bradley backs out

socalogo.gif (8739 bytes)
SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Pepperdine Loses Second Recruit In Two Weeks:
First Fisher, Now Bradley--(May 17, 1999)

Don't any new recruits at Pepperdine want to play for new coach Jan van Breda Kolff? Apparently not, at least not the ones who were previously signed by former Pepperdine and now St. Louis coach Lorenzo Romar. Last week Josh Fisher, a recruit from Mercer Island High in Washington backed out and was given his release by the Waves, and this week it's former City Player of the Year and Crenshaw High star Kevin Bradley.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting this morning that Bradley has aksed Pepperdine to release him from his letter of intent. Bradley, who was the City Section Division 4-A player of the year at Crenshaw in 1997, said because former Pepperdine coach Lorenzo Romar left for Saint Louis, he will go back to junior college and look to play in a bigger conference in the 2000-01 season. He will play at Compton College next season.

"I was going to go to Pepperdine because of Romar and [assistant Darwin] Cook," said Bradley, who has been at Irvine Valley College the past two years, using a medical redshirt last season after fracturing his foot. "Since they left, I feel I'm better than Pepperdine," Bradley told the Times. The Times also noted that phone calls to Pepperdine Coach Jan van Breda Kolff and Athletic Director John Watson went unanswered.

It's unclear whether the school will release Bradley from his letter but if the school's decision with Fisher is any indication, Pepperdine will probably honor the request.

The exodus by new recruits is not a good sign for the Pepperdine program, which was counting heavily on Bradley to replace Jelani McCoy who graduates in June. Bradley would have filled the point guard spot on a team which returns most of its standout players.