Bruin Recruiting: Prep News Roundup (6/5)

By Bruin Basketball Report

Prep News Roundup published periodically during the offseason.

Recruits

Pangos All Star Game Recap: James Harden and Drew Gordon arrived Sunday morning for the Pangos All American Camp and had strong performances for opposing teams in the All Star Game. But it was the help that Harden got from his teammates, including the active play of Matt Simpkins that propelled the White squad to a 107-93 point victory.

[...] James Harden- Tied with a game high 19 points. Started the game with two three-pointers, but the cerebral player also contributed with assists, rebounds and steals.Harden has a top five of Arizona State, Arizona, Washington, Washington State and USC. All five schools have offered, and Harden said he definitely plans on visiting Washington, Arizona State and Washington State.

[...] Darnell Gant- Scored 6 points. More of a finesse offensive player at this point. Shoots the ball well off the dribble. He also had a couple nice blocks.

[...] Drew Gordon- After a day of participating in the state track championship, Gordon went for 10 points, 12 rebounds and 3 blocks. Despite his evident fatigue, Gordon played a highly energetic game. He scored well in the post, while also defending and rebounding. Cardinal Sports 6/4

New ASU basketball coach Herb Sendek is likely to make a shrewd personnel decision by hiring Artesia (Calif.) High School coach Scott Pera to join the Sun Devil staff. Pera this year coached Artesia to the CIF III state title, a team that includes talented junior wing James Harden. If Pera goes to ASU, Harden is likely to follow. He would be ASU's top wing recruit in more than a decade, possibly longer. ... Sendek and Olson are likely to engage in their first important in-state recruiting battle this summer. Both seem mightily interested in 6-foot-6-inch Phoenix Thunderbird shooter Zane Johnson, who played at McKale Center's Cactus Classic two weeks ago and impressed spectators as a Ricky Anderson type perimeter shooter, something Arizona seriously lacks. USC's Tim Floyd has already offered Johnson a scholarship, and Florida's Billy Donovan is now in the picture. AZStarnet 6/4

Bryan-Amaning, a 6-foot-9, 225-pound power forward, took an official recruiting visit to the university this weekend and gave a commitment to Huskies coaches before leaving town. [...]Bryan-Amaning averaged 14 points and nine rebounds last winter for South Kent. The 18-year-old is entering his second year at the high school after coming over from London to pursue his basketball career. The Huskies, however, have been recruiting him for about two years, valuing a wingspan that measures more than 7 feet, which would give them the kind of length to combat the type of interior players that others in the Pac-10 have been recruiting, most notably UCLA. Seattle Times 6/4

The Huskies are expected to sign at least one more player for that class with their sights set now on Kyle Singler, a 6-8 forward from South Medford (Ore.) High who is considered one of the top juniors in the country. The Portland Tribune reported Friday that Singler is favoring either UCLA or Duke and is also considering Kansas and Arizona. But he is expected to take an unofficial visit to UW in about two weeks and will also try out later this month for the USA Basketball Men's National U-18 team that will be coached by UW head coach Lorenzo Romar. Seattle Times 6/4

Some of the top talent on the west coast and from across the country showed up for the Pangos Camp. Darnell Gant was one of the top prospects that caught the eye of Rivals.com. Gant stood out on Saturday. Darnell Gant- Only saw him miss one shot and that was a spinning left handed hook shot. An efficient scorer with tremendous body control, Gant scored from three off the dribble, hit several reverse lay ups off spin moves to the baseline and scored on put backs. Run the floor well and passes out of the double team with poise. Gant says that UCLA, who has offered, is his favorite, but he is keeping his options open. He is also naming North Carolina, Washington and Texas as close competitors. UConn and Texas Tech are also involved. Gator Bait 6/4

Hoover's JayDee Luster and Crawford's Tyrone Shelley were named to the All-America basketball team for juniors by Student Sports magazine. Only 25 players nationally were selected. San Diego Union-Tribune 6/2

The Southern Cal All-Stars have hit their stride. Led by an impressive array of talent, SCA captured its second Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions title in as many years. Kevin Love, Scout.com's No. 2 overall player and top-ranked power forward, led the way for the kids from the West Coast who invaded Chapel Hill and humbled an entire tournament field. Love, for his weekend of outstanding production and play, was named the MVP of the event, though a certain 2008 point guard made a strong case to at least share the trophy. Brandon Jennings, the floor leader for SCA, cemented his status as not only the top point guard in his class but one of the elite players at the guard position, nationally. Here's the deal: SCA is loaded and even without Jennings they are good enough to win some major events. With Jennings, SCA is flat out unstoppable right now. He's the perfect guy to run their team because he has the utmost command of the arsenal that is at his disposal. He can toss the alley-oop when needed or he'll drive and bury his patented floater on the move. He seemingly never forgets to involve even his three-point shooting complimentary players and guys appear to love playing with. He's on pace to be one of the elite point guard prospects of the past five years. SCA stormed the Tournament of Champions like few teams have in the past. They blitzed the competition and were really only challenged once. Other than that, it was complete domination of a tournament wire to wire. Fox Sports 5/1

