UCLA gets verbal from Kevin Love

[Russ Smith]

Was in Mexico when this happened, most already heard but heralded senior to be C Kevin Love of Lake Oswego, Oregon verballed to UCLA last week. Love is considered top 2-3 in the country along with OJ Mayo, and many rate Love as having been the best HS player in America this summer. 6'10" a real throwback center, not a great athlete but extremely polished, moves that you don't see too many kids his age have. His dad Stan played in the NBA and has clearly taught Kevin well. He can not only kill you inside he's an excellent shooter out to the 3, a great passer and a terrific rebound and outlet passer. Not a great leaper he's not a huge shotblocker but he's going to make a huge impact in LA even if he only plays one year as expected.

Reports persist that UCLA recruit Nikola Dragovic was indeed cleared by the NCAA clearinghouse and will be a freshman at UCLA next year. Considered a potential NBA first round pick(NBAdraft.net), Dragovic is compared to Peja, 6'8" nice shooter. We'll see given his situation nobody is quite sure, he didn't get the necessary SAT score but somehow was cleared anyways. He's Serbian so playing defense for Howland is going to be a huge adjustment but apparently UCLA just added a really gifted offensive player to the fold.

2009 recruit forward Renardo Sidney was recently quoted as saying he wants to go to UCLA too, UCLA hasn't offered Sidney yet and given his current academic situation he's probably not at the top of their list even though many rate him the best prospect in his class. He recently relocated from Mississippi to Los Angeles and was listing UCLA and USC as his top picks. Way too early to get excited on him right now the word is he may not even play this year in LA due to transcript and grade questions.

 

[AZBALLER]

UCLA is going to be the new basketball power imo(ala Duke, NC, etc)...

There is soo much balance out there, and now one of the old powers is back on the rise.

UCLA's climb to elite status may or may not happen, but I'd put my $$$ on it happening.

 

[Russ Smith]

Update on Dragovic, word is they're just finishing the paperwork but it's a done deal he's a Bruin. Reportedly he DID get the NCAA required SAT score, just didn't get the score UCLA admissions wanted but they made an exception because of his GPA after the clearinghouse approved of it. I guess GPA's of foreign students are extremely difficult to quantify as they're not comparable to GPA's of US students, so the clearinghouse had to inspect his transcripts before approving his GPA. When they did, UCLA admissions also accepted it.

Both he and Love are possible one and done players, Dragovic will be a freshman this coming season, Love a freshman the following season.

 

[AZBALLER]

Since you seem to have a nice handle on UCLA, do they remind you of Michigan at all(fab 5)? Are they recruiting kids that are one and done, and then will have to continue this process?

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Howland's doing what all good coaches do, bring in balanced classes of four year role players along with one-and-done's to balance things out. UCLA will be fine and is definitely back from the Lavin days, but to suggest they're going to start having their way with the Pac the same way USC has in football the last few years is a bit of a stretch and I bet even Russ would agree with that. On paper going forward they don't look significantly better or worse than Washington or Arizona.

Not to mention they're a lot different than Michigan in that the Wolverines cheated to get the Fab Five whereas everything seems to be on the up and up at UCLA in the post-Harrick era.

 

[Russ Smith]

Since you seem to have a nice handle on UCLA, do they remind you of Michigan at all(fab 5)? Are they recruiting kids that are one and done, and then will have to continue this process?

For the most part no. Love fits that bill, nobody is really sure on Dragovic he COULD be a one and done. I think Howland took him because I don't think he expected to lose Farmar this year and decided the chance to get an offensive threat like Dragovic was worth taking a kid who may be a "rental".

Keefe and Westbrook are much more likely to be 4 year players(the other incoming freshman with Dragovic this year). Stanback fits that role in 07, right now that class is Love and Chace Stanback. UCLA is actively recruiting Singler, they apparently were looking hard at Clint Chapman a C from Oregon but it appears they won't get him. They like Darnell Gant a PF from Crenshaw but his grades are iffy. I think Howland is trying to get a mix of top echelon players and guys who figure to stick around.

The key question next year is Mbah A Moute, people keep projecting him as a lottery pick, which I don't agree with, but UCLA took him fully expecting him to be a 4 year kid. They had no idea how good he'd be right away, and I think it would really shock Howland if he bolted, I don't think Ben has a plan B that could easily cover that, just like this year with Farmar. When he decided it was likely he was gone, he took Westbrook and started recruiting Dragovic, he had been saving that scholarship for next year but figured Westbrook could play some backup PG, and Dragovic would pick up some of the scoring slack lost from Farmar.

 

[Russ Smith]

Howland's doing what all good coaches do, bring in balanced classes of four year role players along with one-and-done's to balance things out. UCLA will be fine and is definitely back from the Lavin days, but to suggest they're going to start having their way with the Pac the same way USC has in football the last few years is a bit of a stretch and I bet even Russ would agree with that. On paper going forward they don't look significantly better or worse than Washington or Arizona.

Not to mention they're a lot different than Michigan in that the Wolverines cheated to get the Fab Five whereas everything seems to be on the up and up at UCLA in the post-Harrick era.

Even if I did think UCLA was going to dominate I wouldn't post it, I'm still smarting from predicting we'd beat Florida!



Love is significant because he's the best recruit of the Howland era, and it's the first time UCLA went head to head with a national power and beat them for a kid(UNC in this case). Farmar and Afflalo were bigtime prospects but neither rated near where Love is and really to get Farmar they only beat UA which already had Shakur, Gonzaga, and Florida which already had Roberson. SO they beat 2 bigtime schools, but it was largely because he realized there was a clear chance to start from day 1 at UCLA where he might not at UA or Florida. If they had needed him as much as UCLA did, he may very well NOT have gone to UCLA.

Nobody is going to dominate here and let's be realistic, while Love says Howland recruite him the longest, the fact is he'd be a Dukie or an Oregon commit if those coaches hadn't screwed up recruiting him. His dream school was Duke, his dad wanted him at Oregon, but both coaches pissed them off, UCLA would have finished 3rd if not for that. Like anything else part of good recruiting is luck.

 

[AZBALLER]

I kind of wonder if Farmar maybe made the best decision in declaring...He's a great college pg, but is he anymore than a role player in the NBA? I like the kid's game, but is he kinda a Bailey(sp?)?