The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of the Recruitment of Marvin Bagley III

It's almost August but UCLA Basketball has a chance to replace Lonzo Ball with another future top NBA pick and, quite possibly, the best player coming out of high school this year, Marvin Bagley..

But before we even discuss UCLA's chances (we are one of the final 6), we need to discuss the fact Bagley is trying to reclassify for 2017 very late in the process:

Marvin Bagley III‘s attempt to reclassify to 2017 from 2018 is coming "pretty late in the process," an NCAA source told ZAGSBLOG Friday.

"It's not going to be a quick deal," the source said, speaking generally about reclassification. "This kid's been high-profile for a while and most likely this evaluation is going to take some time just because he's moved around and he hasn't even gone through an amateurism certification yet."

The 6-foot-11 Bagley is the No. 1-ranked prospect in the Class of 2018. He's currently at Sierra Canyon (CA) High School after transferring from Hillcrest Prep (AZ), which the NCAA previously looked into.

"How talented he is doesn't matter at all," the NCAA source said. "If he's got the right credentials as far as academics and he can pass through the amateurism process in time to get on campus that's all that's going to matter. But he will have to jump through some hoops for it to happen at this time of year."

The Good

Bagley is amazing and, no offense to GG, Bagley is an instant starter and one and done at four for UCLA. He is Steve Alford's dream stretch four.  Here are a few highlights:

If his reclassification takes some time but is successful, then UCLA has an advantage because UCLA's school year starts later than anyone else recruiting Bagley. Bagley would be the biggest single recruit at UCLA since Shabazz Muhammad or Kevin Love. He is a huge get and would make UCLA a legitimate title contender. Yes, he is supposed to be that good.

The Bad

Duke and USC are rumored to be the finalists for Bagley right now with UCLA and others not out but trailing. I have two quick thoughts on this. Duke is a Nike school. If Bagley goes to Duke, I wonder how much that would factor into the decision. Over the next few years, what effect will UCLA being an Under Armour school have on basketball recruiting? The shoes do matter to the kids.

However, it would be a disaster if Bagley went to USC next year. Bagley would make Just SC the favorite to win the Pac-112 and would make Just SC the team to watch in LA. Losing to USC four times in a row under Steve Alford was bad, this would make it likely to start a new Just SC streak.

The Ugly

Of course, we are talking about Just SC. And there is always a scrum element to Just SC. In this case, Just SC coach Andy Enfield offered Marvin Bagley's brother a scholarship. While we did that with the Ball kids, this is a bit of a different game. Bagley's SEVEN YEAR OLD brother was offered.

The Trojans just raised the bar during a visit to Southern Cal on Thursday. Head coach Andy Enfield's push for Bagley included extending a scholarship offer to his two younger brothers, incoming sophomore guard Marcus and ..... 7-year-old Martay.

As far as recruiting tricks go, this is about as shameless as it gets. At least when UCLA got commitments from all three Ball brothers to secure the services of Lonzo Ball, the youngest brother (LaMelo Ball) was about to enter high school. USC just extended a scholarship offer to a child who should be in first or second grade.

Bagley's recruitment is far from done. He will take an official visit to UCLA next month. I would love to have him as Bruin.

Go Bruins!