Phil Jones, a 6'10 senior currently attending Laurinburg Prep in North Carolina, told the Indianapolis Star last week that the only thing keeping him from becoming a Hoosier was the formality of some paperwork being processed.After further review, that may not be the case. After Jones was interviewed by the Star, he requested the article be e-mailed to him after it was published, according to Terry Hutchens' Hoosier Insider blog on www.indystar.com.When Jones read the article, which declared his intentions to go to IU, Jones told Scouthoops.com that his college decision was "wide open." He called the article into question, saying "I don't know how the newspaper had quotes from me when I never said those things."The confusion remained Wednesday night with no word from Jones on his basketball future. IDSnews 6/1

Kevin Love: Position: Center; Height: 6-foot-9; AAU Team: SoCal. All-StarsHis legend status grows every time the Pacific Northwestern steps onto the hardwood. Winning events like the Tournament of Champions twice, the Kingwood Classic twice and a state championship all in a shade over a year's time certainly helps build the excitement. Love was named tournament MVP after winning the TOC. Playing in front of a strong pro-North Carolina crowd, the Tar Heel target was nothing short of spectacular. Often times the beneficiary of brilliant passes from Jennings, Love knew what to do with the ball around the basket. The big man averaged 18.3 points, showing off his skills inside, outside and even on the bench as a leader. Basketball hasn't seen a passer like Love in some time. His up the floor vision is uncanny and usually translates into four assists to transition buckets a game. The big fella can hit a man 50 feet down the floor in perfect motion or finding a slashing teammate in the half court. Point guards and quarterbacks don't have the vision that Love possesses. Blue Demons Nation 5/31

Brandon Jennings: Position: Point guard; Height: 6-foot-0; AAU Team: SoCal All-Stars. Just a rising junior, the southpaw floor general plays like a prospect that is in the homestretch of his prep career. He mixes speed with athleticism and pin point passing. At times, the soon to be five-star prospect just toyed with the opposition as he knifed through nearly every defense that came at him. He has an amazing sense of where he is, his teammates are and where defenses are going to be. Jennings makes precision decisions with the ball. Dropping seven assists a game was par for the course and he averaged 18.2 points a game. His teammate Kevin Love may have been the official MVP of the Tournament of Champions but our pick for the best player in the event was Jennings. He was the steady force for SCA all weekend long in every aspect of the game. Blue Demons Nation 5/31

Archbishop Mitty stars Drew Gordon and Danielle Robinson will compete for spots on the U.S. under-18 national teams. Gordon, listed as a 6-foot-8, 220-pound forward, is the only sophomore invited. He is the youngest of the 22 players selected by a committee chaired by Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim to compete at the trials June 16-18 at Texas-San Antonio. Mercury News 5/31

Mesa Mountain View center Harper Kamp, who has committed to California, suffered a broken bone in his foot after coming down on another player's foot during open gym at Mesa Mountain View last week. He had surgery Friday and will miss the rest of the summer's club showcases. Kamp was The Republic's Big School Player of the Year as a sophomore and an All-Arizona selection this past season after leading the Toros to a second straight Class 5A Division I title. Kamp is expected to be healed by September and ready for the high school season. AZ Central 5/31

Kyle Singler: Position: Small forward Height: 6-foot-8; College choice: Undecided; Being forced to play on the interior for his Portland Elite Legends team has only helped diversify Kyle Singler's game. When playing with Kevin Love for most of last spring and summer, Singler displayed the finesse side of his game with his playmaking off the dribble and outside shooting. Defensively, he typically found himself on the perimeter. Now, at a good 6-foot-8 and with his body developing more mass, Singler is defending well in the post and grinding out rebounds. Offensively he is sealing strongly in the low post and producing points off physical spin moves.
He is still doing damage from the outside as always, but Singler now has a more physical and attacking edge to his game that will serve him very well on the next levels as a legitimate inside/outside, physical/finesse threat. • Click here for video of Singler in action. Cardinal Sports 5/30

Corperryale Harris: Position: Shooting guard; Height: 6-foot-4; College choice: Undecided. Speaking of players with a nose for the ball, Corperryale Harris of The Family has to near the top of the list along with Tyreke Evans. Harris comes up with his share off defensive rebounds and loose balls, but where he is most dangerous is picking up "garbage" points on the offensive end of the court. Whenever the ball is squirting around, Harris seems to always be there to grab the ball and then convert a bucket. He is also a dangerous offensive rebounder from his wing position. As an opportunistic scorer, he finds cracks in the defense when moving without the ball. When guarded by a smaller defender, he can post up and score as he did when guarded by Jai Lucas of the Houston Hoops. He is also crafty with the ball and score with a soft touch on the difficult shots in between the mid-range area and the basket. His shooting form also needs refinement, but he still makes enough outside jumpers to keep the defense honest. Cardinal Sports 5/30

(BruinBasketballReport.com)

(photo credit: Rivals)