Bruin Recruiting: Prep News Roundup (1/22)

By Bruin Basketball Report

Prep News Roundup is published every Monday.

Commits

Two of the better small forwards in the nation, Jeff Robinson of St. Patrick's (N.J.) and Fairfax's (Calif.) Chace Stanback, brought out the best in each other in their matchup. Stanback – a UCLA signee — scored 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Robinson, who is headed to Memphis, matched Stanback with 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting. Robinson helped his team squeak out a come-from-behind, three-point win over Fairfax. USA Today 1/16

St. Patrick 63, Fairfax 60: Fairfax then worked the ball to UCLA bound Chace Stanback, who was fouled on his drive to the basket with 3 seconds left in the game. Stanback failed to hit the front end of the one-and-one and then Strickland sealed the game with a couple more free throws. Gator Bait 1/16

San Gorgonio scored the last four points of the first half and the first six points of the second half to close to within 42-35. But Devin Hooper tossed in one 3-pointer and Malcolm Lee poured in two more during the next two minutes as North zipped away again....Malcolm Lee led North with 23 points and Keith Wiltz added 22. San Bernardino County Sun 1/16

Next season UCLA will bring in arguably the best player in the Class of '07, 6-9 power forward Kevin Love of Lake Oswego (Ore.) High. The Bruins also didn't have to go further than their own backyard to lock up their backcourt of the future from the current junior class: Jerime Anderson, a 6-1 point guard from Anaheim, and Malcolm Lee, a 6-4 combo guard from Riverside, have both given Ben Howland their verbal commitments. Sports Illustrated 1/17

Despite looking tired at times, Kevin Love finished the game with 36 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and seven blocked shots as the Lakers (11-1) rolled to an easy 69-37 victory. Once again, Love proved he can do it all, even when he’s not shattering backboards. “I think they were a little mad at me for last night, so I had to take a little easy on the rims today,” Love said after Saturday’s contest. Lake Oswego Review 1/17

Chace Stanback, Fairfax: Had 34 points and 10 rebounds as the Lions, ranked No. 4 by The Times, beat host Palisades, 71-61, in a Western League game. LA Times 1/18

Chace Stanback, 6-7, Small Forward, Fairfax Senior – Stanback has a good combination of length, quickness, and outside shooting. It’s easy to see why UCLA has been attracted to him. Stanback has good form on his jumper, the release point is high and there is little wasted motion. He doesn’t elevate much on this shot, but his length allows for him to get his shot off when closely defended. DraftExpress 1/18

Chace Stanback has a decent handle, which allows him to get into the lane or simply set up another jumper from closer range. But, Stanback doesn’t have much touch once he puts the ball on the floor, showing no in-between game in terms of runner anything else in motion. He needs a clear path to the basket to finish once he’s commited to taking it strong. He’s not much of a passer and is very skinny, so he relies on his length defensively more than anything else. He's still very young as a 2008 prospect, though, so it will be interesting to see how he continues to develop. DraftExpress 1/18

But the longstanding record is in jeopardy again and Lake Oswego's Kevin Love is the player with a chance to break it. Love, a 6-foot-10 center who has committed to UCLA, has 2,089 career points. He missed an opportunity to add to that total when Lake Oswego's Tuesday game against Milwaukie was postponed by snow. If Lake Oswego plays 15 more games, enough to reach the state finals, he'll need to average 33 points per game to match Hunt. Love is on that pace, averaging 33.1 points through his first 12 games. The Oregonian 1/19

Senior post Kevin Love got off to a slow start as Lakeridge’s double and, sometimes, triple-team coverage forced him to shoot jumpers in the early going. Kyle Lavender, starting in place of Spada tallied three early assists to help give his team a 10-point advantage at the end of the first period. Lake Oswego Review 1/19

Recruits

Even Renardo Sidney, considered the top sophomore in the country, is seriously contemplating playing at USC. Elite recruits such as Jrue Holiday, Larry Drew and Demar Derozan were all in attendance for the Arizona game. Fox Sports 1/18

Such was life for the Serra boys basketball team Friday night. Imagine holding Mitty High junior Drew Gordon, a 6-foot-9, 240-pound center attracting national recruiting attention, without a point until nearly four minutes into the third quarter. And then imagine trailing by 20 points at that juncture. Inside Bay Area 1/20

Los Alamitos 68, Newport Harbor 41: Senior forward Clint Amberry scored 15 points and junior center Corbin Moore added 13 points as the Griffins (18-4, 5-0) remained undefeated in the Sunset League play. Press Telegram 1/20

GALENA 70, ELKO 58: "I think this is film they should look at," said Mauer, who noted his team carries a 3.6 grade point average while carrying a difficult course load. "We just were kind of in and out.  "We played really well and then kind of hurt ourselves and got them back into the game." Luke Babbitt scored 29 points, J.D. Peters had 15 points and Eric Maupin added 13 points. Nevada Appeal 1/20

You could hardly tell if Arizona had won or lost when Lute Olson left the UA's dressing room Saturday at Pauley Pavilion. The ever-stoic Wildcat coach signed autographs and posed for pictures. One UCLA fan asked him to sign his T-shirt, which the coach did graciously. Gary McKnight, coach of nearby prep powerhouse Mater Dei, a pipeline of talent for the Wildcats, walked up and introduced his freshmen phenom twins, Travis and David Wear, to UA assistant coaches. Arizona Daily Star 1/20

(photo credit: Michael J. LeBrecht/SI)