sampson commits to UCLA

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

We Didn't Know He Was A Fish:
Jamal Sampson Commits To Cal--(Oct. 28, 2000)

Sorry about that. . . .No Jamal Sampson (6'-11" Sr. C) from Mater Dei has not left the SCA/SoCalHoops team (the Nike-sponsored travel teams coached by Pat Barrett) to join up with the Rockfish, but he has announced publicly that he's committed to the University of California at Berkeley. And no, Cal is not "Rockfish-North" even though the Bears do seem to have an affinity for fishies. . .

This one is sort of like "Shades of Tayshaun Prince". . . . We're not going to draw any comparisons to Jamal's recruiting with the situation involving Tayshaun just to make the Bruin-faithful angry. . .But. . . . this was one of the weirdest recruiting sagas we've seen in a while, about as strange as Tayshaun's a couple of years ago, when everyone who was supposed to know though Tayshaun was going to announce for UCLA and he surprised everyone by saying "Kentucky". . . and just about as disappointing if you are a UCLA fan (and if you guys are not happy, just imagine how the coaches feel?).

But the commitment of Jamal Sampson This is either great news for the Bears and Ben Braun, or it's not going to make much difference what with all the injuries mono, and missed games that Jamal has had to endure throughout his short high school career. .. .But c'mon, who are we kidding? This is HUGE for the Bears, who have just picked up a future NBA player, at 6'-11" guy with great skills who was probably as responsible as anyone last season for knocking off LA City Section champion Westchester in the State Regional playoffs in a second round game at Ocean View, a win which put Mater Dei in the Southern Regional finals against Clovis West.

Is this a surprising pickup for the Bears? Probably about as surprising as any we've heard about recently, and it really should dispel all the silly notions that Cal is just becoming the next-level version of the Rockfish. Why Cal? Other than what he says (see below), who really knows. But there are some Cal connections we know about: Jamal had previously played with returning soph Joe Shipp on a Nike travel teams, and had been with him at the Nike All-American Camp one year, and as the article below hints at, it looks like the Childress-Stanford proximity might have also been a factor too. Now if his friend Isaiah Fox (6'-9" Sr. PF) from Crossroads also makes the commitment to Berkeley rather than UConn (as we would expect, but then what do we know?), this team will be truly loaded next year, probably a title contender with one of the best recruiting classes this year.

Oh, and about Fox: Here's some wild-a** speculation for everyone: While everyone has been talking about Fox and Cal, or Fox and UConn, or even Fox and Arizona (now extremely unlikely, given the commitment of Rick Rickert and Dennis Lattimore), perhaps UCLA will get involved again. . .quickly.

In any event, Here's the story which The Oakland Tribune ran on Jamal's commitment in this morning's edition, and staff-writer Jeff Faraudo confirmed the commitment by speaking with Jamal and his family last night. Here's the story

Top prospect commits to Cal

By Jeff Faraudo
STAFF WRITER
Oakland Tribune 10/28/00

BERKELEY -- Cal's basketball recruiting class took a big step toward national status Friday when Jamal Sampson, cousin of former NBA star Ralph Sampson, gave the Golden Bears a verbal commitment.

Sampson, a 6-foot-11 senior at powerhouse Mater Dei High in Santa Ana, is ranked as the nation's 26th-best prospect by The Sporting News. A power forward who blocked 14 shots in one game last season, Sampson will join Berkeley-bound small forward Julian Sensley, a consensus top-20 player who declared his intentions to attend Cal more than a year ago.

Commitments cannot become binding until the Nov. 8 start of fall letter-of-intent signing period.

Sampson picked Cal over St. Louis, and said the decision wasn't easy.

"It just came to me this morning," he said Friday evening before leaving for a school dance. "Basically, it was the best opportunity for me to play at a place away from home, but close enough I can come home when I want to. I think it's going to be good."

By landing Sensley, who will play this season at St. Thomas More School in Oakdale, Conn., and Sampson, fifth-year Cal coach Ben Braun has scored his most high-profile recruiting class.

And the news might get better still for Cal fans. Sampson said he talked Thursday night with 6-8, 280-pound forward Isiah Fox, a top-100 prospect from Crossroads High in Santa Monica, and said Fox indicated he is leaning toward Cal, as well.

Fox's father, Nils, said Friday night that his son has not made a decision, but that Cal and Connecticut remain the two leaders.

Sampson averaged 14 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocked shots last season for Mater Dei, which compiled a 32-2 record and reached the semifinals of the California state playoffs. He missed a portion of the season due to illness that cost him more than 20 pounds, but said he has since built his weight back to nearly 250 pounds.

Mater Dei enters this season ranked among the nation's elite high school teams, listed as high as No. 2 in some preseason polls.

Sampson, who also was pursued by Kansas and Connecticut, got some welcome advice during the recruiting process from his cousin Ralph Sampson, a former three-time NCAA Player of the Year at Virginia.

"They've been communicating a lot lately, and he's been very helpful," said Sampson's mother, Ruth.