frank burlison on stokes

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Frank Burlison Is High On Stokes:
Says UCLA Should Offer--(June 15, 1999)

Frank Burlison's column in the Orange County Register today devoted an entire third of its contents to Wesley Stokes (5'-10" Jr. PG) from Long Beach Poly, and how UCLA should sign him up for next season. Buried in the article were a couple of interesting notes, including the fact that while most people list Wesley at 5'-10" or 5'-11", Frank only listed him at 5'-9", which is probably more accurate (Frank chided me last week for kidding him about the Harrison Schaen height listing--Frank had him at 6'-6 1/2" while we listed Harrison at 6'-8", but Frank says that he got the correct height from Pat Barrett who claims to have recently measured him. . . no matter, Harrison is still a good player). And so is Wesley, in fact he's universally acclaimed now as one of the top point guards on the West Coast. Here's what Frank had to say in his column today about Wesley:

UCLA coach Steve Lavin and his staff have a point guard targeted on their recruiting wish list and will spend the July 8-30 evaluation period doggedly following seniors-to-be such as Andre Barrett and Omar Cook (both from New York City), Chris Duhon (Slidell, La.) and Imari Sawyer (Chicago).

Here's an unsolicited suggestion that can save Lavin and assistants Jim Saia and Michael Holton a lot of time, effort and potential headaches: Just offer Wesley Stokes a scholarship. The 5-foot-9 (or 6-0, depending if his hair is braided or in a full-blown Afro on a particular day) wants to be a Bruin, and he would liquidate your point guard worries as long as he's healthy.

Anyone who questions how effective a college player the Long Beach Poly standout will be should have seen him play for the Jackrabbits during the Mater Dei Tournament this past weekend.

"When my teams played against him (in the early '90s), I had my doubts as to how good a college player Tyus Edney would be and he turned out to be outstanding," Mater Dei coach Gary McKnight said of the former UCLA and Poly player. "But I have no doubts that Wesley is going to be an exceptional college point guard."

Stokes (if you haven't seen him, he would remind you of a cross between Edney and Damon Stoudamire) was dazzling Sunday night with 28 points and 12 assists, although Mater Dei beat the Jackrabbits, 86-79, in a game played at Ocean View.

We agree with Frank that Wesley has the potential, which is quickly being realized, to be a top college player, but if we were the UCLA coaches, we'd at least go through the exercise of watching the rest of their main targets this summer, including especially a couple of guys Frank didn't mention (you know who they are. . . ok, here's a hint, one of them is named Avery Queen, who reminds us a lot more of Edney than does Stokes). Omar Cook, for those of you who remember him from the Slam N Jam NIT last summer (he played for Riverside Church), is an impressive player, who actually is a very similar player to Earl Watson. Sawyer is much more explosive, and having watched Duhon in all of his games last summer at the Best of Summer Tournament at Cal State Dominguez Hills as the New Orleans Jazz won the final, we'd say that Duhon is the best of the bunch.

But then it's a long, hot summer as the recruiting trail gets started, and a lot can, and will, happen between now and the end of July.