SoCalHoops Recruiting News

UCLA: Comings, Goings, Gets, No-Go's,
No Shows & This Little Piggie--(Apr. 27, 2000)

For those who follow UCLA religiously, there will be very little that's new in what follows.  But for those of you who don't follow UCLA that closely, the Bruins have been in the news a lot the last few months, and so we thought we'd try to give you our take on what's happening, what others are saying, and the latest rumors and unconfirmed "stuff."  We've also had a chance during the spring tournaments to spend some time with some of the guys who are either being recruited by the Bruins, or whom many feel the Bruins should be recruiting harder, and have talked with other sources very close to the program, so we've gotten some insights into what the coaching staff is and isn't up to. Here's a brief rundown of what we know based on our own personal observations and some of the more notable reports of others:

Goings:  Jerome Moiso, is reportedly still on his way out the door to the NBA, and virtually everyone expects that he'll be gone next season.  The Daily News has repeatedly said that Jerome will be gone,and they've also reported that Gadzuric is considering a move too.  Likewise, Jaron Rush could also be leaving as well.  According to both Greg Hicks at Bruin Report Online and Jim Downs' Bruin Hoop Report, Jaron has left UCLA, isn't attending classes,  and is back home in Missouri; Greg seems to be a bit more pessimistic than Downs, reporting that "It's pretty much a foregone conclusion that he is gone to the NBA (or whereever he ends up next year)." 

And for those who caught the LA Times story yesterday about  Jason Kapono, ("Kapono Not Sure He Will Turn Pro") anyone who believes he's leaving this year is going to be sadly mistaken (or pleasantly surprised as the case may be) because we assume that in addition to just having some fun with the press, Jason was only laying a bit of groundwork for next year when we believe he'll really seriously consider a  jump to the league.  Jason told Times reporter Scott Howard-Cooper "I haven't talked to any agents, I haven't talked to any scouts," Kapono said. "I haven't even said anything publicly. But if for some reason that changes, I've got to do what's best for me.". . . Now there's a non-statement if ever we've seen one.  Sigh. . . .

Comings:  T.J. Cummings (6'-8" Sr. PF) from Illinois, the son of NBA star Terry Cummings and Josiah Johnson (6'-8" Sr. SG/SF) from Montclair Prep in Van Nuys, the son of former UCLA and NBA star Marques Johnson.  Cummings played very well at the Dada All-Star Classic two weeks ago, while Josiah didn't at all, having injured his knee after a great performance at the Battle of the Valley All-Star game several weeks before.  We had a chance to spend some time with T.J. Cummings at the Dada Classic pre-game luncheon which took place the Friday before the game at Reign, a pretty trendy restaurant in Beverly Hills owned by Keyshawn Johnson (Dinos and Phil Gatton really outdid themselves this time, and it was a huge step up from last year's dismal neighborhood Long Beach pizza parlor "press luncheon"--thanks guys).  Cummings is a solid young man, very articulate, and he's not only got his head screwed on straight, he's the kind of kid who actually says he wants to stay for all four years and really enjoy the college experience.   T.J. will be moving out to the West Coast following his graduation this June, and he plans on spending the summer with his dad in San Francisco rather than coming to LA to play in the Say No League.  "I know I've got to hit the weights every day, and my dad has some workouts planned for me to get me in shape.  I want to get up to about 225 before next season, so I'll spend the summer working out," T.J. told us at the luncheon.  

Switch-Hits:  The Daily News and the LA Times have both reported that Matt Barnes has spoken to the football coaches and intends to try playing with that funny spheroid object in the fall, at least to the extent that he gets any time (remember, he hasn't played football in two seasons).  Barnes was a standout two-sport athlete in high school and an excellent wide-receiver.  Most of the local media have reported throughout the season that Barnes was upset over playing time this past season.  And while Barnes two year absence from the gridiron certainly puts him behind a lot of people on the depth chart, Coach Toledo has been reported as saying that he will allow him to practice with the team to see where Barnes might fit in to the Bruins' football plans.  If Barnes plays in a football game this fall, his scholarship will move over to the football side (he won't be a "counter" for basketball), which will free up yet another slot for the talent-hungry basketball team, which could have as many as 7 or 8 rides to give depending on what happens with Rush, Moiso, Gadzuric, and if you want to buy tickets to the swimming pool on the roof at Pauley, Jason Kapono.

