Bruin Recruiting: Prep News Roundup (5/22)

By Bruin Basketball Report

Prep News Roundup published periodically during the offseason.

Recruits

When other top backcourt recruits - like maybe St. Mary's star Jerryd Bayless - realize that they could be playing with a front line that includes a McDonald's All-America center in Boateng and an emerging star in forward Jeff Pendergraph, then maybe they'll follow. Arizona Republic 5/22

Austin Daye dominated the opening of the game, event MVP James Harden was solid throughout the game and 2008 point guard Larry Drew shared the sugar as the Pump N Run Elite easily defeated the Houston Hoops 67-48 in the finals of the inaugural Arizona Cactus Classic. Cardinal Sports 5/21

Pump N Run Elite all purpose guard James Harden has been one of the most impressive prospects at the Arizona Cactus Classic. A smooth and also explosive lefty, Harden slashes and shoots it, defends and rebounds, handles and passes.Harden is a big time all purpose guard.In a hard fought 68-66 win over Total Package Red, Harden led all scorers with 28 points ... The Las Vegas Prospects are playing very solid ball as they went through their pool play undefeated behind the five-star caliber play of 2008 combo forward Luke Babbitt. The versatile lefty has led the Prospect in scoring in all three pool play games with 24, 18, and 16 points. Although his release is a little slow, Babbitt has been continuously draining outside shots with his smooth stroke and taking defenders off the dribble from the perimeter. Looking every bit like a big time small forward, Babbitt listed Texas, Duke, Washington (offer), UCLA, Arizona, Georgetown, Gonzaga, Syracuse (offer) and Nevada (offer) as schools of interest.... Jerime Anderson could not control the quickness of Lucas....Big time 2008 prospect Jrue Holiday did have a little more success checking Lucas than his teammate Anderson, and he also lit it up on the offensive end in his two pool play games Saturday. He scored 22 points and had 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks and 1 steal in an earlier game, and then scored 25 points, along with 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals against the Hoops. A physical guard, who hunts down the ball and plays a complete game, Holiday has been a joy to scout during this event..... The Utah Pump N Run took advantage of a SoCal All Star team playing without Kevin Love and Daniel Hackett, beating SoCal 70-69 in a thriller. GatorBait 5/20

Kamyron Brown, a 6-foot-1 guard who just finished his junior year of high school, is the cousin of former UA star and current Wildcats assistant Miles Simon. Brown lists Arizona, Washington and Oregon as his top choices.Is there any pressure in being the cousin of Simon? "There's no big pressure," said Brown, who helped the SoCal Razorbacks to a 100-65 win over the California Supreme Prospects at McKale Center in the inaugural Arizona Cactus Classic on Friday. Brown had 12 points, three rebounds and one assist. Tucson Citizen 5/20

On the opening night of the inaugural Arizona Cactus Classic ... None were better than North Hollywood combo guard Jrue Holiday. Jrue Holiday has a mature game for a 2008 prospect.Double Pump Elite 88, West Coast All Stars 77. This game had several top 2008 prospects, including future five-star prospect Jrue Holiday. The sturdy and athletic 6-foot-4 combo guard scored 17 points along with 3 assists, 2 rebounds and 2 steals. He has impressive strength with the ball and defending the ball, and he has the frame to get even stronger. With a pure shooting stroke, he hits shots off the dribble and off the catch and is a polished ball handler with the right or the left. His three assists came off diagonal dishes while penetrating the lane. Holiday said he is open as far as colleges go, but he does like UCLA, Arizona and Washington.His brother, 2007 prospect Justin Holiday is a long 6-foot-6 slasher. His skill set is still a little raw, but there is definitely high-major potential in this prospect.The elder Holiday named Washington, UCLA, Oregon, Connecticut, Syracuse and Louisville as the schools pursuing him the hardest. Also playing well for the Double Pump Elite was 2008 point guard Jerime Anderson. He put up 16 points with 5 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 block and 1 steal. Very smooth with the ball, Anderson attacks the basket with poise and had some nifty left handed finishes.Anderson said UCLA is recruiting him very hard as is USC. Arizona and Stanford are also showing interest. CardinalSports 5/20

Scout 2007 Top 100 Recruits Listing... Sandwiched in between the best player (Mayo) and potentially one of the best prospects (Randolph) is the top outlet passer of his generation, Kevin Love. The immensely gifted Love, owner of a 30+ rebound game in high school, impacts games in every way these days. He’s earned the right to move high up this list. Scout 5/19

