ucla commitments

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

UCLA Gets Verbal; More To Follow?--(July 27, 1999)

Stanford may have been the first Pac-10 to get a verbal this summer from a high major player when they picked up a commitment from Matt Lottich, but UCLA isn't far behind, at least if Jim Downs' sources are correct. Downs is reporting that UCLA has picked up a verbal commitment from Ominiyi Makun (6'-8" ?? PF) from Nigeria. UCLA assistant coach Jim Saia and USC assistant Silvey Dominguez were both in Portugal this past week watching an international tournament where Makun was playing. He reportedly was impressed enough with Saia and UCLA's reputation that he committed. He reportedly hasn't committed yet and will need to get a passing SAT score, and if he's like the other Nigerians in the past who UCLA was trying to recruit, his transcripts will have to be verified, but if he qualifies, Downs reports that "Makun could enroll at UCLA this fall."

UCLA is of course also looking to pick up a point guard to fill the void left by Baron Davis' departure to the NBA, and No. 1 on the Bruins' shopping list, at least from everything we've been able to ascertain, including some really cryptic conversations we had in Vegas, is Andre Barrett (5'-9" Sr. PG). According to reports published by Jim Downs and Frank Burlison in the Orange County Register, Steve Lavin was in New Jersey watching a tournament where he was eyeing Barrett and Eddie Griffin (6'-8" Sr. PF/C), who is arguably among the top players in the country, and who really impressed us as being almost unstoppable in Vegas where he played for the T1T Players (formerly known as the Tim Thomas Playaz). According to Downs, UCLA is looking at trying to get both Griffin and Barrett as a package deal, since they are friends and have told people they want to play together.

Our conversations with those in the now at UCLA, and that includes some very, very highly placed sources, indicate that UCLA, while considering Wesley Stokes, does not have him highly placed on their list, and they probably won't offer him immediately in the fall. They will instead continue to look at guys like Barrett, Chris Duhon (6'-1" Sr. PG) from Slidell, Lousianna (yes, Duke apparently doesn't have him locked up, at least not yet), and Avery Queen (5'-5" Sr. PG) from Maine Central Institute.

And speaking of Avery Queen, we spoke with him last week at the Best of Summer Tournament in Dominguez Hills, and he told us that he's pretty much still wide open in his recruiting. He told us he's got a number of favorites, among them Kentucky, UConn, and UCLA, and a few others. While he said he would still consider UCLA, he made it clear that he didn't think they were recruiting him actively, and that he probably wouldn't end up in Westwood.

Interestingly, while most people have considered that DeShawn Stevenson is most likely a lock to Duke because they've been recruiting him the longest and the hardest, his new high school coach tell us that DeShawn is probably more "wide-open" than most people would believe, and that he's got about 10 or 11 schools that he's seriously considering, among them UCLA. In Vegas at the Big Time we asked Larry Trigueros, Von Webb's replacement if he thought that UCLA had a serious shot at recruiting DeShawn, he replied, "Better than most people would give them credit for. In fact DeShawn is very much wide-open right now."

More commitments soon? Stay tuned.