marcus moore

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Fresno Spurned; Marcus Moore
Commits To WSU, Cougar Recap--(Aug. 10, 1999)

Marcus Moore (6'-5" Fr. PG) who graduated from Compton Dominguez this past June and who was instrumental in leading the State Division II and Southern Section D-II-AA champs at the point, evidently decided he didn't really care for Fresno, and has opted instead to play in the Pac-10, where he always wanted to be in any event. In a burst of good news to all of our friends on the Cougar Hoops message board (yes, occasionally we read other folks' stuff) Marcus has announced that he has committed to Washington State.

Marcus visited Fresno State this past weekend, but yesterday decided to commit to coach Graham, and in another bit of good news, WSU also picked up a transfer, Jay Locklier (6'-11" So. C) from Miami of Ohio. Marcus will be eligible immediately this fall, while Locklier will have to sit out the mandatory one year for the transfer, but he will still have two more years remaining.

And, according to our good friend Jerry Norley at WestCoastHoops, who makes Arizona guys his business, former Tucson Salpointe star Brian Stewart (6'-10" who battled injuries and never seemed to find his nice in Pullman.
Stewart is headed for San Jose St. and former UofA Wildcat assistant Phil Johnson. So while WSU loses perhaps their best big man, they also pick up another, and a great point guard.

With the pickup of Marcus Moore, WSU now has at least three excellent points (that is if Marquis Poole will be eligible in the fall; we don't mean to imply he won't be, but we just haven't heard yet, or if we did, we don't recall). In any event, the CougZone.com, a site devoted to Washington State Hoops, also has some great profiles of the incoming class of recruits at WSU. Here's their rundown on the incoming Cougar class, which was posted on July 7:

Tyrone Evans (6'-7" Jr. PF) has been described as an athletic and physical player who can intimidate inside. At 6-7, 225 the intimidation factor might not be present in the PAC 10, but on an undersized squad Evans brings a much needed inside presence. Tyrone averaged 13 points and 7 boards at Garden City College in Kansas last year. As a freshman he went off for 17 points and 10 boards at Scottsdale CC, and was a pre season 2nd team JC All America pick going in to his sophomore year. It's always dangerous to pencil a new comer in as a sure starter, but it is hard not to see Evans stepping right in to the spot vacated by Kojo Mensah-Bonsu.

David Adams (6'-2" Fr. SG) comes to WSU as one of pair of in state recruits for the first time in several years. David averaged 19.7 points and led his Lincoln squad deep into the state playoffs last year. Those who have seen David play describe him as a steady, but unspectacular player who knows how to get after it on defense and can shoot the ball. Clutch might be another adjective to add to the description based on the accounts of many Lincoln games last year. Invariably those accounts include a description of Adams sinking free throws down the stretch to seal victories. He probably isn't going to settle in as a starter this year, but a 6-2 185 freshman guard who can play defense should see plenty of minutes.

Bryan Whitehead (6'-9" Fr. PF) comes to WSU as another coveted in state freshman recruit. At 6-9 225 lb coming out of Mt Vernon he can't avoid the inevitable comparisons to another Cougar who preceded him from the same high school and shall remain nameless in this article. Some people question whether his 10.6 scoring average is the type of stat that a future Pac 10 star would have. Despite being rated highly on many of the prep recruiting internet sites, Bryan did not receive a lot of recruiting attention from other Pac 10 schools. A contributing factor was probably the concern by some coaches that he may be a bit of tweener and is probably a bit shy of his listed height right now. From this corner Whitehead looks like exactly the kind of recruit that WSU has been losing and Gonzaga has been using to build a quality program. Bryan might not be quite as ready to contribute as Adams, but a lack of depth on the front line probably earns him decent minutes as a frosh also.

Marquis Poole (6'-2" Fr. PG/SG) will be considered the center piece of this years recruiting class by many Cougar fans simply because he hails from Southern California, the proverbial mecca of west coast hoops talent. In Poole's case he earned the designation as one of the under rated talents in LA partially because he played on a lesser known team at Compton Centennial which didn't advance in the CIF playoffs. Although the exact statistics aren't available his numbers were in the neighborhood of 20+ppg, 7 assists, and 6 boards. The slender but wiry 6-2 guard is described as a good shooter but is even better going to the hoop. One observer commented that he could dunk on anybody. Cougar fans are hungry for an athletic scoring point guard in the tradition on Bennie Seltzer. Whether Poole can unseat an experienced Blake Pengelly, or whether his ultimate destiny is even at the point, no one can say. For a team that has always been under sized at the 1 and 2 spots there is definitely lots of playing time available for Marquis as a frosh.

Nick Graham (6'-0" Fr. SG) who rounds out the freshman scholarship class, is the unexpected bonus from hiring his dad as the new coach. Nick is described by his high school coach as a very good ball handler, who is still growing and improving. The 6 ft Graham led his Stillwater High School team in scoring at 13.8 ppg last year and was very respectable at 42% from 3 point range. Although he wasn't recruited by D-1 schools, Nick looks like the kind of player that adds valuable depth at the point. Whether he gets any minutes this year is hard to say, but in the long run there is probably a place for Nick in the 8 or 10 man rotation of a Pac 10 caliber team.

If Graham was a bonus, Mike Malloy (6'-4" Fr. SG) out of San Diego [USDHS] is a double bonus. Malloy a 6-4 guard, who will walk on for the Cougars, is described as a good shooter and excellent leaper. No stats are available from his high school career [actually, if you want to see some stats, visit the USDHS site, accessible at SoCalHoops, which has his stats from two years ago], but it is a good bet that Mike will end up as a contributing scholarship player based on comments coming from the Southern California gurus.

One final wild card in the formula belongs to Josh Shavies (6'-6" Fr. PF). Shavies was considered one of the top combination football/basketball recruits in the nation out of Oakland. No one knows what kind of commitments where made to Josh in the recruiting process, but he is known to have expressed a strong interest in playing both sports at the college level. While Mike Price can't be faulted if he leans on his blue chip recruit to concentrate on football, Paul Graham can be held equally blameless if he covets the 6-6 wide body power forward.