The Preps / Scott Howard-Cooper : Four Recruits Love LA, a Few Others Will Leave

UCLA had a big week by getting oral commitments from three frontcourt standouts--Trevor Wilson of Cleveland High, Kevin Walker of Brea-Olinda, and Greg Foster of Oakland Skyline. USC got a player it wanted very much in Anaheim Katella’s Bob Erbst, but the word on three of the biggest names remaining in Southern California high school basketball is bound to please travel agents more than Walt Hazzard and Stan Morrison.

Looking at the players’ final five--colleges try for the Final Four, recruits narrow their selections to a workable five schools--there are a few common denominators: Syracuse, Georgia Tech, Kansas and, in general, leaving town.

Scott Williams of Hacienda Heights Wilson, for example, has UCLA on his final checklist, but nothing else near the West Coast. The two other players, Stevie Thompson of Crenshaw and Earl Duncan of St. Monica High, don’t have either the Bruins or the Trojans down. Thompson once scheduled a visit to USC but canceled it.

A more detailed rundown of the three with the Nov. 13-20 early signing period approaching:

Williams, 6-10, center--With Clifford Allen’s future at Carson in limbo because of legal problems, Williams is unquestionably the best big man in the area, and all indications are that he will sign early. Besides UCLA, he is considering DePaul, North Carolina, Villanova and Georgia Tech. “But we are getting very strong readings that his interest is in North Carolina and also a little bit with UCLA,” DePaul assistant Jim Molinari said.

Thompson, 6-3, guard--He has grown up in Los Angeles but favors the slower life style at a place like Duke, the only visit he has made, or Syracuse, where he will visit next weekend. He also is looking at Louisville, Kansas, Maryland and Oklahoma. He is not expected to sign early.

Duncan, 6-3, guard--A visit to Georgia Tech is in his near future. His final five also includes Syracuse, Boston College, Kansas and North Carolina State. He’s unsure if he will sign early.

There is no exodus from California, but it does continue a more aggressive national recruiting effort, especially into the Los Angeles area, that Syracuse and Georgia Tech started only a few years ago.

The progress made by Syracuse has been most evident. The Orangemen made their first serious local pitch in 1980 with Rolling Hills’ Jay Bilas, who eventually went to Duke, and have come on stronger than ever in the last two years.

They were in the running until the end last season with Tom Lewis before the Santa Ana Mater Dei star surprised almost everyone and went with USC. And this time around, besides making the final five with Thompson and Duncan, they were high on the list of Wilson, Erbst and Stuart Thomas, a 6-9, 215-pound forward from Mater Dei who this weekend chose Stanford over UCLA, Arizona and UC Irvine.

Once up the court with some of the area’s other basketball standouts:

--All-City guard Keith Billingslea of South Gate committed last weekend, returning from his trip to Fresno State and agreeing to accept a letter of intent with the Bulldogs. A 6-2, 212-pounder who averaged 21.6 points as a junior, when he was named co-most valuable player of the Eastern League, he had Wake Forest as the No. 2 choice and also considered Arizona, California and Hawaii.

--All-City forward Anthony January (6-6) of Carson visited Texas El Paso last weekend and has had home visits from Texas Tech and Pepperdine.

--Forward Derek Strong (6-9), who didn’t play as a sophomore and made All-City last season, won’t sign early. Placed in the honorable mention category for All-Americans in Street and Smith’s Basketball Yearbook, he is getting the most interest from Oregon State, Weber State and first-year Coach Larry Farmer, San Jose State and Washington State.

--All-City guard Jerry Simon (6-5) has visited Dartmouth and Pennsylvania but also will not sign early. He is also considering UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara and Colorado.

--Forward Victor Malbrough, beginning his third season of varsity play at Palisades, was very impressed with Farmer at Weber State, the only school he has visited so far. He also likes Texas, where he has family, as well as Oklahoma State, Clemson and Arizona State.

Some unsuspecting league champion could be in for quite a shock when first-round pairings are announced in a couple of weeks for the Southern Section football playoffs because of the way the Citrus Belt League determines its No. 1 finisher.

As it now stands, defending Big Five Conference champion Riverside Poly is 5-0 in league play, with Fontana and San Bernardino San Gorgonio tied for second at 4-1. Conceivably, San Gorgonio and Fontana each could win its last two games, with Poly losing to Fontana in a big season ender. That would make all three teams 6-1.

Head-to-head competition is the first criterion in the Citrus Belt for picking a champion, but that wouldn’t do it, since Fontana would have beaten Poly, San Gorgonio has defeated Fontana and Poly has knocked off San Gorgonio. The second criterion is to go with the team that has gone the longest without making the playoffs. In that case, San Gorgonio would get the title and a third-place team in the first round. Riverside Poly would finish second and get a second-place team from a different league. Fontana would be the third-place entry and would draw the champion from another league.

“This year has been unbelievable,” Riverside Poly Coach Mike Churchill said in assessing the Citrus Belt League. “At the start of the year, I figured there were three or four teams that were really good, but now I think there’s more than that. It’s been wild. I had a lot more fun last year.”

More fun?

“It was to me,” he said. “We were just skating along protecting 30-point leads. Now, we’re having to win most of these games at the final buzzer.”

Prep Notes Girls’ volleyball playoffs will begin this week with Manhattan Beach Mira Costa (16-0) of the 5-A Division, L.A. Marlborough (13-1) of the 4-A, defending champion Lake Arrowhead Rim of the World (16-0) of the 3-A, defending champion Ojai Nordhoff (12-0) of the 2-A, defending champion (as Anaheim Melodyland) Southern California Christian (15-0) in the 1-A and Flintridge Sacred Heart (13-2) of the Small Schools as the top seeds. . . . It is now only in the discussion stage, but ESPN is looking into the possibility of having a weekly half-hour show on prep sports beginning next school year. . . . Carson Coach Gene Vollnogle got his 250th victory Friday night with a win over Fremont, his alma mater, and was given a football autographed by the 1985 team to mark the occasion. “Last week I started to feel weird about the whole thing,” he said. “I never thought much about it being a big win until last Sunday, when I was cutting the lawn. It suddenly dawned on me, ‘250 wins. Hey that is a lot.’ It is different.”

Times’ Top 10

SOUTHERN SECTION Through Games of Nov. 3 No. School, LeagueRecord

1. LB Poly, Moore 7-0-0

2. Bishop Amat, Angelus 8-0-0

3. Riverside Poly, Citrus Belt 8-0-0

4. CC Canyon, Golden 8-0-0

5. Servite, Angelus 8-0-0

6. Fontana, Citrus Belt 6-2-0

7. El Modena, Century 7-1-0

8. Loyola, Del Rey 7-1-0

9. St. Paul, Angelus 6-2-0

10. Mission Viejo, South Coast 7-0-1

CITY No. School, League Record

1. Carson, Pacific 6-1-0

2. Banning, Pacific 4-3-0

3. Granada Hills, Valley 7-0-0

4. Dorsey, Pacific 6-1-0

5. San Fernando, Valley 5-2-0

6. Gardena, Pacific 4-3-0

7. Fairfax, Crosstown 7-0-0

8. San Pedro, Freeway 6-1-0

9. Canoga Park, Sunset 6-1-0

10. Bell, Eastern 7-0-0