Bruin Recruiting: Prep News Roundup (11/26)

By Bruin Basketball Report

Prep News Roundup is published every Monday.

Commits

There were lots of alumni basketball games scheduled this week, and none should have been more entertaining than Tuesday night's girls' game at Granada Hills Kennedy. Coming out of retirement were the DeCree sisters, Toya, Fonda and Diane, all of whom were All-City selections at Kennedy during the 1980s. Toya Holiday is the mother of UCLA-bound Jrue Holiday of North Hollywood Campbell Hall, and Jrue was wondering if his mother and aunts still have a shooting touch. "I heard they're all mad ballers," he said. "I couldn't beat my mom until I was 12. I heard all my aunts were good. It's going to be exciting and funny because I know they're all out of shape." LA Times 11/21

Some of the top boys basketball teams in Northern California will converge on Newark Memorial High on Saturday for the first NorCal Tipoff Classic. The all-day event will include 14 teams and approximately 30 Division I prospects. Highlighting the list is 6-foot-9 senior Drew Gordon of Archbishop Mitty, who is headed to UCLA in the fall. Inside Bay Area 11/23

The 36th Tournament of Champions at Ocean View (Dec. 10-15) will also serve to put these rankings into some very serious perspective. That's because seven teams from the P-T's Southland Top 20 ratings, Nos. 5-8 (Compton, Santa Margarita, Campbell Hall and Westchester), and Nos. 11 Pasadena, 13 Harvard-Westlake and 19 JSerra, are in the event's 20-team field. Jrue Holiday (Campbell Hall), Demar DeRozan (Compton), Malcolm Lee (JW North), Renaldo Woolridge (Harvard-Westlake) and Klay Thompson (Santa Margarita), all first-team selections to the Press-Telegram's 29th Best in the West team, will be participants. A potential championship matchup between future UCLA Bruin Holiday and USC Trojan-to-be DeRozan would make entrance into the Ocean View gymnasium the most sought-after-ticket for a prep hoops event since Artesia and Mater Dei hooked up at Chapman University last December in the final of the Orange Holiday Classic.Press Telegram 11/21

Recruits

Modesto Christian High's boys basketball team, buoyed by the return of junior forward Reeves Nelson and the arrival of Cal-bound guard D.J. Seeley, is No. 9 in the CalHiSports.com state preseason poll. Modesto Bee 11/20

He does not have a commitment yet for 2009, but the top prospect in that class, Renardo Sidney of Los Angeles, said a couple of times this summer that Ohio State topped his list. We're a long way from signing day next November, however, and Sidney has plenty of ardent suitors, including Southern California coach Tim Floyd. "How else to explain Floyd showing up for a meaningless junior college basketball game this month in which Sidney happened to be sitting in the bleachers?" the Los Angeles Times reported last week. "When Sidney left at halftime, so did Floyd." Per NCAA rules, Floyd could not talk to Sidney. Face time was all he wanted. OSU Insider 11/20

Hoping to avoid the media frenzy that accompanied Kendall Marshall's similar announcement last month, Los Osos has scheduled a Nov. 27 press conference where it's expected that 6-foot-2 sophomore point guard Kendall Williams will announce his collegiate future. Williams has narrowed his choices down to four and hopes to relieve some of the recruiting pressure by making his non-binding decision public. It should mean fewer phone calls for parents Robert and Debbie Williams and coach Dave Smith. At one point, there were six Pac-10 schools at a Los Osos practice. Plus, Smith was averaging more than 10 daily calls and receiving untold text messages. Daily Bulletin 11/20

Defending Division I state champion Fairfax, still at that level in large part because of the addition of 6-foot-9 Artesia transfer Renardo Sidney, is the headliner for the 56th Pacific Shores Tournament that begins Monday at Redondo Union High. And Harvey Kitani's Lions won't have to wait until the championship game for their first major test of the season. That should come in the semifinals, where the Mayfair Monsoons will be waiting. Press Telegram 11/21

So how did I settle on Dominguez for the overall No. 1 slot? Two coaches whose teams are ranked in the overall Top 10 and played the Dons over the summer, pointed to at least three factors in giving Russell Otis' club the nod over everyone else. "Their depth, quickness and defense are better than anyone else's," said one. "And now, with the addition of (Dorsey transfer) Jordan Hamilton, they have a guy they can go to anytime they need a big shot." Press Telegram 11/21

But the Warriors were nowhere near peak form on Tuesday night and, consequently, were trampled 93-61 by the bigger, more athletic Panthers. Junior Ryan Bogdin was absolutely torrid from beyond the arc, hitting eight 3-pointers en route to scoring 33 for Pinewood Prep. Shifty guard K.J. Manigault had 22 points and Milton Jennings added 17. Upstate.com 11/21

Hollis Thompson, a 6-foot-8 junior forward from Los Angeles Loyola who emerged this summer as one of the top boys' basketball prospects in the nation, announced Wednesday that he has committed to Georgetown. Thompson, who has a 4.2 grade-point average, said the chance to attend college on the East Coast combined with Georgetown's fast-pace style led to his decision. "I thought it would be good to get away from home," he said. Thompson was a second-team All-Mission League selection as a sophomore. During the spring and summer, he improved so rapidly that dozens of college coaches joined in the recruiting battle. He has generated praise and respect for his shooting and scoring skills, plus his improving athleticism. LA Times 11/22

But his true purpose for the visit was to personally evaluate 6-foot-11 Warsaw, Ind., native Mason Plumlee. Plumlee overcame a shaky start — he missed his first four shot attempts — to net 20 points and rip down a team-high nine rebounds in the Greenies’ 96-70 drubbing of Asheville High. Plumlee’s older brother, Stanford recruit Miles Plumlee, led Christ School (2-0) with 29 points. “It was great to have coach (Roy) Williams here tonight in our gym,” Mason Plumlee said. “I really wasn’t nervous at all. I just wanted the game to turn out well for our team.” Citizen Times 11/22

(photo credit: Mercury News)