josiah johnson signs with UCLA

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Josiah Johnson Signs
LOI With UCLA--(Apr. 13, 2000)

It's official: Joshia Johnson has now signed a National Letter of Intent to play at UCLA, the school announced yesterday. Here's the official UCLA press release:

Josiah Johnson Signs National Letter of Intent To
Play Basketball at UCLA

Father Marques and brother Kris played for Bruins

April 12, 2000

UCLA on Wednesday signed its second player for the coming season whose father has been record-setting in both the professional and collegiate basketball ranks.

Josiah Johnson is the son of Bruin great Marques Johnson and younger brother to Kris Johnson, who was a four-year UCLA letterman from 1995-98. Last November, the Bruins signed 6-9 forward T. J. Cummings, from Homewood-Flossmore HS in Homewood, IL. T. J. is the son of Terry Cummings, collegiate great at DePaul, who is in his 18th NBA season with the Golden State Warriors. Both Josiah and T. J. will be incoming Bruin freshmen this fall.

Josiah Johnson is a 6-8 senior forward at Montclair Prep in Van Nuys. In 1999-2000, he averaged 24.2 points, 12.5 rebounds, shot 54.0 from the field, 70.0 from the foul line and hit 21 three-pointers. He scored 30 or more points on five occasions and his single-game high was 34 points vs. Temple City. As a senior, he was a USA Today honorable mention All-America and a Los Angeles Times first-team All-Valley selection. He has been a two-year starter and for the last two seasons was also first-team All-Delphic League. An outstanding student, Johnson has a 3.8 grade-point-average.

On April 7 at The Matadome on the campus of CS Northridge, Johnson led the CIF Southern Section to a 97-78 win over the City in the San Fernando Valley All-Star game. Johnson was the Southern Section Most Valuable Player, scoring 18 points.

Josiah's father, Marques, was a three-year starter at forward for the Bruins from 1975-77. In 1975, he was a sophomore on John Wooden's 10th UCLA National Championship team. As a UCLA senior captain in 1977, Marques averaged 21.4 points and 11.1 rebounds, earned All-America honors and was awarded the first Wooden Award as the nation's top player. After a 10-year standout career in the NBA, Marques is now an analyst with Fox Sports Net.

Kris Johnson was a freshman on UCLA's 1995 NCAA Championship team. As a Bruin senior in 1998, Kris started 27 of 29 games, was second in overall scoring (18.4) and led UCLA in Pac-10 competition scoring (21.1), while earning honorable mention All-Conference honors.

T. J. Cummings, who was recently named a USA Today honorable mention prep All-America, on April 2 in Indianapolis, IN played for the USA Basketball Junior Select squad in its 98-97 victory over the International Select Team. It was his third career appearance on a prep USA Basketball Team. T. J's father, Terry, as a junior at DePaul in 1982, was a first-team The Sporting News All-America.

Both Josiah Johnson and T. J. Cumming will appear in the Dada All-Star Classic, formerly the Eddie Jones All-Star Classic, on Saturday (April 15) at 3 p.m. at The Pyramid in Long Beach. Johnson will play in the California game at 1 p.m. and Cummings in the national game at 3 p.m.

"In Josiah and T. J., we have recruited two players from outstanding basketball legacies," said Bruin head coach Steve Lavin. "They both come from proven high school programs and great basketball families. We are very pleased to have these two players join our Bruin basketball family."