They want out of Oklahoma!

As we speculated in a post below right after Kelvin Sampson bolted for the Hoosiers, three of his highly touted recruits want out of Oklahoma and former Dookie Jeff Capel. And I can't blame them :-) After all it took Kelvin Sampson and his staff an additional 500 phone calls to get this touted recruiting class signed :-)

Scottie Reynolds has been the most publicized one, but Damion James and big man Jeremy Mayfield also want out. Imagine if one team gets all three! For more details on these recruits my previous post on the topic earlier in the month.

AP story at espn.com

Latest recruiting news

Dave Telep broke the news nationally on FSN's Countdown to Signing Day. Late bloomer Patrick Beverly signed with Arkansas and Stan Heath. If you are a fan of recruiting, FSN's Countdown to Signing Day is highly recommended. It is the best recruiting show currently on TV - and the only one :-) It also airs on Fox College Sports (FCS). As always check local listings.

Former Cincy head coach, Huggie-Bear, gets his 2nd commit in JUCO guard Blake Young.

Current Cincy head coach Mick Cronin gets Deonta Vaughn, a former Mike Davis signee of 2005.

As expected, Robert Vaden is following former Indiana coach Mike Davis at UAB

Meanwhile the current Indiana head coach Kelvin Sampson has caused Scottie Reynolds bolting out of Oklahoma. This is a very high profile recruit and coaches will flock like bees on honey on this 2006 recruit. The coach getting this player is gonna be very lucky this spring/summer. This type of thing is not that rare, one classic example is Andre Iguodala going to Arizona following the Nolan Richardson debacle at Arkansas

And speaking of the west, Lo Romar continues to defend his turf! He got the next Isiah Thomas. (That's the player's name). And yes he is a very promising guard in the class of 2007. No relation to Zeke.

Coming soon: King James Superstars Classic

Can't wait for the next season? Watch the future stars of tomorrow today: FSN and FCS (Fox College Sports) will be airing the championship game of the King James Shooting Stars Classic. Among others participating is the AAU team of OJ Mayo.

The game airs live on April 29, but in some areas it will air tape-delayed later on. As always check local listings as both FSN and FCS are regionally aligned and programming varies from state to state and region to region. http://msn.foxsports.com/id/5492010

The problem with UCLA recruiting

What? Problem? UCLA? They just played in the NCAA Final! They got Farmar, Afflalo and Ship just two years ago! Isn't it crazy to think that there is a problem with UCLA recruiting?

Nope, it is not crazy to think that and here's why:
1) Ben Howland lost most of the big men recruiting battles in 2005. He did find a gem in LR Mbah a Moute who was initially slated as a small forward, but proved very valuable as a 4.
2) He lost a lot of the 2006 and 2007 SoCal big men to Arizona, North Carolina, etc. He did get one: James Keefe but he needed more than one.
3) The only other big man he got for 2006 is a euro-center who has yet to qualify. UCLA is losing two seven-footers this year, the Lavin seven-footers (Hollins and Fey). UCLA badly needs big men but they can't get them!
4) He had Taylor King earlier on, but once Taylor King sky-rocketed in the ratings, he lost interest in UCLA, and would rather go to Gonzaga or Villanova or Carolina before UCLA. (He will end up at Duke where Coach K will drain the life energy out of him and turn him into a K-Zombie)
5) His style of play is not "fun". His control-freak approach to offense - calling every single play - is not "fun" either.

Clearly Ben Howland, his assistants and players bought into and executed their system and managed to make it to the NCAA Final. They deserve a lot of credit for that.

The question is: Will they be able to convert the NCAA success into more recruits, specifically big men they badly need, as well as Top 50 caliber talent. Will they be able to get Kevin Love and Kyle Singler? Will they be able to get any more big men?

Where do players come from?

