Bruin Recruiting: Prep News Roundup (7/17)

By Bruin Basketball Report

Prep News Roundup is published every Monday.

Recruits

With Rose on the sidelines, Alex Legion stepped up – even spending a good amount of time as the point guard with the ball in his hands. Legion will be the first one to admit he hasn’t been playing well of late and while he won’t divulge it, the word is that a sprained ankle limited his play in April when he struggled. ``I see it,” Legion said of his sub-par play back in April. “I didn’t play really good in the spring and I’m not making any excuses.” BRO 7/8

Kevin Love, C – Three losses in a row for the big man, but it’s not his fault. He’s still doing his work in the post and on the glass, but there’s a chemistry problem on the team. The one area where Love isn’t quite as effective as usual is passing, but he’s scoring domainating in every other facet. BRO 7/8

Kevin Love vs. DeAndre Jordan: The two best interior players at the camp went at it Saturday afternoon, and although Love got the best of the battle, Jordan played quite well also.
Love, who is leading the camp in both rebounding and scoring went for 25 points and 14 rebounds. His strength was too much for Jordan inside and then he also went outside and hit shots. GatorBait 7/8

Alex Legion came off a strong scoring outing against O.J. Mayo on Friday night but had trouble making shots on Saturday. He went a combined 7 of 24 on the day. A very strong one-on-one scorer, Legion is not nearly as good at involving his teammates in the action. GatorBait 7/8

David Wear and Travis Wear, 2009 – When Taylor King leaves Mater Dei for Duke, the 6-foot-9 twins are going to step right in to the big wing that can flat out shoot the ball role. Heck, they might even do that this year. The Californians have played well at Nike and have shown just enough to make the high-majors from coast to coast to think "We gotta get those guys" but not publicly say it. The talent is there and the Wears seem to know how much better they are going to get. Travis said he and his brother are "a done deal" to play together in college. It looks like UCLA and Arizona are the major players in the early stages. Hickory Husker 7/8

Another time, Tucker used his strength to get position inside, but Drew Gordon reacted quickly and swatted his shot. A minute or so later, Gordon glided down the right sideline, slipped behind the defense and rose to catch an alley-oop pass above the rim. Gracefully, almost easily, he dunked. Not bad for a guy who already had practiced three hours that day and was catching a cross-country flight at dawn the next morning. And not bad for a 15-year-old. Inside Bay Area 7/9

Kyle Singler was a tad out of synch – he never got into any sort of shooting rhythm – but did enough to remind those who have watched him multiple times why he is the best “combo-forward” in this class. He’s got the savvy (at both ends of the floor) of a 30-year-old who has been collecting NBA paychecks for eight or nine years. Phog.Net 7/9

Kyle Singler, 2007 – It was a brief appearance for the Oregon native and he showed flashes of why so many people love his game. He's a lot like Thaddeus Young from the 2006 class when it comes to versatility. Except Singler is a better passer and Young is a better athlete. Singler can do so much, hurting teams inside, outside and offensively and defensively. He'll compete with anybody. Dante Green tried to beat Singler to the basket for a dunk but missed. On the next possession, Singler looked for Green and threw his body on him on the blocks. BlueDemonsNation 7/10

Sonny Vaccaro believes there are loopholes in the NBA rules. One is for the American stars to establish dual citizenship. An American with dual citizenship could theoretically become eligible before the end of the year. "If in fact they're letting the Europeans play earlier than our kids, then I said, 'OK, we'll apply for dual citizenship,'" Vaccaro said. "I know it's far-fetched, but on a legal matter with a few kids it could've been done." New Jersey.com 7/10

Put Drew Gordon's name near the top of UConn's list of rising juniors. Of course, the 6-9 forward from San Jose, Calif., is at the top of plenty of other schools' lists as well. And the coaches who didn't know about him before surely do after his eye-catching performance at ABCD Camp."I hope to narrow it down sometime by the middle of this year," Gordon said. "I like change, I like different kind of weather, new experiences, so East Coast, West Coast ... both are fine." Journal Enquirer 7/10

