Bruin Recruiting: Prep News Roundup (2/23)

By Bruin Basketball Report 

Prep News Roundup is published every Monday. 

Commits 

The chance to complete the Sierra Foothill League season undefeated will come Friday for Rocklin High’s varsity boys basketball team.
The Thunder (24-2 overall, 11-0 in the SFL) will play Del Oro (20-5, 8-2) in Loomis at 7:30 p.m. Thunder senior center Brendan Lane, 6-foot-10, led Rocklin over Nevada Union 73-54 Monday night in Grass Valley.
Lane collected 35 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks while teammate Tony Williams scored eight points and Thunder forward Pat Stover went for seven points and six boards. Placer Herald 2/18 

The Bishop Diego boys basketball team was fed to Windward on Wednesday in the first round of CIF playoffs, absorbing a 85-21 blow from the No. 1 team in Div V-A.
The Wildcats (21-6) feature a pair of blue-chip NCAA recruits - 6-foot-4 Darius Morris, heading to Michigan, and 6-foot-10 Anthony Stover, heading to UCLA.
“They’re the best team I’ve seen all year,” credited Bishop head coach Ray Vazquez, saying Windward’s athleticism was second to none.
“I don’t see anyone beating them.” Presidio Sports 2/18 

The game was pretty much over at halftime with the Thunder up 51-25. Other than Del Oro standout junior Spencer Butterfield, who had 24 points, Rocklin's suffocating trapping defense kept the rest of the Golden Eagles in check.
The 6-foot-10 Brendan Lane showed why UCLA has invested a scholarship in him. He finished with a game-high 26 points and dominated on the boards and defensively.
"As the season as progressed, our chemistry has gotten so much better," Lane said. "We've really started playing well the second part of league." Sacramento Bee 2/21 

Grant, the reigning Class 6A champion, has a two-game lead in the Portland Interscholastic League with two games left following a 59-54 victory at Lincoln on Friday.
Senior Mike Moser, selected to compete in the Nike Hoop Summit earlier in the week, led the Generals with 21 points and 15 rebounds. Oregonian 2/21 

Recruits 

Harrison Barnes was seated behind the Duke bench for the Blue Devils' 101-87 loss to North Carolina at Cameron Indoor Stadium last Wednesday. Duke and North Carolina are among the schools Barnes, a junior at Ames High School, is considering.
"It was crazy,'' Barnes said.
Asked if it was everything he was looking for in a college atmosphere, Barnes said, "It was college basketball at its greatest. You just have to go and see it. Des Moines Register 2/17 

It's still days away before Sunday's announcement by Fairfax center Renardo Sidney about his college choice, but UCLA fans seem to think Westwood will be his destination, and they might be right.
UCLA's top assistant coaches have been frequent visitors to Fairfax games in recent weeks. Sidney is known to prefer staying in Southern California. The Bruins have shown they need a skilled big man.
The question is whether UCLA has offered Sidney a scholarship. He still has to take the SAT.
But I think that Sidney has made so much progress on the court and off in the past few months that it probably means UCLA can't pass him up. LA Times 2/17 

Westchester clobbered visiting Carson, 80-35, in the first round of the L.A. City Section Division I boys basketball playoffs on Thursday night with a stifling defensive performance....Dominique O'Connor and Jordin Mayes both scored 14 points to lead Westchester. Mayes showed off his shooting stroke, making three of his four 3-pointers in the first quarter, when Westchester rolled up a 27-6 edge. Daily Breeze 2/21 

Basketball analysts aren’t afraid to throw around monikers like “man-beast,” “baby-Shaq,” and the overused phrase “he has a great motor.” Every time Digger Phelps and Jay Bilas throw those around the scouting reports, most basketball people roll their eyes and find reason to down on the kid. Don’t let that happen with Josh Smith.
(VIDEO) Josh is huge. Right now he’s 6-10, 270 pounds, so he’s bigger than just about everybody he plays. Hell, in kindergarten, he was taller than his teacher—Smith was already 5-feet tall. Allow yourself to be immersed in the many “man amongst boys” lines that Brent Musburger shouts to the nation. SLAM 2/21
 

Renardo Sidney, a 6-foot-11 center from Los Angeles Fairfax considered one of the top college basketball prospects in the nation, announced today that he has committed to USC.
Sidney, who moved to Southern California from Mississippi in 2006, is averaging 24.0 points, 10.2 rebounds and 1.4 blocks for Fairfax (24-3). Sidney still must take the SAT to gain athletic eligibility next season. The earliest he can sign a letter of intent is April 8.
"I'm very excited," Sidney said. "It was a hard decision. After I heard my dad and mom had the same school as I had it was a relief."
He'll become the third consecutive McDonald's All-American to join the Trojans, following O.J. Mayo and DeMar DeRozan. LA Times 2/22

Leave it to the Narrows League champion Foss Falcons to try something that may have worked all season long in the South Puget Sound League: the “Hack-A-Josh” defense.
Foss sent Kentwood big man Josh Smith to the free throw line 16 times, watched him miss 11 times, and claimed a spot in the Class 4A state tournament with a 50-44 win on Saturday night at Mount Tahoma High School.
The 6-foot-9, 300-pound Smith didn’t have as big of a size advantage as he is accustomed to, as Foss has big, rugged post players in Jeremy McClain and Jonathan Payne. News Tribune 2/22

(photo credit: LA Times)