LSU releases J’Mison Morgan; is UCLA his destination?

LSU announced this afternoon that basketball signee J’Mison “Bobo” Morgan was granted a release from his national letter of intent.

Morgan, a 6-foot-11 center who averaged 13.5 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots a game last season for South Oak Cliff High School in Dallas, had originally considered UCLA along with Kansas and Alabama before signing with LSU last November.

LSU fired Coach John Brady in February, and when LSU hired former Stanford Coach Trent Johnson three weeks ago, Morgan began to waver in his commitment. He reportedly said that he’d be inclined to stay if Johnson retained LSU assistant Butch Pierre, who recruited Morgan. And when Pierre was hired, Morgan reiterated his commitment to LSU.

But beginning last week Morgan and his family began speaking publicly about a change of heart, and several newspaper and Internet sites reported Morgan wanted to be released by LSU to attend UCLA.

Morgan’s AAU coach, Jazzy Hartwell, who has been one of Morgan’s major spokesmen through this process, said this afternoon that he was scheduled to meet with Johnson at 1 p.m. Pacific time and that he and Morgan would have no comment until after that meeting.

UCLA coaches are prohibited by NCAA rules from speaking about potential recruits.

In a statement, LSU’s Johnson said he was granting Morgan a full release. “The bottom line with me will always be that I want players here who want to play for LSU,” he said. “There is some closure with this decision, but no player will ever be bigger than the program.”

UCLA has been in the market for a center since freshman Kevin Love declared his intention to leave for the NBA and junior backup Alfred Aboya said he was considering foregoing his final year of eligibility to concentrate on graduate school.

Coach Ben Howland’s incoming freshman class, already rated as No. 1 in the country, includes a trio of guards - Jrue Holiday of North Hollywood Campbell, Anaheim Canyon’s Jerime Anderson and Riverside North’s Malcolm Lee - as well as 6-9 power forward Drew Gordon from San Jose Archbishop Mitty.

diane.pucin@latimes.com