Kevin Love, C: 19.1 points (1), 9.3 rebounds (1), 1.6 assists, 1.1 turnovers, 0.4 steals, 0.6 blocks, 63 percent shooting, 47 percent three point shooting. Supremely productive and consistent, Love played the best ball of anyone at the camp. He scored consistently with his jump hook in the post, muscled opponents for offensive rebounding opportunities and stepped out for open looks behind the arc. Physically strong, intelligent, competitive and highly skilled, Love was on another level than all the other post players in the camp. Love is so advanced right now, it is difficult to see how he can get much better. As players get stronger at the next two levels, it will become more difficult for Love to operate around the basket. The NBA pick and pop game, however, is custom made for him. GatorBait 7/11

Corperryale Harris, a 6-foot-5 guard from Detroit Redford, made an oral commitment to Michigan on Monday. Harris, who led Redford to the Detroit Public School League title and the Class A semifinals, averaged 25.7 points last season as a junior and was selected to The Detroit News Dream Team. DetNews 7/11

Kyle Singler's monster first half helped the Portland Elite Legends basketball team to a victory over Boo Williams on the opening day of the 24-team Peach Jam. Mail Tribune 7/13

Shoe camps mark highlight of summer preps season: ABCD also countered Nike with its own contender for No. 1 in the junior class, point guard Brandon Jennings. Headed to famed Oak Hill Academy this fall, Jennings long has been a national name, and in the past two months he has elevated his game to a level that clearly surpasses that of the other junior point guards. USA Today 7/13

"Kevin Love justified what I've been saying all along: You've got to go with the guy who's playing the best," Coleman said. "Even though I think [North College Hill point guard O.J.] Mayo is the best pro prospect right now, he's not playing consistently at the level that Kevin has been playing. As a matter of fact, no one is." CSTV 7/13

Kyle Singler is averaging 19.8 points on 26-for-36 shooting from the field over the first two days of the four-day tournament (Nike Peach Jam Invitational). In four games, he has pulled down 26 rebounds to go with six assists, two steals and two blocks. Entering today's action he ranks sixth overall in points and eighth in rebounds. Mail Tribune 7/13

And that's why Salisbury, the mother of a South Medford High girls basketball player, continues to insist that if Nike gives athletic shoes — valued at as much as $150 — to the Panther boys program, then it should present an equal amount to the Panther girls team. Nike, the Beaverton-based apparel and shoe giant, has been handing shoes and other athletic gear to the South Medford boys team since the rise of Kyle Singler, the team's star player who is regarded as one of the nation's top recruits. Mail Tribune 7/13

What's causing a stir, however, is that one of the most coveted recruits in the west, senior-to-be James Harden, a 6-foot-4 wing, could very well follow his high school coach to ASU.This possibility has raised some eyebrows because of how this scenario — an assistant being brought in who has ties to a big-time recruit — has played out at other schools in the past. AZCentral 7/13

Corperryale Harris' rise up the rankings has coincided with a slip by former U-M commitment Alex Legion, who transferred from Birmingham Detroit Country Day to Oak Hill (Va.) Academy for this fall. Legion sits just five overall spots ahead of Harris, a virtual dead heat in recruiting rankings. Legion is reportedly considering schools outside the state of Michigan. Harris said he won't decommit. "Every decision I made in my life was a good decision," Harris said. Detroit Free Press 7/13

Kyle Singler, who is considering KU, Duke, Arizona, UCLA and Washington, had 29 points and 11 boards in the Portland Legends’ victory over Boo Williams. “I’m not playing football this year, so I’m probably going to take my official visits in that time,” Singler told rivals.com, referring to September visits. “I’m looking forward to that. I’ll probably make my decision within that month or so. As far as order of visits: “I’m definitely going back to Duke and hitting up Kansas and Arizona and possibly UCLA and Washington,” Singler said. Lawrence Journal-World 7/13

(BruinBasketballReport.com)