Bruin Recruiting: Prep News Roundup (9/11)

By Bruin Basketball Report

Prep News Roundup is published every Monday.

Commits

UCLA Coach Ben Howland needed at least one elite point guard from the 2008 class, and it appears he has landed one. Multiple college basketball recruiting services are reporting Jerime Anderson of Canyon High School in Anaheim has verbally committed to UCLA. Anderson is ranked as the No.5/No.6 ranked point-guard in the class of 2008 by Rivals and Scout, respectively. Bruin Basketball Report 9/8

Recruits

Oscar Bellfield, a key contributor as a sophomore in helping the Woodland Hills Taft boys' basketball team reach the City Championship game, has checked out of school and is expected to attend Westchester, Toreador Coach Derrick Taylor said Tuesday.Bellfield, a shooting guard, was apparently uncomfortable with the increasing focus on junior point guard Larry Drew Jr., who has become one of the top college prospects in the Southland. L.A. Times 9/6

Kyle Singler, a 6-foot-8 senior forward from South Medford (Ore.) High, will join future KU player Cole Aldrich, a 6-11 senior center from Bloomington, Minn., in the stands at the Jayhawks’ annual season-opening hoops extravaganza, Night in the Phog on Oct. 13. Singler will visit Arizona on Sept. 15-16 and Duke on Sept. 22-23. He already has visited his other two finalists — UCLA and Washington — unofficially and has made an unofficial trip to Duke. Rivals.com reports that UCLA coaches will arrive Saturday in Oregon for an in-home visit. Duke’s in-home will be Sept. 13, Washington’s Sept. 18 and KU’s Sept. 19. Lawrence Journal-World 9/6

Our sports editors and reporters found out Friday night that two top high school basketball recruits were on campus, meeting with the Hoosiers and their coaches. The editors rushed to Yogi's Grill and Bar to confirm with their own eyes that, indeed, Eric Gordon Jr. and Derrick Rose were eating with coach Kelvin Sampson and IU basketball players.Later, when our reporters investigated rumors that Gordon and Rose were in Assembly Hall with the IU basketball team, we snapped a photograph of Gordon leaving the locker room. Indiana Daily Student 9/6

Clint Chapman, a 6-10 senior center from Canby High in Canby, Ore., has committed to Texas. Chapman, who saw his stock rise as much as any player in the country during the last year, also considered Cal, Arizona State, Oregon, Oklahoma and Washington. Ranked 49th in the country by Scout.com, Chapman is a good shooter out to 17-19 feet. His back to the basket game needs work, but he has good feet and hands, along with a solid frame. We look for Chapman to be a significant contributor at Texas by his sophomore year. Fox Sports 9/7

Yet another Derrick Rose-O.J. Mayo matchup is apparently the casualty of Simeon's already double-stuffed schedule. As soon as Mayo, one of the nation's top prospects, enrolled at Huntington (W.Va.) High School last week, the two-time West Virginia state champs began to seek out a marquee game or two. There were preliminary discussions about a game with the defending Class AA champion Wolverines, Simeon coach Robert Smith confirmed.But Huntington wants a home game, and Simeon can't find the fit."Schedule's booked up," Smith said. "It's pretty much dead in the water." Chicago Tribune 9/8

Galena High's Luke Babbitt has narrowed his list down to 10 schools he's considering to continue his basketball career.The 6-8 forward has made an unofficial trip to one of those school, Texas, and will watch tonight's football game between No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Texas set for 5 p.m.The other schools still being considered by Babbitt are Duke, Kansas, Illinois, Washington, UCLA, Arizona, Stanford, the University of Nevada and Gonzaga. Babbitt is among the nation's top players in this year's junior class and is rated as high as No. 5 in this year's junior class by one scouting service. Nevada Appeal 9/9

On hand at the Texas-Ohio St. game: Who said this was a football town? Four of the top high school basketball prospects in America were on hand. From the class of 2007: Gary Johnson, a 6-6 forward from Aldine who committed to Texas this summer, and Anthony Randolph, a 6-10 forward from Woodrow Wilson High in Dallas. From the class of 2008, here on unofficial visits: guard Willie Warren from North Crowley High and 6-8 forward Luke Babbitt from Reno, Nev. Austin-American Statesman 9/10

A 26-day contact period in college basketball recruiting started Saturday. This gives coaches like Kansas University’s Bill Self the freedom to travel the country and make in-home visits with seniors in the recruiting class of 2007. “Not a ton … we’ll probably have in the range of five or six in-homes,” Self said, not able to talk about specific recruits in accordance with NCAA rules. It’s a safe bet Self will be visiting these prep seniors: Cole Aldrich, 6-foot-11, Bloomington, Minn., who has committed orally to KU; Derrick Rose, 6-4, Chicago; Kyle Singler, 6-8, Medford, Ore.; James Anderson, 6-5, Junction City, Ark.; Anthony Randolph, 6-10, Dallas; and Tyrel Reed, 6-3, Burlington. Lawrence Journal-World 9/11

(BruinBasketballReport.com)

(photo credit: Reno-Gazette)