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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

A Recap Of A Very Busy Week Of Commitments &
Assorted Recruiting Buzz--(Oct. 25, 2002)

This has been a very busy week, and unfortunately we've only been able to keep up barely with all that's happening with the various and sundry rumors in the world of college recruiting. Here's a recap of what we know and have found out by cruising other sites from whom we've been compelled to just shameless steal their stuff (with attribution, of course, so that makes it just peachy, right?):

Trevor Ariza (6'-8" Sr. F) from Westchester to UCLA-- This one was certainly not unexpected for those following Ariza's recruiting, but it was certainly welcome news for a Bruin team that was hit hard a few weeks ago with the news that prized recruit Evan Burns was not going to be eligible under NCAA freshman eligibility standards, meaning he couldn't enroll at UCLA which doesn't take non- or partial-qualifiers, and which took yet another hit when Omar Wilkes announced he would attend Kansas instead of the local favorite. The L.A. Times reports this morning that Ariza does not yet have a qualifying score on his SAT, but hopefully he will be a full-qualifier by the time next fall rolls around. Ariza had been considered last summer to be a lean towards Florida, where his father resides, but evidently after missing out on Aaron Brooks and Wilkes, the Bruins put a hard press on the talented wing to stay at home. Ariza average 12 ppg and 12 rebounds for a Westchester team that last year won the City Section and State titles and was considered by many to hold the mythical No. 1 high school team in America, a title which has this year been bestowed by the pundits on Mater Dei instead. Ariza, who played this past summer with the Pump N Run All Stars, had been recruited by Florida, Indiana, UNLV and Georgia, among others. Of minor interest to those who follow recruiting is whether Jim Downs of Bruin Hoop Report or Tracy Pierson of Bruin Report Online reported this one first....frankly, we don't think it matters, but evidently it does to some. At least we can say we reported it last.....

Jimmy Goffredo (5'-11" Sr. SG) of Crescenta Valley announced that he committed to Harvard University this past Monday. Goffredo, who carries a 4.6 GPA, and has, according to his dad, John Goffredo (who is the former head coach at CV), never had a grade lower than an "A", is a prolific shooter who is currently second on his high school team's all-time scoring list (second behind only Greg Goorjian). Goffredo played the past three summers with the L.A. Rockfish traveling team. Goffredo picked the Crimson over Holy Cross, UC Riverside, and had also been reportedly looking at Yale and Princeton, two teams that are well-stocked at his position.

UCSB picked up a commitment from Alaska-native Chris Devine (6'-7" Sr. F) from Chugiak HS in Eagle River, Alaska. Devine took a visit to Santa Barbara last weekend, and committed after returning home to Alaska. Devine played this past summer with a team made up entirely of players from Alaska, which was also slated to include Ray Schaefer (6'-10" Sr. C) who committed two weeks ago to Oregon. According to a published report in the Santa Barbara News-Press, Devine picked the school for a combination of reasons: the weather, the course offerings at Santa Barbara, the coaching staff, the way he got along with the players....in short, everything you'd think would convince someone to want to go to Santa Barbara....

Rodney Timmerman (6'-10" Sr. C) from Paso Robles HS in Paso Robles, committed last week to Fresno State. We read about this one last week in the Fresno Bee, which quoted Timmerman as saying that he had developed a great relationship with new head coach Ray Lopes and was looking forward to attending Fresno State, but it somehow missed our Daily Articles at the time.

Fred Washington (6'-6" Sr. F) from Bishop Montgomery committed on Monday to Stanford University. We reported it at the time, but thought we'd throw it out there again, since this is, after all, a recap. Ditto with Kevin Bell (5'-10" Sr. PG) from Fairfax to Lousiana-Lafayette, and Evan Moore (6'-8" Sr. F) who committed for both football and basketball to Stanford.

Marcus Dove (6'-7" Sr. F/G) from Long Beach Millikan has reportedly, according to Dinos Trigonis and Clark Francis of the HoopScoop, commited to Oklahoma State after taking a visit this past weekend. Dove had been pursued most heavily by the Cowboys and Arizona State. Russ Blake of RivalsHoops.com also confirmed the commitment yesterday by the talented forward, who played this past summer with the combined Belmont Shore-H-Squad team at the Big Time and the Best of Summer tournaments, impressing a lot of people with his athleticism and physical style of play.

Kyle Shiloh (6'-2" Sr. G) from Bakersfield Garces Memorial HS reportedly committed to coach Trent Johnson at the University of Nevada-Reno after taking a visit last week with the Wolfpack. Shiloh played this past summer with a travel team which consisted of mostly players from the Bakersfield area.

