SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Compton Dominguez' Keith Brooks Signs
With Cal State Fullerton--(July 6, 2000)

We've been waiting and watching, hoping that Dominguez' Keith Brooks (6'-7" PF) would sign somewhere, and the last we heard, Michigan had recruited him, but he wasn't interested (or the coaches lost interest, we're not sure).  Keith was also interested in USC, Washington State and several other Pac-10 programs, but no one could make the right fit.  Well, from our friends at TitanCentral.com, which is the Rivals.com Cal State Fullerton site, we learned yesterday that first year Titans' Coach Donny Daniels has gotten it done, and Brooks announced yesterday that he will sign with Fullerton.

According to TitanCentral.com, Brooks said his decision came down to "a good situation and coach Daniels" as well as the fact that Fullerton has also signed his crosstown rival and friend,  Joe Travis (6'-8" Fr. PF) from Long Beach Poly.  "We're going to make an impact as freshmen. It'll be nice to going through four years with Joe," Brooks told TitanCentral.

Brooks apparently had trips planned to San Diego State and Washington State, both of which have been cancelled. The impending signing of Brooks to a scholarship agreement (it's now too late for an LOI, which is ok, because a scholarship agreement is certainly better from a player's point of view), means that Donny Daniels has received commitments or signed LOI's from seven incoming players, five scholarship, and two walk-on JUCO transfers (who no doubt would have received scholarships but for the NCAA-imposed sanctions against Fullerton which date back to recruiting violations in the Brad Holland era, and which just killed Butch Hawking's ability to recruit there. . . but that's a different story).   Daniels has signed Chris Smith, Ryan Dillon, Joe Travis, and now Keith Brooks, in addition to commitments from former Mater Dei player David Castleton and Kevin Richardson.

In our haste to cover other recruiting events and happenings, we also failed to note earlier last month the hiring by Daniels of two assistants, and no doubt with these two on board, you're going to see some really top-notch, aggressive recruiting in the years ahead.  We're talking about the hirings of Jason Levy and Rob Orellana.  Here's the official Cal State Fullerton press release on their hiring: 

Jason Levy, Rob Orellana Hired as Men's Basketball Assistants
June 19

Youthful veterans Jason Levy and Rob Orellana today were appointed assistants to new Cal State Fullerton men's basketball coach Donny Daniels. Both have several years of experience in Southern California as well as connections with the East Coast.

Levy, 32, spent the past three seasons as an assistant at the University of Portland of the West Coast Conference. He has three years of experience in the Big West Conference with two years (1994-95 and 1995-96) at Long Beach State under Coach Seth Greenberg and one (1996-97) at UC Irvine under Coach Rod Baker. Levy is a native of New York City.

Orellana, 34, spent the past two seasons at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey after two seasons as an assistant at St. Francis College in New York. He has three years of Big West coaching experience, serving at UC Irvine (1991-92 thru 1993-94) for Coach Baker, and brings international ties to the Titans' program with coaching experience in Venezuela and a hand in bringing seven foreign players to Fairleigh Dickinson. He has coached at Westchester and Pius X (Downey) High Schools and was team manager for UNLV's 1990 NCAA championship team.

Daniels signed a four-year contract on Apr. 20. The former Titan player and assistant coach served the past 11 seasons as an assistant to Coach Rick Majerus at Utah.

 
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