Every year colleges bring in new faces to add to their existing talent. Where do these players come from?

high schools

prep schools

junior colleges (aka community colleges; two-year institutions)

international imports (coming directly from their club team or college or high school)

Transfers from other NCAA Division 1 colleges

Transfers from NCAA Division 2, Division 3, and NAIA colleges

From within their university: Athletes from other sports taking up basketball part-time (eg football) or full-time

Other sources: returning from religious missions (eg Mormons) or Military Service

2006 Roundball Classic on CSTV and more

The 2006 Roundball classic will air this Sunday on CSTV. If you miss it, do not worry. It will repeat a few more times on CSTV. This will be a two-hour edited tape-delayed game.

Also on CSTV: A rerun of the 2005 Roundball classic on Saturday, and multiple replays of the 2005 Reebok Big time and Adidas ABCD camps on CSTV.

The Jordan classic is the following week on ESPN2/ESPNU.

2006 Late Signing Period has began!

And so it begins. The late signing period for 2006 is April 12 through May 17, 2006. The remaining prospects of the 2006 class will be signing during this period, along with more 2007 prospects, but as always there will be some late late 2006 signees, some of which may be impact players. Certainly the coaching carousel is having its impact on the whole thing, with players transferring or being released from their LOI after a coaching change. Please note that essentially the end of the signing period only affects the 2007 prospects. But they can still make verbal commitments.

There have been quite a few developments the last few days but they have been mostly overshadowed by the coaching carousel. Some of the biggest names:

Very promising rising sophomore point guard Jeremy Fears is de-transfering from Iowa State after the coaching change with Virginia Tech being the first to go after him. Regardless he will be sitting out 2006-07. Watch out for him to make an impact in 2007-08.

Lawrence Westbrook, a Wayne Morgan signee at Iowa State, is now with Minnessota. It looks like Dan Monsoon once again is not shying away from talent with baggage.

Huggie-Bear delivers at Kansas State: 7'3" Jason Bennett signs!

Spring cleaning at Iowa: Two assistants are axed and two underachievers are gone (Alex Thompson, Carlton Reed).

Super-athletic wing Tim Morris transfers from Stanford. Once a starter, Morris apparently fell out of favor later in the season.

StJohns is having success in the Kitchen... (former 2005 Florida signee)

Vaden is expected to follow Mike Davis at UAB.

You don't have be a Vulcan to see why it is logical for DJ White to stay at IU.

More drama at Auburn: Talented forward Joey Cameron and Emm. Willis (a USC transfer) are transfering out...

Bruce Pearl found a pearl of a guard in Ramar Smith.

Another thing to look for in the spring singing period is how well the newly hired coaches have done. This is something we will be keeping an eye out for and will report after the signing period ends.

Sometimes overlooked, this is also an important aspect of recruiting: Keeping players out of the NBA draft, and having a plan B if they decide to stay in the draft.

This week in recruiting

Mark your calendars: The Nike Hoop Summit will air this Saturday on FSN with multiple replays on Fox College Sports. This is arguably the most serious of the all-star games. One week later, CSTV will be broadcasting the Roundball classic and later on ESPN2/ESPNU will be showing the Jordan classic. CSTV will also be running reruns of the Reebok and Adidas summer camps.

As I predicted, one of the three Duke Top100 benchwarmers has decided to transfer. And it is Eric Boetang. I wouldn't be surprised if the other two (Boykin, Pocius) are gone by June 2007. Coach K had three Top 100 players collecting dust on the bench. Other players of equal ability on other teams have already had significant playing time and experience and developed their game. Coach K was whining about bench, but he did have a bench, he just chose to use a short rotation.

Not all is well at blue-blood Michigan-land. Tommy Amaker may have built an NIT powerhouse in Michigan, but that may not be good enough. 2007 recruit Alex Legion just decommitted from Michigan.

Furthermore, the list of tranfers and decommits following the recent coaching changes is getting longer and longer. The most notable transfer is the speedy little guard Davon Downey of Cincinatti, while the most notable decommit is 2007 DC PG Chris Wright from NC State.

Rivals story on Darrell Arthur

Darrell Arthur, one of the two remaining unsigned McDonalds All American players, is the subject of a story at Rivals.com The story requires registration, but it is free.