TM

SoCal Recruiting News Update
More Reliable Trojan Info from Mr. Oklahoma--(November 8, 1997)

All right, we admit it: We don't know squat about Oklahoma-area hoopsters. We know even less about what DeAngelo McDaniel, is really thinking. Yesterday we wrote that USC and Bibby were still in the hunt for Mc Daniel, a 6'-9" power forward from Oklahoma City, OK.

However, we also wrote that we thought that McDaniel was a long shot for 'SC, because at at 6'-10" it appears that he's too tall for Bibby's liking; seems that Bibby's really recruiting only power forwards or centers who are 6'-9". McDaniel's an inch too tall! Based on this sound logic, we conclude that McDaniel probably wouldn't end up at 'SC.

Well, we're probably right about McDaniel not coming to USC, but for all the wrong reasons.

According to Greg Swain, a seriously renowned recruiting expert (really, we're not joking now), who's also a McDonald's High School All-American selector, and someone who knows a whole lot more about his end of the country than we'd ever pretend to, McDaniel isn't really likely to be a Trojan any time soon.

Swaim is the host and creator of Midwestern Hoops (formerly Oklahoma Hoops); it's a great site, and if you haven't been there before, you must go; it's great. Swaim also writes a column for College Hoops Insider. He frequently guests on radio shows, organizes camps, shootouts and major tournaments, and in general is a whole lot more credible than most other recruiting gurus, especially about OK ballers.

In his Nov. 8 column this morning for College Hoops Insider, Swaim writes that Bibby shouldn't get his hopes up. We agree and think that Bibby should grab Bluthenthal quickly, while there's still a chance (Greg: we've got to keep a few of our own big guys in town; can't let them all go to OK; they'd freeze in the winter).

Swaim reasons that McDaniel won't be a Trojan because his mother wants him to play closer to home. This narrows the choices to Oklahoma and Tulsa.

Between Oklahoma and Tulsa, Swaim figures because McDaniel wants to be a starter as a freshman (is there a freshman who doesn't?), that he won't end up at Oklahoma because of Victor Avila and Ryan Humphrey (who scored 11 points in last week's exhibition game against "Next Level Sports", a traveling all-star team made up of former players from (you guessed it) California.

So, Swaim eliminates 'SC and Oklahoma, and voila', Tulsa gets the nod.

Why?

It's close to home, he'll probably start, and one of his former teammates from a state championship team and a best friend is also going to star at Tulsa. Any other reasons? Yeah, they've got a new gym, and a coach who's pretty persausive. Sounds good to me.

But, as a backup, if Tulsa doesn't get the nod, Swaim notes he might go to the University of Washington Huskies.

Huh? UW is not close to home, doesn't have a new gym, and they're already pretty loaded with power forwards (Mark Sanford, a 6'-8' Jr.; and Thalo Green and Chris Walcott, both freshmen, and both 6'-7"; they've also got two 7'+ centers--7'-0" Todd MacCulloch, a soph, and Patrick Femerling, a 7'-1" soph). We therefore don't think it's likely he'll start at UDub, but maybe Greg knows something we don't, and if Bender thinks McDaniel is the one, having lost all of his homies to Minnesota, then go for it.

I'm willing to bet that it's Tulsa. (Greg, always go with your first instinct. I'm going with mine: McDaniel's too tall for Bibby. The Trojans, in a throwback to Bibby's own Bruin days, will henceforth be known as "those gutty little Trojans".)

Anyway, we may all find out this next Wednesday when signing officially starts.

For those of you too lazy to click on one of the links above in order to go to the actual column from Swain, we'll make it easy: With apologies to Swaim and CHI--and solely for non-profit, educational "fair use" purposes, and not with intent of violating anyone's copyright, we reproduce below that portion of Swaim's column pertaining to McDaniel:

"There are several national services who list Southern Cal in the hunt for 6'10 PF/C DeAngelo McDaniel of Oklahoma City (John Marshall) OK. I don't believe the Trojans arestill in the picture, due to the fact that his mother has repeatedly mentioned her desire to see DeAngelo play closer to home. In fact, the other school that most services have leading is Oklahoma, and while McDaniel's likes the Sooners, he and his mother have mentioned repeatedly that he wants to start as a freshman and that simply won't happen at Oklahoma next year with Ryan Humphrey and Victor Avila roaming the paint. Look for Bill Self and the Tulsa Golden Hurricane to surprise the experts and land the top 50 national player. There are several factors that contribute to this prediction. First of all, Tulsa has been successful in recent years and is close to home. Secondly Bill Self could sell snow to Eskimo's and Tulsa has already broken ground on a state-of-the-art facility which should be ready next season. Tulsa also has a commitment from 6'0 PG Tony Heard of Seward (JC) KS who was McDaniel's teammate at OC John Marshall on an undefeated state champion team. While this logic is not 100%, it surprises me that Tulsa is not even mentioned in the picture on other services when I feel strongly that McDaniel will sign next week with TU. If Tulsa doesn't land McDaniel look for the Washington Huskies to get him…"

Nice work Greg. That's why they call you "Mr. Oklahoma". Seriously.

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