recruiting tidbits

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Recruiting News & Notes
From Around SoCal--(Oct. 8, 2001)

We've been especially busy lately with real work, so busy in fact that for the first time in five years we missed the Wooden Award's "Division I College Coaches Luncheon" last week.....oh well. So busy that we're just going to repeat here a bunch of stuff that we've read and heard while talking to others who also follow recruiting. Much of this isn't new, in fact you may have read it elsewhere, but what the heck....it's still interesting stuff, even if we're borrowing it from others.

Glenn McGowan Gone Our friends at Pepperdine keep asking us not to write about unconfirmed rumors unless we first verify them, but hey, who's got time for facts when some of these rumors are just so darn interesting? And besides, this isn't something we're making up. Recruiting USA reported last week that Glenn McGowan (6'-9" So. F), who played just one season at Pepperdine, has left school and will instead enroll at LA City College where he'll play for head coach Mike Miller. We don't know the reasons why Glenn left, but we assume they were good ones, because he would have had plenty of opportunity for time on the floor with the Waves which has a strong frontcourt, but just not as strong as in prior years. Glenn is someone we've written about off and on for about five years now, first picking him up when he played for former Venice Coach Dave Goosen in 1997....that was when Glenn grew an astounding 7 inches in one summer, and blossomed into one of the best big men in the LA City Section, although he was troubled with "bad feet." After graduation from Venice, his foot troubles disappeared, and he enrolled at Notre Dame Prep in Fitchburg, MA with the help of both Rick Issacs (coach of the H-Squad) and Bob Gottlieb. After playing on and off with Double Pump, Glenn had become a regular for the H-Squad (or what was then known as Rick Isaacs' "Hype Squad", a collection of players which at the time featured mostly Crenshaw and Venice kids). Glenn impressed the Pepperdine guys out of Notre Dame Prep, and he signed a scholarship with the school. Last season Glenn played in 15 games, averaging 1.9 ppg and about 1 rebound per game.

Pepperdine's season outlook describes the frontline as "thin" (and that was with Glenn on board at the time it was written):

"Returning players on the Waves’ frontline include junior forward Boomer Brazzle, junior forward Dustin Johnson, sophomore center Will Kimble, sophomore forward Glen McGowan and senior center Cedric Suitt. Brazzle, Kimble and Suitt each started several games last season. Brazzle averaged 3.5 points and 3.3 rebounds a game, while Suitt led the Waves with 33 blocked shots. Redshirt freshman forward Robert Turner and junior forward Jimmy Miggins, a transfer from Los Angeles City College, will both battle for game action."

And it looks like the bus runs both ways between LACC and Pepperdine. Miggins for McGowan. An even trade? Who knows. We wish Glenn the best of luck at LACC, and Jimmy the best of luck at Pepperdine. We're pretty certain Glenn will still play another two years at the D-I level somewhere, since the Cubs are always among the top JUCO programs in the country, and Coach Miller is pretty good at getting his guys D-I scholarships every year. .

Other Stuff We've Shamelessly Lifted From Recruiting USA: Dave Benezra and Mark Mayemura also reported about a week ago that USCB has picked up a verbal commitment from Glen Turner (6'-9" Sr. F) from Overfelt HS in San Jose. Turner is an excellent athlete, a nice rebounder who has some skills and upside. Bob Williams has been trying to put it all together in the Big West (remember, this is a guy who has won National Championships at every level except the D-I level), so Turner will need to do big things.

This one doesn't come from R-USA, but it's still interesting:

USC (as in the Southern Cal Trojans, not Santa Clara), have also reportedly picked up a verbal commitment from Roy Smiley (6'-4" So. SG/SF) from Southeastern Iowa JC. We don't know very much about Smiley, but we'll try to find out soon.