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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Bits & Pieces From Around SoCal--(June 19, 1998)

Lots of disjointed and disparate stuff today from in and around SoCal.

Mike Yildiz (6'-0" So. SG) has transferred from Grant High in Van Nuys to Bell-Jeff where he will try to succeed Ruben Douglas. Mike was an impact player for Grant last year, scoring about 10 points per game. With his quick hands, good shooting, and long reach, he will become a starter for coach Eli Essa.

Rumors also continue to circulate about Gilbert Arenas (6'-4" Sr. PG/SG) from Grant that he "may" be transferring to any number of schools. However, our sources tell us that these are just that, i.e., "rumors", and that Gil will instead concentrate on his academics this fall at Grant.

Jeff Young, head coach at Chaminade will stay put for the time being. The word this spring was that Young, an admittedly ambitious young coach, might move to the college level after the graduation of several of his top seniors, such as Scott Long, Justin Beach, and Justin Stewart. But those were also just bad rumors, and Young will stay for at least another year.

More bad rumors: Scott Borchart (6'-7" So. F/C) will not be transferring from Chaminade, but will also stay put. Jeez, we don't know where this stuff gets started.

But the bad news for Borchart is that he won't be playing for sometime, and will be missing the entire summer league, including the "War on the Floor" tournament next week due to a knee problem. We hear that it's something about a cartilage problem (not an ACL, thank goodness), and we wish Scott a speedy recovery.

More Stuff: Mike Strawberry had a very auspicious debut for Mater Dei. Mater Dei #1 won, but Mater Dei #2 lost. We'll have more details on the Mater Dei Tourney soon. In some summer league games, Alex Clancy (5'-11" So. G) and David Gale (5'-10" Fr. G) also had fine debuts for Buckley in the Providence League, where both Buckley teams won, defeating Milken and Highland Hall. Colin Ward-Henninger (6'-5" So. F) also had an outstanding game as did Mike Lalazerian.

Brian Comacho, head JV coach at Chaminade last year has moved over to Bell-Jeff, where he will be the assistant varsity coach under head coach Eli Essa. Congratulations Brian.

More later.