketball's 2014 Guard Recruiting: Enfield 2, Alford 0

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Four star shooting guard Elijah Stewart committed to USC today. He decommtted from LMU after their coaching change. He was thought to be underrated, and then blew up in his senior year. You might recognize the name from some of my reports, along with Namon Wright, a decommit who recommitted to Missouri. Both are from LA.

In this article from this morning, I wrote about the spin coming out of Pauley and the Morgan Centers via their internet mouthpieces and defenders. I suspect we'll be hearing now that Stewart wasn't good enough to spend a four year ride on because their will be better options in 2015.

Perhaps. Maybe they know more than they're saying -- and that's part of the problem. Why not due a BROcast or a Cover 2 Podcast?

Beyond roster management, I see two problems.

First, Alford is letting Enfield get a toe hold. USC got a commitment Jordan McLaughlin, Howland's number one point guard target. He was supposedly Alford's number one target before he turned to Josh Perkins (committed to Gonzaga), and then Quentin Snider (committed to Louisville). Don't even get me started on Zach LaVine again, or the whole Bryce Alford saga.

Second, we have a serious depth issue at guard. Right now, we have Bryce Alford, Norman Powell, Isaac Hamilton and Noah Allen to cover the minutes at 1, 2 and maybe 3 (in which case then you have to throw Jonah Bolden into the mix). Stewart and Wright are both eligible next season. The other name that appears to be at the top of the list now is Houston transfer Danuel House, who will have to sit out a year. He was ranked #31 two years ago, but that won't do us much good next year.

How did the clown show Andy Enfield out-recruit UCLA? He hired two competent assistants, Tony Bland and Jason Hart, who have proven chops in Socal. Alford's 2014 class and likely the one after that, have a preponderance of 4's and 5's from out of state. One Bruin assistant, David Grace, is pimping himself hard to get a head coaching position -- possibly at OSU where he came from most recently. Are you concentrating on UCLA recruiting, David?

Certainly, there will be a drop-off from Jordan Adams no matter who Alford brought in (except for Daniel Hamilton), but we look silly right now throwing out names, bringing transfers and decommits for visits, claiming they are not actually good enough, and now another recruit to USC.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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