catchingup

SoCal Hoops Recruiting News

Catching Up On Recent
Recruiting Stuff--(Oct. 31, 2001)

Ok.....so we've been slacking off. Work isn't getting any lighter (as in real work) so posting about recruiting news has suffered. Let's catch up on what we've missed for the past week:

Bobby Jones Recruiting Picking Up & Settling Down-- According to Jeff Goodman at Prepstars.com, the recruiting of Bobby Jones (6'-7" Sr. SG/SF) is both picking and settling down. That may sound contradictory, and it may be, but it's an accurate assessment of what his summer and fall have been like: It's picked up in the sense that his recruiting is beginning to get more focused, and it's also settling down in the sense that most of the high-majors who expressed interest earlier this summer seem to have cooled considerably. But those who remain interested are very interested. Jones has now transferred to Long Beach Poly from Compton Dominguez after Russell Otis was not approved to resume his coaching position there or at Lynwood. After playing this summer for both the adidas-sponsored Double Pump California All Stars and for the Nike-sponsored California Team Select, he seemed to have the best of both worlds for a while, but things have now quieted down. Apparently UCLA, Kansas, UConn and Cincinnati, who were all interested last spring and early in the summer, are not recruiting him any longer, but he continues to receive solid and substantial interest from New Mexico, Pepperdine, and Boston College. Jones spoke with Goodman last week, and he told him his thinking about these schools: "BC is a transition team and they have a great point guard in Troy Bell," said Jones. "They are up and coming. New Mexico has The Pit and that’s big-time. They don’t have any pro sports teams, so the focus is on college. Pepperdine has a new coach in Paul Westphal, who coached in the NBA." According to Goodman, Bobby has visited Pepperdine, had a planned visit last week to New Mexico, and cancelled a trip to Boston due to the recent terrorist attacks. If he doesn't sign in the fall, we'd expect some of the top programs who miss on their intended targets to take a second look at Bobby, especially after a big season with the Jackrabbits, who once again will be one of the top teams in the Southern Section at the Division I level, and a potential favorite for not only a section title but possibly a State title (which would give Bobby Jones four State Titles in four seasons--three with Dominguez).

Brad Buckman Commits to Texas-- This came as no surprise to anyone, and despite our optimism about UCLA's chances with Brad Buckman (6'-9" Sr. F) from Austin-Westlake HS, it seems that those who predicted Texas all along really knew what they were talking about. Brad played on the Pump N Run All Stars team this summer along with CJ Watson, David Gale, Brandon Rohe, David Padgett, Omar Wilkes, Richard Chaney, Matt McKinney (who remains a UCLA target, as well as UCSB and USC for both volleyball and basketball), Lance Soderberg, and others, and remains one of the top prospects to become a McDonald's All American player. Brad's decision was down to three schools about a month ago, and after he eliminated Kansas from consideration it was down to North Carolina and Texas. As his mother Tammy told us this past summer, "I bleed Orange". . . . and the Buckmans live nearby the University of Texas, so this was a natural. Congratulations to the Longhorns on one of the best gets of the year.

Texas Also Looking At Kenton Paulino---We received a call from a friend in Texas last week who was frantically looking for a photo of former All-City Player of the Year Kenton Paulino (6'-3" G), from Los Angeles Fremont, who is currently doing a post-grad year at Maine Central Institute, a prep school. We couldn't help him out with the photo (to our knowledge, there isn't one on the web either), but we had a lot to say about Paulino's game. Kenton is a lightning quick guard, with excellent handles, not really an outside shooter, but a slasher who gets to the basket with great speed, and he's also getting tremendous recruiting interest from schools like Providence, San Diego State and others. Paulino played this past summer with the H-Squad, and in one of the best games of the summer, helped the H-Squad to an overtime win over the Pump N Run All-Stars at the Las Vegas adias Big Time tournament.

Indiana Gets Commitment From Darryl Pegram-- Former AB Miller player Darryl Pegram (6'-7" Sr. F) who has attended prep school for the past year at Worcester Academy in Worcester, MA, has given a verbal commitment to Indiana. The timing of the commitment was interesting, because Pegram had just scheduled a visit to Penn, but decided instead to take a shot with the Hoosiers instead. According to our friends at Recruiting USA, at the time Pegram gave his verbal, it was conditional upon Sean May 6'-8" Sr. F not committing to the Hoosiers, since they wouldn't have enough scholarships for both of them. But the conditional label was removed this past week for Pegram when May decided instead to give a verbal to North Carolina, which obviously had a spot available when Brad Buckman decided to commit to Texas instead of the Tarheels. . . .and so it goes...