Bruin Recruiting: Prep News Roundup (5/3)

By Bruin Basketball Report

Prep News Roundup is published every Monday.  

Commits

Former Indiana University basketball recruit Matt Carlino has committed to UCLA for the 2010 class, his father, Mark Carlino said. The 6-2 guard will graduate a year early and not return to Bloomington South next year. He had transferred from Arizona before his junior year. “We’re glad that he feels good about it,” Mark Carlino said. “I think it probably helps that he’ll be close to his family in Phoenix. Everything has been a positive for us in Indiana, though. I know I’ll certainly miss it. Carlino visited UCLA last weekend. Several other schools, including Baylor, California, Florida and UNLV, had also expressed interest in signing him for the 2010 class. Butler had gotten involved, recruiting him for the ’11 class. Indy Star 4/27

Matt Carlino's decision to leave Bloomington South and graduate from high school early so he can attend UCLA in the fall has forced a roster change to the Indiana Junior All-Star basketball team. "After speaking with the Carlino family, Matt felt it would be best if another player could maximize the benefit of being a Junior All-Star,'' All-Star games director Charlie Hall said Thursday night. Carlino had committed to Indiana University during his sophomore year and moved to Bloomington from Arizona last summer. He rescinded his commitment to IU in March and was recruited by several schools, some of whom wanted him for their 2010 recruiting classes after Carlino considered graduating early. The guard will complete his high school requirements online this summer and enroll at UCLA in the fall. Indy Star 4/30

Recruits

Another player that figures to receive a great deal of attention from Kansas fans this weekend is Josiah Turner, the 6-foot-3, 175-pound point guard from Sacramento (CA) High School. Listed as a floor general, the No. 56 ranked player in the 2011 class certainly has the ability to distribute the basketball, but his game doesn't begin and end with getting his teammates involved.  As a junior, Turner averaged 27.9 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.8 steals per game. He connected on 53 percent of his field goals, 35 percent of his shots from behind the arc and 75 percent of his free-throws.  Recently, Self traveled to Sacramento (CA) High School to check in on Turner, a four-star prospect. The former Arizona State commit will spend the weekend running with Pump 'N Run Elite. Hickory Husker 4/28

Sacramento High School's Josiah Turner received a bevy of awards this week from Cal-Hi Sports. The 6-foot-3 junior guard, The Bee's Player of the Year, was named Cal-Hi's All-State Junior Player of the Year. Turner, who averaged nearly 28 points and helped the Dragons to the CIF Division III Northern California championship game, also landed a second-team spot on Cal-Hi's 30-man All-State team and was one of 20 players named to the All-State D-III team. Sac Bee 5/1

UCLA missed out on another top recruit, as Terrence Jones announced Friday that he will attend Washington, in what became a big day for the Huskies. Jones, a 6-foot-9 power forward from Portland Jefferson High School, was twice named the Oregon 5A player of the year. He averaged 32 points and 13 rebounds in leading Jefferson to its third consecutive state title last season. Jones will be joined by Jefferson teammate Terrence Ross, who also picked Washington on Friday. UCLA had also recruited Ross. “I wanted to go to a school that was ready for next season,” Jones said. “I also wanted to stay close to home. As I have said all along, I want to play with Terrence Ross.” LA Times 5/1

Every coach preaches the notion of never giving up. Every coach wants his players to believe that no deficit is too deep, no comeback too impossible. Down by 15 with 10 minutes to go, every basketball coach will holler to his team, "We've got to ratchet up the defense. We need some stops. Keep grinding. We can win this thing." But there is a time when a coach should give up. There is a time when the clock has run out and a coach should shake a player's hand and admit defeat. Take Friday, for instance, when Terrence Jones and his best friend Terrence Ross announced at a joint news conference, held at their Portland high school, they were going to play basketball for Washington. It was a day for celebration. It was their day, nobody else's. Then after their announcements, according to reports, Jones showed enough class to call Kentucky coach John Calipari to tell Calipari he was going to Washington. Calipari reacted like a coach who hadn't heard the final buzzer. Jones still hadn't signed his letter of intent. To Calipari, that meant the game was still on, and there's no quit in Coach Cal. Who knows what Calipari told Jones? Who knows what suggestions and promises were made? Who knows what game-changing strategy Calipari was employing? With Calipari, there is always room for suspicion. Temporarily, at least, Jones postponed his decision to go to UW.  Seattle Times 5/2