travon update

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Travon Bryant Recruiting Update:
UCLA & Others--(Sept. 13, 1999)

We caught up with Travon Bryant at the Long Beach Fall Hoops Classic today, and he had quite a bit to say about the recruting process, including detailing his home visits for us. So far, Travon has had visits from Cinncinati last Thursday, Kansas on Friday, Southern Florida on Saturday, Oregon State yesterday, and he still has more to go: Missouri, Cal, Kentucky and Utah in the next week and a half, concluding with UCLA on September 24. Travon told us that he spent more than 2 1/2 hours with Kansas coach Roy Williams, and he really is enjoying the process. "I'm having fun with this part of the recruiting. It's great to talk with the coaches, find out about their programs, what they have in mind for me. It's hectic, but it's fun. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the visits," Travon told us while we watched EBO and Top Prospects this afternoon, just before Travon's Belmont Shore team took on Bob Gottlieb's BWBA in a quarterfinal game, which Belmont won (over several controversial protest calls about the quality of the refereeing by Gottlieb, and this is one time that we generally agree with him. . . .the ref'ing was just terrible, calling an illegal zone for the first time in the whole game when it was a two point contest with 2 minutes to play??? How about refs actually refusing to give a five count when a player is closely guarded???). But we digress. . .

Travon has not yet achieved a high enough score on the SAT to qualify, but he will take the test again, and is not overly-concerned about it. "I know I'll nail it. I've got the basketball part down, now I've got to get the score up and I'll be fine," he told us. Travon also again proved today and yesterday why he's considered one of the premier prospects on the West Coast if not the entire country, dominating inside in virtually every game he played. He was named Co-MVP of the Tournament along with Wesley Stokes as Belmont Shore beat EBO in the tournament final, a sort of Reader's Digest condensed version of a game, which didn't get started until 7:00 p.m. and in which each team only had 5 players each, utilizing a running clock, so that the EBO guys could get back on the road to get to their schoolwork sometime before midnight tonight. The Sacramento guys on EBO (Jameel Pugh, Ronald Dosty and the rest of the NorCal guys) left early, so it was just the Fresno and SoCal contingent of EBO left to battle Travon, Wesley, and the Craven twins, who were spectacular. Belmont eventually won the game by a final score of 56-38.

We'll have more on the tournament including some player profiles and other news up shortly.