alabama recruiting

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Former UCLA Assistant Makes Good;
Gets Top Players, More To Come?--(Aug. 5, 1999)

All the major recruiting services and newspaper wires are now reporting that Gerald Wallace (6'-6" Sr. SF) from Childersburg, Alabama, who was the No. 1 ranked player going into the summer recruiting season by many scouts, includng HoopScoop's Clark Francis and Recruiting USA's Mark Mayemura, has given a commitment to Alabama. The same wires and services are also reporting that his Alabama Ice club-teammate Mario Austin (6'-8" Sr. PF) from York, Alabama, has also decided to stay close to home rather than attend any schools out west which had been pursuing them both. Ok, so another couple of Top 25 guys decide they won't go to UCLA or USC. Why is this significant, and what's the SoCal connection? Mark Gottfried, a former UCLA assistant under Jim Harrick is the reason why. Of course, Gottfried also recruited Schea Cotton (6'-4" Grad SG/SF) to Alabama for this coming fall, and he's trying to recruit a lot more talent to Alabama for next year (no we don't mean this coming season, we mean next year), and in Vegas he had his eyes set on a pair of power forwards from Artesia. Se habla espanol, Mark?

It's no secret Gottfried believes Amaury Fernandez is the best player among the current crop of juniors, and Alabama is expected to recruit both Fernandez and Martinez hard next year, and depending on how things work out with the current crop of talent, Gottfried could just pull off a recruiting coup. Of course there's a lot of time between now and then and it remains to be seen if the affection is mutual.