Dinos Trigonis of The Fullcourt Press has also told Clark Francis of the HoopScoop that he expects Ruben Boykin (6'-7" Sr. F) from LA University HS to commit to Northern Arizona by the end of this week....which would be today or tomorrow...

Pepperdine has also reportedly received a commitment from Jarred Henry (6'-9" Sr. F) from Bishop Miege HS in Kansas City. We don't know a lot about Henry, but speculation in recruiting circles is that with Henry's commitment, this is a fairly strong signal that the Waves will not sign Shagari Alleygne from Rice HS in New York, who had been big on Pepperdine's wish list of potential big-man candidates. Allen Ruben, Francis' east coast editor suspects that Shagari will sign with either Rutgers or Kentucky. According to our own sources, Alleygne's press conference is scheduled for Monday to make an announcement, and we think it will be Rutgers, who missed out this past fall with former Bishop Montgomery star transfer Gabe Hughes (6'-11" Jr. F/C) who was all set to transfer there over the summer from Cal, but decided to return to Berkeley instead.

We also received an e-mail from the coaches at San Bernardino Community College this last week announcing that Justin Garcia (7'-1" So. C) has committed to Washington State. Unfortunately for Garcia, he has also suffered an ankle injury which is expected to keep him out of action for most if not all of this season. Garcia, who graduated from Jurupa Valley HS two years ago, attended Northern Arizona for his freshman year, but decided to return to California to be closer to his family.

Shane Hawkins (6'-6" Sr. F/G) from Columbus State JC in Ohio, has committed to Long Beach State coach Larry Reynolds for the 2003-04 season. Hawkins is also the grandson of former NBA all-star Connie Hawkins. He is a native of Pittsburgh PA and is currently rated among the top 5 JUCO forwards in the country.

Michael Wilds (6'-7" So. F) who is currently attending Chipola JC in Florida after graduating from LA Dorsey HS two seasons ago, has reportedly given a commitment to Utah State. Michael played for the Los Angeles Rockfish and in the Rockfish Spring League outside the regular high school season and is a ferocious banger under the boards.

Scott Cutley (6'-5" Sr. F) from Westchester HS has not committed, but according to Russ Blake of Mike Sullivan's RivalsHoops.com, is down to three schools: Kent State, LMU and Portland. He's already taken official visits to LMU and Portland and will visit Kent State next weekend.

Also according to Russ Blake at RivalsHoops.com, Wesley Washington (6'-2" Sr. G) from Mater Dei has not committed to Minnesota as has been previously reported at various sites around the net. In fact, according to a conversation Blake had with Washington's mother, she's rather pissed off that people have jumped the gun, telling Blake that Washington doesn't yet have a qualifying SAT score, and therefore isn't commiting anywhere until he gets the necessary score.

Sean Phaler (6'-10" Sr. F) has also not committed anywhere yet, but he's reportedly down to three schools: Washington, Indiana, and UCLA. Reports conflict about the level of interest he has in various schools and they in him: According to Tracy Pierson at PrepWestHoops, Phaler didn't visit UCLA last weekend as was reported elsewhere, and Russ Blake now concludes that UCLA is a distant third on the list, which may be accurate given the commitment of Ariza this week to the Bruins. Phaler has already visited Indiana, and according to several other sources is getting ready to make a decision soon.

And speaking of players who haven't committed yet, according to PrepStars.com's Jeff Goodman, Brandon Bass (6'-7" Sr. F) from Baton Rouge, Lousiana, also hasn't committed anywhere yet, but he has the USC Trojans on his short list. Bass, who played this past spring for H-Squad in the two Las Vegas Tournaments hosted by the Pumps and Dinos Trigonis the same weekend (two separate tournaments, of course), is still considering USC, but how seriously is not known. Bass is also still looking at LSU, Cinncinati, UConn, Kentucky, Miami and Mississippi State, but no leader has yet emerged. He's taken an official visit to USC, as well as to Miami and LSU, but still has two more trips to take, and he will choose from UConn, Cincy and Kentucky.

Of interest also to those who follow JC players, Russ Blake (who counts among one of his specialties following JC recruiting for RivalsHoops), reports that former Compton Centennial and LA City College player Tony Key (6'-10" F) is apparently done after transferring from LACC to Vincennes University (JC) in Indiana. According to Blake's report, Vincennes head coach Dan Sparks says that Key, who declared for the NBA draft out of high school, and who retained an agent in the process thereby foregoing his NCAA eligibility (barring an appeal), failed to live up to some academic obligations, and will therefore most likely not play. Key was not present at a recent JUCO Jamboree which was held last week at Vincennes and attended by Blake.