Bruin Recruiting: Prep News Roundup (10/4)

By Bruin Basketball Report

Prep News Roundup is published every Monday.

Commits

Norman Powell, the 6-foot-3 All-State guard on Lincoln High’s state championship basketball team, has given a verbal commitment to UCLA. Powell averaged 19 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3 steals a game last year and was recruited as a shooting guard. “I think UCLA will give me a chance to develop my skills to play at the next level,” said Powell, who has a 45-inch vertical leap. “Coach (Ben) Howland said he wants to go back to the running game and that fits my style.” San Diego Tribune 9/27

Running the floor isn't something usually associated with Howland, whose grind-it-out style has gotten him to three Final Fours but also garnered him criticism during times the Bruins have been less successful. Jay Bilas recently discussed how the perception UCLA runs a slowdown offense hasn't helped with recruiting, and also attacked the myth that the style holds back players. After all, Russell Westbrook and Darren Collison were among the first-round NBA draft picks to turn out just fine relying on their defense and letting their offensive talents shine as pros. Already, Howland has going for him his record of sending guards to the NBA. And if that's not enough, it appears he's selling the idea that he'll adjust his offense to complement the skills of his recruits. This worked well with Norman Powell, who chose UCLA over San Diego State and is a player ESPNU describes as "an ultra-athletic scoring guard" who "excels in the open court." ESPN 9/27

Recruits

Milton High’s Julian Royal, one of the nation’s top 100 college basketball prospects, heard a lot of things from Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt during his official visit this past weekend. One thing that really stuck out is that Hewitt considers Royal the “No. 1 recruiting priority” for Georgia Tech this year. The 6-foot-9 power forward is likely to decide between Georgia Tech and UGA, while also considering Wake Forest. AJC 9/27

Quinn Cook, a point guard ranked No. 28, is late to the party — the Jayhawks only jumped on his recruitment when Turner chose the Arizona variety of Wildcat — but is reportedly listening very hard to Self’s sales pitch. Wildeboor said assistant coach Kurtis Townsend visited Cook last week and was there either yesterday or would be again soon. Kansan 9/30

Brandon Ashley, the Number 6 overall player in the Class of 2012, is remaining open in his recruitment despite basically being able to choose what school he wants to go to. Kentucky is going hard after the 2012 forward, considered to be one of the best players in the country. According to Rivals.com, Ashley currently holds scholarship offers from Arizona, California, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, Washington and Kentucky. Ashley received a scholarship offer from Coach Calipari after the coach watched him on the July AAU circuit. Brandon is a 6-8, 225lb Power Forward out of Bishop O'Dowd in Oakland, California. Ashley said Calipari's dribble-drive offense is similar to the up-tempo, penetrating style used by the Soldiers, a team that included high-major 2011 prospects Josiah Turner, Jabari Brown, Nick Johnson and UK commitment Kyle Wiltjer. Nation of Blue 9/30

Having already made official visits to Tennessee and Arkansas, Melrose senior forward Adonis Thomas (ready) says there still isn't a leader for his services as he heads to UCLA this weekend for his third of five visits. Thomas is also considering Florida and the University of Memphis. "Everybody's still the same," Thomas said. "I've been on two visits so far and I'm familiar with those two schools. I'm looking forward to going out to Florida again. I've only been to Florida's campus once. And UCLA, I've never been to that campus." Commercial Appeal 10/1

Duke is still pursuing Washington D.C. guard Quinn Cook. Cook, who recently had an in-home visit with a majority of the Blue Devils coaching staff, has said he feels Duke is very interested in his services. While the Blue Devils have not offered Cook yet, they still have at least one scholarship to give and may need another point guard if Irving leaves early. Cook is probably not the scorer Irving is, but he is a very good and athletic point guard who could run the offense and push the tempo which is something Krzyzewski likes. Bleacher Report 10/2

Two of the top prospects in the Class of 2011 visited UCLA this weekend when Oak Hill point guard Quinn Cook and Memphis Melrose wing Adonis Thomas hit Los Angeles. “It was a great visit,” the 6-foot-6, 215-pound Adonis Thomas, the No. 6 small forward in the class, said by phone. “I got a chance to just really enjoy L.A., see how people live in L.A. I got a tour of the city and saw the campus. It was a big campus. I got a chance to meet the trainers and academic people so that was great. Just seeing the history of UCLA was great.” Cook, the No. 7 point guard in the class, also said by text the visit “went well.” Thomas said the two of them spoke about potentially playing together and how they might fit in at UCLA. ZagsBlog 10/3