SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Bits & Pieces: Cody Pearson, Alex Graham,
Isaiah Fox, Rick Rickert & More--(Nov. 14, 2000)

Some bits & pieces reported around SoCal by other sources in the last few days:

First Bit & Piece: Vincent Bonsignore wrote in yesterday's LA Daily News about several local basketball items (including a sort of interesting little bit on LAUSD's Monroe HS and coach Don Loperena's view of his own team contained in his response to a questionaire about the season prospects.  He wrote: "My most athletic team, but we have big-time problems. "Commitment, work ethic, attitude and loyalty to name a few. Very frustrating thus far. If it is possible to mend this mess by the season. . . . I wouldn't want to play us."

More Bits & Pieces:   Bonsignore also wrote about Sherman Oaks Notre Dame's Cody Pearson (6'-5" Sr. SG/SF), whose recruiting for the moment is stalled, and Vince confirmed what many of us have known for a while i.e., that Cody will wait until the spring to make a decision about where to play in college.  According to the Daily News, Cody averaged 23 ppg and 12 rpg last season, and was getting some varied recruiting attention from Utah, Southern Utah, Northridge, Fullerton, Long Beach State and LMU, but thus far he has not signed.    After playing briefly with one of the Double Pump Teams in the spring, Cody played the rest of the spring in the Rockfish Spring League and this summer with Dinos Trignonis' Belmont Shore squad.   He initially attracted some attention from Utah when he attended Rick Majerus' "Big Man" camp (which of course isn't for big men only, but it is an invitational thing), and then later in the early summer was reportedly offered by Long Beach State's Wayne Morgan who saw him play with his Notre Dame team in an early summer tournament.   However, according to the Daily News article no reason in particular is specified as to why Cody is going to wait, but his high school coach, Rob DiMuro told the paper, "He can only enhance his status, so we decided to wait until the end of the year."

More Bits & Pieces:   And according to Bonsignore, the Notre Dame Knights "are favorites in the Mission League, returning seven players from last year's 22-7 team. Pearson and Michael Luderer (16.7, 8.6 rebounds) both earned All-CIF honors, and are expected to be even better this year. Keep an eye on 6-foot-7 centers David Hungerford and Stepney Johnson, both of whom improved over the summer."  Likewise, another player Bonsignore didn't mention is Ruben Sanchez (6'-0" Sr. PG) who also played with Cody on the Belmont Shore West squad, and then later on the Belmont Shore-Dunk.net team with Evan Burns (6'-7" Jr. SF) from Fairfax, whom many believe to be among the best (if not the best) junior in the country.    We'll be doing a preview shortly of the Mission League shortly (as in the next day or two).   We also happen to think that the Knights could be one of the favorites this season in the Mission League, which we think is going to come down to a three-way race between Notre Dame, Chaminade and a renewed Loyola team which has size, speed, shooting and defense this season.   

More Bits & Pieces:  Also mentioned in the Bonsignore Daily News piece was news of the recruiting trip that James Jenkins (6'-7" Sr. SF) from Crescenta Valley took this past weekend to the University of New York-Albany, at the invitation of new first year head coach Scott Beeton.  According to Bonsignore, "Jenkins averaged 21 points and 12 rebounds last year and was impressive during the summer-club circuit. Like Pearson, he'll wait until after the season to decide on his future.. . . He's also drawn interest from Air Force, both Oregon Pacific-10 schools and the University of Portland. The New York trip was Jenkins' first visit. 'He went the furthest he could go on his first one,' said his mom, Mary Jenkins."    Recruiting USA also had the same story (a day earlier than the Daily News) about Jenkins' trip to Albany, and they had a little more to say about James' game:  "He rebounds well, can defend taller players, has good quickness, solid post moves and a nice face-up game with range to the 3-point line. Jenkins is starting to get more recruiting attention as college coaches realize his upside; Jenkins has yet to fully devote himself to basketball and weight training (Jenkins was the best sprinter in Southern California swimming last year, winning the CIF championships in the 50 and the 100-meter freestyle). While he's received much more recruiting for his swimming, Jenkins wants to be a college basketball player and will likely concentrate solely on hoops. He's also being recruited by Air Force, Utah State, Colorado State and Portland State. Jenkins is a full-qualifier."   

More Bits & Pieces: And speaking of Recruiting USA, Dave and Mark also reported yesterday that Alex Graham (7'-0" Sr. C) from Redlands HS took an official visit to Long Beach State over the weekend, his second visit, having previously visited Princeton.  According to R-USA, ". . . it appears that Graham, who enjoyed the visit to the Long Beach campus, may wait until spring to decide.   He's a shot blocker with a soft shooting touch and will likely garner the interest of many schools in the course of the high school season."

Final Bit & Piece:  This one doesn't come as any huge surprise, and Isaiah Fox (6'-9" Sr. PF) has told Greg Hicks at PacWestHoops   that he will wait until spring to make a decision, after turning down Cal and after also reportedly backing away from UCLA after Jamal Sampson signed with the Bears.   The interesting thing though about Greg's recent report is that Fox apparently told PWH that even if Arizona now offered, he would still wait until spring to sign:  "We asked about his level of interest in Arizona, now that Rick Rickert has committed to Minnesota, and Isaiah said, 'I will still entertain an offer from Arizona, but I'm going to open things up and start over.' So he wouldn't commit now if offered by Arizona? 'No, I'm definitely waiting until spring,' Fox said."   

Of course the reference to Rickert, just in case you missed it, has to do with the fact that Rick Rickert (6'-11" Sr. F/C), one of the top recruits in the country, reneged on his verbal commitment to the University of Arizona, yesterday and instead opted to sign a letter of intent with the University of Minnesota.  Many said that it was due to some fairly intense pressure from his parents, but they've insisted that the pressure didn't really come from their end (well, perhaps just a bit), claiming that they let Rick make his own choices, but they freely admit they told UM coach Dan Monson not to give up and to continue to recruit Rick notwithstanding the verbal commitment.  The irony of Minnesota getting Rickert, and having him forego a commitment to Coach Lute Olson in particular, was not lost on those with a sense of history about such things, because it was Coach Olson who, 10 years ago, recruited Damon Stoudamire out of Oregon and away from Monson's father, Don, who at the time was the head coach at the University of Oregon.   Touche'.  Hey, and it's not like Arizona really needs Rickert anyway. . . oh, who are we kidding, Rickert was an absolutely huge loss for the Wildcats who will lose Loren Woods (7'-1" Sr. C) after this year, and even though there are a ton of tall guys around the roster (e.g., Andrew Zahn, Ricky Anderson, Richard Jefferson, Luke Walton) none of them has the footwork and agility, nor the upside that Rickert has as a college player.

 
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