Didn't Gets: Josh Moore (7'-0" C) from New Jersey, who has been hanging around SoCal since December, has reportedly given up on UCLA and vice-versa. Apparently Josh wasn't serious about improving his academics, and while he was working out locally, and expected to take courses at Santa Monica JC, he really didn't have a chance of meeting UCLA's admission standards.  UCLA also didn't get Phillip Ricci (6'-8" So. PF) a JUCO transfer from San Joaquin Delta College, who had been recruited on and off again by the Bruins, but who until recently, had been thought to be a solid citizen for UOP. . .that is until two days ago when Oregon State's Ritchie McKay announced that the Ducks had signed Ricci to an LOI, and the inability of the Bruins to sign Ricci is another one that could come back to haunt the faithful in Westwood, since Ricci is a huge scorer and possible Pac-10 newcomer of the year.   The Bruins have also been lookng for a point guard, and Brandon Brooks (6'-0" Sr. PG) from Portland Jefferson, signed with Arizona State instead last week, reportedly because he too could not meet UCLA's high admission standards.

Possible Gets: 

In the senior class, just about everyone who follows the Bruins is reporting that the Bruins are looking at two foreign point guards as potential signees to help out in the backcourt:  Tony Parker (6'-1" Sr. PG) from France, who played very well in the Hoop Summit game and Kristaps Valters (6'-1" PG/SG)   who averaged 20 ppg for Broceni-LMT Riga of the NEBL.  Who else, if anyone, the Bruins are recruiting from the senior class remains a mystery shrouded in secrecy, and again, a lot will depend on what happens with Rush, Moiso, Gad, et.al. this summer.

In the junior class, the list of possible recruits is a mile long, and UCLA is reportedly going after just about everyone who's anyone.  The coaches have been seen at just about every recent big-time event, including the Pump "Super 40" workouts at CSUN, the Rockfish Spring League, and several other local tournaments and events.  Jim Downs put together a handy little chart of guys who are being recruited or who will be recruited this summer (to greater or lesser degrees), and rather than re-invent the wheel, here it is:

According to Greg Hicks and Tracy Pierson at Bruin Report Online, UCLA is currently recruiting (in addition to those shown on Downs' chart) guys like Matt Carroll (6'-8" Jr. SF) from Colorado, Chris Jackson (6'-11" Jr. C) from Los Alamos, New Mexico, Anthony Washington (6'-8" Jr. PF) from  Washington, Mike Stephens (6'-9" Sr. PF) from Napa, California (and reportedly Steve Lavin is very intrigued by Stephens, a sort of old-school style player, who is playing for the Pump Arizona All-Stars this summer),  Maurice Williams (6'-0" Jr. PG) from Mississippi, Errol Knight (6'-5" Jr. SG) from  Seattle, Washington, Erik Bond (6'-8" Jr. SF) also from Washington, Daniel Ewing (6'-3" Jr. SG) from Texas, Mark Konecny (6'-10" Jr. C) from  Connecticut, Kevin Fellows (6'-10" Jr. C) from Idaho who is also playing with the Pumps this summer, Chris Thomas (6'-1" Jr. PG) Indiana, Matt Short (6'-11" Jr. C),  Aaron Miles (6'-0" Jr. PG) from Portland Jefferson in Oregon, and Robert Whaley (6'-8" Jr. PF) the Michigan Mustangs talented power forward who also has great ball-handling skills and who could legitmately be another point-forward in the mold of Magic Johnson in the hands of the right coach.

