barrett commits

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

UCLA Loses Out On Barrett;
Seton Hall Rising--(Aug. 7, 1999)

A few days ago, we reported that it was widely rumored that Andre Barrett (5'-10" Sr. PG) from New York, would commit to Seton Hall at a press conference scheduled for later that day. . . Well, he did. Not much of a surprise. Remember that Seton Hall had already received a verbal commitment from Marcus Toney-El, another nationally ranked and highly sought recruit even before Barrett committed.

Well, now that Barrett has committed, everyone can forget about yet another top 10 player (besides Barrett) coming west to UCLA. It is now being widely reported on many different recruiting sites that Seton Hall coach Tommy Amaker has received yet another verbal, this time from none other than a player who many ranked as among the best in the country following the conclusion of ABCD and the Big Time in Vegas: Eddie Griffin (6'-9" Sr. PF/C), a 205-pounder from Roman Catholic HS in Philadelphia, PA, who looks a bit on the thin side, but who was literally unstoppable for the T1T Players in Vegas. We never got the impression that Griffin was being recruited seriously by UCLA or that he was really considering any west coast schools, but there were still those persistent rumors that he was being recruited by a certain Westwood school. Well, forget it. And with the commitments from all three, this could be the best recruiting class ever at Seton Hall. As though anyone in SoCal really cared about that. . . .well, come tournament time, you will. Oh, and the committments, if we are to believe everything we hear, put UCLA back to square one again, in the ever-continuing quest for a point guard and a big man from among the current crop of rising seniors.

Just in case you forgot what Griffin looked like (or never knew) here are some pics of Griffin from the Big Time. He's No. 33 in yellow.

If you're a UCLA fan, and wondering what all the fuss is over all these East coast guys, Travon Bryant and Wesley Stokes are starting to look awfully good right about now. This is also as good a time and place as any to make a somewhat less-than minor correction to our earlier post this week about UCLA offering Travon a scholarship. Seems others whom we consider reliable, are telling us that it ain't so, UCLA has not yet offered Travon. Our earlier report, which was based on some very reliable sources too, had the Bruins already offering. But these other sources are really, really reliable. So who do you believe? We don't know either because we trust both sources. But, as the really, really reliable source told us (as opposed to just the reliable source), "Think of Travon as an airplane, and UCLA as an airport." Er, um, ok, he's a plane, and the school is an airport. Well, this is sort of a paraphrase of what he said, but that's the gist of it. Now what? "Well, it's sort of like this: There are a lot of planes circling over the airport. The traffic controllers are really interested in one plane in particular landing and sticking around, but they keep it circling for a while, letting lots of other planes come in and land, visit, and then leave. Hopefully, the plane they really want keeps circling doesn't run out of gas, or worst of all, land at another airport. . . Understand?" Er, um, ok. Travon's a plane and UCLA is an airport. . . . Actually, as we understand it from both of our sources, Travon continues his interest in UCLA, but he's got a number of other schools on his list, and he's also being recruited hard by several other schools including Kansas, Missouri, Michigan, UConn, and a few others. As for Wesley, well, he's getting some serious attention from schools like USC, Oregon, Oregon State, San Diego State, and a whole host of others. Frankly, from everything we've heard, we just don't see UCLA offering him, at least not unless it's late in the spring and everyone else whom UCLA is recruiting just doesn't work out.