Bruin Recruiting: Prep News Roundup (8/7)

By Bruin Basketball Report

Prep News Roundup is published every Monday.

Commits

Players to hit Ruckers on 9/1: Promoters said that the consensus top national prep player, O.J. Mayo of Cincinnati, and the top junior, Tyreke Evans, will be on hand, as well as Cincinnati's Billy Walker and Oregon's Kevin Love, who just committed to UCLA. The rest of the rosters for the East vs. West game will be announced later this month. New York Daily News 8/1

Tywanna Patterson said her family is taking a "very realistic" approach to recruitment of her son, Patrick. The Pattersons saw North Carolina's late entry into the recruiting battle as standard operating procedure in recruiting. After "losing" top-five prospect Kevin Love to UCLA, the Tar Heels turned their attention to Patterson. "You can't pull the wool over our eyes," Patterson's mother said. "It's a business. That's what it is. Lexington Herald-Leader 8/6

Recruits

The announcement that Lake Oswego’s Kevin Love will attend UCLA won’t affect the decision of Oregon’s other prep star, South Medford’s Kyle Singler. He still has five schools on his list – Duke, Arizona, Kansas, Washington and UCLA – and will make visits to at least the first three schools in the fall before making his choice. “I know Kevin loves UCLA, he loves playing with me and if it works out, I would love playing with him,” the 6-9, 215-pound Singler says. “But as of now, (Love’s decision) doesn’t impact my decision.” Portland Tribune 7/31

The July evaluation period came to a close this week and, as usual, a few players really helped their stock with strong summer performances. The West Coast player who might have done the most to help himself was Clint Chapman, a 6-10 senior center from Canby High in Canby, Ore. A mobile big man who can score from inside and on the perimeter, Chapman has most of the Pac-10 programs recruiting him. Cal, UCLA, Washington, Arizona State and USC were all following Chapman at the Best of Summer tournament. Fox Sports 8/3

Matt Simpkins, considered Northern California's top boys basketball recruit, will return to Capital Christian High School this fall, his mother, Tanya Brown, said. "It just doesn't look good to be jumping from school to school," said Brown, who lives in Elk Grove but works in the Bay Area. "Loyalty and consistency, that's our goal. We want to stop all the rumors and show stability." Sacramento Bee 8/3

Kyle Singler, a 6-8 senior from South Medford (Ore.) High, tells the Portland Tribune he will visit Duke the first week of September and follow that with trips to Arizona and Kansas. After that … “I’ll see how I feel, see if I need to take the other visits (to UCLA, Washington),” he said. “I’ve been to UCLA and Washington isn’t high on my list. But there really isn’t a leader now.” An accomplished quarterback, Singler will decide soon if he will play football again this season. His uncle, Bill, is football coach at South Medford. “It’s a big decision,” Singler said, noting he’s leaning toward not playing “because I haven’t been working out for football at all this summer.” Lawrence Journal-World 8/3

Seven-foot Westview High School center Andy Poling, who will be a junior during the upcoming season, orally committed to Gonzaga on Wednesday night, passing up offers from virtually every school in the Pacific-10 Conference, including Oregon and Oregon State. Oregonian 8/4

"It wasn't that I wanted to get it out of the way or anything," the 6-10 Andy Poling said Thursday. "I just knew it was right for me. I didn't want other schools to waste any more of their time or my time if I knew what I wanted to do." Poling said he had scholarship offers from Washington, Arizona and UCLA and was also being recruited by California, Oregon State and Oregon, among others. He averaged 17.8 points a game last season at Westview. Seattle Times 8/4

The contrasting scenes help explain why David Stern, the commissioner of the N.B.A., says the system for developing young players in the United States is severely flawed. He says it exploits promising athletes and has fallen behind some European systems of developing players. Stern says he wants the N.B.A. to begin a youth academy to help nurture athletes on the court and in the classroom. His concept would borrow elements of what works in Europe. NY Times 8/7

Sneaker company scouts have already identified a successor to Mayo. He is Renardo Sidney, a 6-foot-9 16-year-old whose potential was recognized before he reached high school. Sidney is a sophomore, and his family moved to California from Mississippi to improve his competition and exposure. He attended Reebok’s summer showcase camp in New Jersey this year and plays for a Reebok-sponsored traveling team. Vaccaro said in a telephone interview that Reebok paid Sidney’s father, Renardo Sr., $20,000 a year as a consultant, with the money earmarked for youth programs. Renardo Sr. would not say where his son would attend high school next season, but he said an elite academy would be an appealing option. NY Times 8/7

For now, Renardo Sidney will continue to play for his Reebok-sponsored team in California. He has even considered not playing high school basketball, an option that would be virtually unprecedented for an elite prospect. His ambivalence toward high school basketball underscores the shift in power from high school coaches to the traveling-team coaches that the N.C.A.A. has unsuccessfully fought. NY Times 8/7

(BruinBasketballReport.com)

(photo credit: Chris Johnson/NYT)