Oh, and it seems that no one is mentioning UCLA and Tyson Chandler (7'-0" Jr. C) from Compton Dominguez much these days, since the consensus seems to be that Tyson will turn pro after his senior season in high school and will never play college ball.  Tyson has repeatedly said though that if he were to play in college that UCLA is one of the likely leaders for his services.

This Little Piggie Investigations:    And speaking of "services" in connection with high school athletes, we recently posted up the entire Myron Piggie indictment, which is premised on the interesting theory, in addition to others,   that Piggie conspired to violated federal law by depriving several universities of the "services" of student athletes (including Jaron Rush).  The indictment is sort of interesting ("interesting" is one of those clinical words that only lawyers use to describe indictments, which can be pretty traumatic for the defendant,   by the way) in that it claims that because the universities involved (UCLA, Duke, Missouri, etc), were "deprived" of the student's "services" they were defrauded by Piggies' actions, which involved paying the players before they were under the NCAA's jurisdiction and while still in high school.  Of course, you'll   recall that Jaron Rush was suspended precisely because the US Attorney from Missouri came to UCLA and informed the school that Rush might have potentially received benefits which would affect his eligibility, and thus not only ironic, it's perhaps circular logic at it's best for the grand jury to have alleged that UCLA was defrauded when it was the US Attorney's own actions which virtually compelled UCLA to suspend Rush in the first place, an irony which is made all the more striking because other than imposing a fine on Rush, the NCAA determined that he was eligible to return to play.

Still, speculation abounds that UCLA may be required to give back some of the money that it earned as its share for participating two seasons ago in the NCAA Tournament in the first round loss against Detroit Mercy.  The LA Times wrote an interesting story about this (and other aspects of the indictment and its ramifications) yesterday, in which Lis Dillman and Scott Howard-Cooper, analyzed various ramifications of the Piggie Indictment.  Here are some excerpts from that article.  The entire article can be found at this link

Piggie Indictment Has Ramifications

LISA DILLMAN and SCOTT HOWARD-COOPER, Times Staff Writers

Christmas came early for JaRon Rush in 1996.

There was $300 for homecoming at Pembroke Hill High. Halloween? Two hundred dollars more. Then some spending money, $150, for a weekend in Lawrence, at the University of Kansas.

What appear to be minor details of a Kansas City, Mo., teenager's social life are at the heart of a high-profile federal case against former summer-league basketball coach Myron C. Piggie. The fallout could include a UCLA loss of more than $60,000 in NCAA tournament revenue.

An 11-count indictment charged that Piggie, a former janitor and a convicted crack dealer, defrauded UCLA and three other institutions by paying the players, thereby endangering their amateur status and eligibility.

The alleged scheme started with Piggie's payments to some of his summer-league players, which would make them ineligible for college scholarships. By undercutting the players' amateur status, the scheme allegedly defrauded the schools. Beyond the $35,500 in payments to the players, the indictment said Piggie defrauded the schools, which gave out nearly $100,000 in scholarship money to athletes who were ineligible.

As the Piggie case unfolds, it has become apparent that there could be further financial ramifications for the schools. In particular, UCLA could be forced to forfeit as much as $66,600, a portion of its earnings from the 1999 basketball tournament.

* * * *

Legal experts have differing opinions on the merits of the case. Drake University Law School's dean, C. Peter Goplerud III, called a criminal prosecution based on interference with an athlete's amateur standing "flimsy."

But a former federal prosecutor, Peter S. Spivack, said: "It's definitely a viable theory. . . . You've got a situation where the schools were laying out real money."

U.S. Attorney Stephen L. Hill Jr. declined to discuss the case with The Times. A spokesman for Hill said the refusal was because of a commentary written by Times sports editor Bill Dwyre in December 1999 that was "very disparaging." Hill's office did not return phone calls to Dwyre for the commentary.

* * * *

"Everyone knows it wouldn't have been touched if it didn't involve sports and college athletics," said Spivack, who is now at the Washington-based firm of Hogan and Hartson. "It's as clear as a bell."