The first annual Arizona Cactus Classic has finally arrived. Tucson, Arizona has never had so many elite high school basketball players in town at the same time and this event looks to be one of the best AAU tournaments of the summer... Also at 6:00pm on McKale Court 3 will be Double Pump Elite vs. West Coast All-Stars. On Double Pump Elite, Arizona is recruiting 2008 guards Jerime Anderson and Jrue Holiday... At 8:20pm, SoCal All-Stars take on Las Vegas Dogcatchers East on McKale Court 1. SCA features one of the nation's top few players in 2007 power forward Kevin Love, 2007 center Alex Jacobson, who is committed to Arizona, 2007 Duke commit Taylor King, 2007 USC commit Daniel Hackett, 2008 USC commit Malik Story, 2008 top-ranked point guard and big time Arizona recruit Brandon Jennings and 2007 UA recruit Darrington Hobson. GoAZCats 5/19

Austin Daye, a 6-foot-9, 180-pound junior forward from Irvine, Calif., and the son of former UCLA forward Darren Daye, has committed to the Zags after taking an official visit to the campus last week."It was good," the younger Daye said Wednesday. "Everything that I was looking for in a college, I found — small classrooms, students and coaches that care. I met with everybody, pretty much. It was all-around a very good visit."Daye was recruited by several Pac-10 programs including Arizona State, USC, Oregon and Washington. UCLA, which just got a commitment from L.A. junior Chase Stanback, didn't pursue Daye hard, and Daye said, "I didn't really want to go to the same school my dad did." Seattle Times 5/18

The Arizona Cactus Classic kicks off at 6:00pm on Friday and the championship game is scheduled to be played on Sunday at 2:00pm. It's highly unlikely that any team wins the title without one pretty significant accomplishment – defeating the SoCal All-Stars.Kevin Love and SCA haven't been defeated yet this spring.In SCA's two tournaments so far this spring - the Las Vegas Easter Classic and the Houston Kingwood Classic - the team has been completely unstoppable. Led by the dominance of 2007 star big man Kevin Love, the thrilling play of 2008 point guard Brandon Jennings, the shooting and rebounding of 2007 Duke commit Taylor King, the leadership and all-around play of 2007 USC commit Daniel Hackett, the presence down low of 7-foot-1 2007 Arizona commit Alex Jacobson, the triple-double threat of 2007 wing Darrington Hobson and shooting ability of 2008 USC commit Malik Story, SCA has been the team to beat on the AAU circuit thus far this spring. GoAZCats 5/17

Oxnard High junior Omondi Amoke has made a verbal commitment to play basketball at UC Berkeley. The 6-foot-6 forward informed Cal coach Ben Braun of his decision on Saturday. "I went up for a visit and really loved the coaching staff and the players," Amoke said. "The school has a good tradition of academic excellence, and I just liked the direction the program was headed." Amoke averaged 19.6 points and nine rebounds this season, and was named the Pacific View League's Most Valuable Player and The Star's Boys' Basketball Player of the Year. Ventura Country Star 5/16

It looks as though the Kyle Singler recruiting show will go on for several more months. Singler, the South Medford High basketball standout who’s among the top junior recruits in the country, said Monday that he won’t make a verbal commitment to the college of his choice until sometime in the fall. The 6-foot-8 forward is leaning toward UCLA and Duke but remains interested in Kansas and Arizona. Singler said he’ll likely make official recruiting visits to all four schools once his senior year at South Medford begins in September. "I want to make the right decision — this is obviously a big deal in my life," says Singler, who indicated earlier he would make a verbal commitment by the end of the current school year. "I’ve decided that I really should make some official visits and see what these schools are all about." Mail Tribune 5/16

Despite the speculation swirling around him, heralded UA basketball recruit Jerryd Bayless is planning to show up but not play in this weekend's Cactus Classic at McKale Center. Whether that is a good sign for the Wildcats remains to be seen. Ever since word spread two weeks ago that he might be wavering on his November verbal commitment to the Wildcats, Bayless has faced questions among fans, players and media about where he stands. Arizona Daily Star 5/16

The summer shoe camps have always been reserved as a place for elite prospects and others who have earned a name in the recruiting world. A handful of virtually unknown prospects will get a chance to play against Kevin Love and other big-name recruits in Reebok's ABCD camp this summer.But, this year, a few of the coveted invites will be going out to players who aren't on the radar of any major college. Those sleepers will get a chance to play on the same courts as O.J. Mayo, Kevin Love and all the top prospects from the class of 2007 in front of hundreds of college coaches. WVSports 5/15

(BruinBasketballReport.com)

(photo credit: Rivals)