Serra Cage Star Chooses Iowa, Claims Fan Support Weak in

James Moses of Serra, the South Bay’s top basketball recruit, had narrowed his college choices to three schools before signing an early letter of intent Monday with Iowa.

None of his final choices included a school in Southern California.

In what has become a distressing trend for local college coaches, many of the best prep basketball players in Southern California continue to sign with out-of-state schools.

David Whitmore of St. Bernard, the top recruit in the South Bay last year, is at Georgia Tech. Chris Mills of Fairfax, regarded as the best player in Southern California, signed last week with Kentucky. And the list goes on.

Why is the local talent flocking out of state? Or, as Loyola Marymount Coach Paul Westhead put it recently: “Why would a kid from Corona del Mar or Mission Viejo want to go to school in Syracuse?”

The reason, according to Moses, is fan support.

“You don’t get the fan support out here,” he said. “At an Iowa or a Kentucky or a Georgia Tech, the fans are real supportive of the teams whether they win or lose. The fans are with them all the way.

“I feel USC is going to grow. But it’s going to take two or three years before they bring a crowd in. They have to start winning first. USC doesn’t even get a thousand people to some of their games. That’s ridiculous.

“UCLA used to have the gym rockin’ and rollin’ when (John) Wooden was there. Now they get only four or five thousand. The fans only come out when they play the major teams.”

The 6-foot-5 Moses, who is projected to play off-guard in college, said he considered UCLA after his sophomore year. But when the letters stopped coming, he looked elsewhere.

“They changed their attitude toward me last year,” he said. “I was strong on UCLA, but they stopped recruiting me as hard.”

Moses also considered Louisiana State and Arizona, schools he visited last week, before settling on Iowa.

Carson football Coach Gene Vollnogle wasn’t surprised when he found out that Capistrano Valley Coach Dick Enright had been suspended through next season for illegally viewing tapes of an El Toro practice.

Vollnogle says Enright, the former coach at Gardena, has a history of shady behavior.

“I turned him in when he was at Gardena in the ‘60s,” Vollnogle said.

Although he couldn’t remember the exact year, Vollnogle said he was the Marine League representative when he got word that Enright was conducting illegal spring practices on weekends.

Vollnogle said he and Jack Bobinette, then the coach at Narbonne, drove to Gardena on a Saturday and discovered Enright on the field with his team.

“We watched them for about 15 or 20 minutes. Then we went down and talked to him,” Vollnogle recalled. “He denied that he was coaching. I asked him, ‘Then what are these 50 guys doing out here?’ ”

Morningside has never had a freshman make the varsity basketball team, but co-Coach Ron Randle says 6-4 Arthur Savage could be the first.

“He’s probably the most talented freshman I’ve ever seen,” said Randle, who coaches the Monarchs with Carl Franklin. “I expect him to be one of the best players in the area in a year or so.

“He’s working with the varsity. He’s that good. We haven’t determined what level he’ll play, but I know it will not be lower than junior varsity.”

Randle says Savage has a better knowledge of basketball than most freshmen because of experience on touring summer league teams.

Savage is one of several talented underclassmen in Morningside’s program. Sophomores Jeff Crowe (6-7) and Don Sanders (5-10) and junior Eddie Scott (6-6) are also promising.

“The future is in our youth,” Randle said.

Morningside lost a talented junior when 6-7 Chris Vance, a transfer from Crenshaw, moved to North Carolina with his mother last week.

Despite losing to Carson, 35-7, Banning’s football team still picked up a win last weekend.

Muir was forced to forfeit its 6-3 win over Banning on Sept. 25 because it used an ineligible player. So, instead of a 4-4 record, the Pilots will bring a 5-3 mark into their final Pacific League game Friday night against Fremont at Harbor College.

As for Muir, the Mustangs forfeited seven other victories and will miss the CIF Coastal Conference playoffs. The Mustangs won the conference title last year.

Another conspicuous absentee from the CIF football playoffs is Chadwick, last year’s Eight-Man Large Division champion.

The Dolphins, who had heavy graduation losses, finished with a 3-5-1 overall record and a 1-3-1 Prep League mark. Injuries, most notably to junior quarterback Greg O’Riordan, contributed to the team’s poor showing.

One of the bright spots was the play of senior wide receiver Charlton Jackson, who had 64 catches to give him a school-record 164 career receptions.

Jim Nielsen found himself in an unusual situation at Mira Costa last week when the pairings were announced for the Pacific Shores Basketball Tournament.

Nielsen, the Mira Costa coach and a tournament organizer for the last six years, was an onlooker this time. He is the new coach of his alma mater, North Torrance.

“I spent the summer away from basketball,” said Nielsen, who resigned at Mira Costa after last season. “I didn’t miss it a bit. I wasn’t planning on coaching this year.”

Nielsen said there were two reasons why he took the job: He wanted the opportunity to coach his son, Geoff, a promising eighth-grader, and he liked the idea of returning to North.

“It’s really fun to be at your own high school,” he said. “The first day I walked into North High School, I got goose bumps.”

The 6-foot-7 Nielsen was a four-year varsity player for North from 1964 to 1968 and the Bay League most valuable player his junior and seniors years. He went on to play for Washington State.

Although he will coach at North, he will continue to teach at Mira Costa.

North’s first opponent under Nielsen is a tough one. The Saxons open the season Dec. 1 in the Pacific Shores Tournament against No. 2-seeded Carson.