SoCalHoops Recruiting News

CSUN Signs Chris Davis
To Complete Recruiting Class--(Apr. 28, 2001)

The LA Times today featured a small story about CSUN's signing class for next season, which Bobby Braswell believes could be the best ever since he's been at Northridge (and trust us on this one, there weren't any better classes before he got there either).  Last week, Northridge completed its recruiting class by signing Chris Davis (6'-8" Postgrad F) to a NLI.  Davis formerly played at Crenshaw in the 1999-2000 season but this year attended a prep school.  Davis is an agile, powerful face-up forward who is a tremendously strong rebounder and an excellent overall athlete.  He completes a class which also includes former Crenshaw teammates Ryan Sims (6'-9" So. JUCO F) via LA City College, Armand Thomas (6'-9" So. JUCO F) via Compton City College, Joe Frazier (6'-3" Sr. G) from Muir HS, and Ian Boylan (6'-6" Sr. F/G) from Norman HS in Norman, Oklahoma.

As Vince Kowalick noted in his story in the Times this morning,

Northridge's recent success has helped in recruiting.   Sims, Davis aznd Thomas were heavily recruited by several schools, including Long Beach State, Pepperdine, Washington State, San Diego State, Wyoming, Idaho and Cal State Fullerton.

"Getting thse three kids was something we wouldn't have been able to do three years ago," Braswell said. "We tried recruiting Chris out of high school."

Braswell also noted, "These are the most athletic guys I've had since I've been here.  They run up and down the floor like deer.  I've liked them for some time. They're the kind of guys I felt we needed going into the Big West."

The latter comment refers to the fact that the Big Sky Champion Matadors will be moving to the Big West next season, where they'll compete against schools like Santa Barbara, Irvine, Riverside (which also joins the Big West next year), Fullerton, Long Beach, Cal Poly, etc. . . .And looking at their talent level, the Matadors could be ready to kick some serious butt by the time the season opens in November.

The First Annual "Small Schools" All-Star game is slated for June 8, 2001.  It's going to have some of the best Division IV and V players from around the San Fernando Valley and Ventura County region.  A few of the players in this game will also be in the older and more established LA Times-sponsored "Battle of the Valley" (e.g., Buckley's Colin Ward-Henninger, Andrew Moore and Kingsley Anyanwu of Crespi, and Casey Markovic of Bell Jeff).  But this one is strictly for players from smaller-enrollment schools.  And if you're a fan of some of those smaller schools, then you'll recognize a lot of the names, many of whom were All-CIF selections this past season.  Of course you'll also recognize that there's one name (Tony McFadden) who never played in a high school game for Montclair Prep. . .but that's another story, and it's really not relevant here, because he's a very talented player.   The game will be sponsored by Bassco Sporting Goods (a regular supplier of uniforms to teams throughout the region), a company called "A Life Managment" (which looks like some sort of "we'll do everything for you" service), and Valley Baseball Cards (not sure where they're located so check the yellow pages). 

This game will be played Friday night, June 8, 2001 at Crespi HS located in Encino (just south of Ventura Blvd., a block west of White Oak Ave.--take the White Oak exit off the Ventura Fwy, and head south; turn right on Ventura and then left at the first street and you'll see the school, just behind the Ralph's market).  In addition to the all-star game, there will be a half court shot contest, a 3-point shootout, and some other goodies.

Here are the rosters and coaches:

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