Said Goplerud: "I was chatting with a colleague today about this. We're concerned about a U.S. Attorney who doesn't have anything better to do than to go looking for ways to prosecute people who have tampered with collegiate athletes' eligibility."

This road has been traveled before with a different twist. In 1989, the Justice Department charged agents Norby Walters and Lloyd Bloom with racketeering, mail fraud and conspiracy, accusing them of signing collegiate athletes to pro sports contracts before the expiration of their eligibility, defrauding seven universities.

The athletes signed documents certifying they were amateurs, and their contracts were postdated, so they could remain eligible.

Walters and Bloom were found guilty after a five-week trial, but the conviction was overturned on appeal by the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1990.

"Part of the problem in Walters [case] was the prosecutor was arguing that the use of the mail was central to the scheme, and the court was very dubious of that because they found it was unlikely that Walters would even know that the university would use the mail," UCLA law professor Steve Derian said.

In regard to Piggie, the contact and payments were made before the athletes were enrolled in school. The cash payments, sometimes packaged in Nike shoe boxes, were made secretly to the players and Piggie developed cover stories for the players in the event the NCAA learned of the payments, according to the indictment.

Rush mailed his national letter of intent, as did the others. The indictment stated that Piggie mailed or caused the mailings of letters of intent from JaRon Rush, Kareem Rush and Andre Williams to their respective schools, and he engaged in an interstate telephone call with Corey Maggette. Later, the players also submitted "false and fraudulent Student-Athlete Statements" to the schools, certifying they had not received payments to participate in basketball.

"Here the focus on the letter of intent is arguably different," Derian said. "Whether it will make a legal difference to the court that ultimately considers it is uncertain. It's more plausible, given the problem the 7th Circuit had with Walters."

The final damage to UCLA probably won't be known for months. The Bruins already lost four games by four points or fewer when Rush was out, had to go without a key reserve/potential starter for 24 games, and now may be forced to forfeit thousands of dollars over something for which they were not held accountable.

The last unresolved issue is whether the school will have to repay money earned from the 1999 NCAA tournament, because, unknowingly or not, it used a player who, it was later found, should have been ineligible. It does not matter that UCLA said the first it heard of possible violations related to Rush was nine months later, at which time Rush was immediately suspended.

According to NCAA bylaws, "When an ineligible student-athlete participates in an NCAA championship and the student-athlete or the institution knew or had reason to know of the ineligibility, the NCAA president may withhold" a portion of the earnings.

On Jan. 11, Rush admitted that he knew it was against the rules when he took money from agent Jerome Stanley, a charge Stanley denies but that the school and the NCAA accept as fact. Stanley made four $50 payments to Rush in a parking lot at UCLA during the 1998-99 academic year, the indictment said.

At stake is a portion of what the Pacific 10 said is the $74,000 for the Bruins' single-game appearance in the 1999 tournament, a loss to Detroit Mercy. The rules include a cap at 90% of that amount--which would be $66,600--but others familiar with recent cases said the trend is for the NCAA to usually go with about 45%.

UCLA must first submit its report on that matter, separate from the work it did on Rush's eligibility case. There is no timetable for completion and, according to the NCAA, no deadline. The Championship/Competition Cabinet, which oversees such matters, is next scheduled to meet in July.

Beyond that, despite some vague references in the media to the contrary, the Bruins said the indictment has not prompted a new NCAA investigation. Athletic Director Pete Dalis, seeking clarification, spoke with NCAA vice president David Price and confirmed there were no plans to reopen the Rush case.

"There is nothing new whatsoever," Dalis said. ". . . I knew there was no issue there. It's not a matter of saying we're happy that nothing is going on because we knew there was nothing going on."

Piggie remains incarcerated because of threats against potential witnesses. His attorney, Kimberley Kellogg Gepford, dismissed the threats and said she will attempt to have him released this week on bond. The trial is scheduled for June, but Gepford is expecting it to begin in August, hinting at continuing revelations.

"We deny it [the allegations]," she said. "And we will be strenuously fighting it by motion process and trial. He's not guilty of any federal offenses."

 
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