RECRUITING / JEFF FELLENZER : Bishop Montgomery, Serra Could Be Choice of Standout Guard Price

Although college basketball coaches are eager to sign Rick Price to a letter of intent, the senior-to-be has another worry. He must first decide on a high school.

Price, a 6-foot-6 guard who may be the best player among California seniors in 1994, has decided not to return to Long Beach St. Anthony, where he has started for the varsity since his freshman season. Last season, Price averaged 25 points a game and was a first-team Southern Section Division IV choice, but St. Anthony changed coaches in midseason and finished 11-15. St. Anthony has since hired another coach, Nick Colon, marking the fifth coach at the school since Price arrived.

Price played for Bishop Montgomery in last weekend’s Santa Ana Mater Dei tournament. He has several friends on the team, having attended Valley Christian School, one of Bishop Montgomery’s local “feeder” schools. Price is also considering Serra and has been practicing with its team this week.

He would like to make a decision by the end of the month.

As for choosing a college, that may take a while longer.

Today is the first day that college coaches can begin contacting high school seniors, and Price figures to get plenty of attention. Coaches are allowed no more than one phone call a week to each prospect.

“I can’t wait for it to start,” said Price, who is considered one of the top prospects in the state with 6-5 Bellflower St. John Bosco guard Jelani Gardner and 6-9 Bakersfield East forward J.R. Henderson. “I’m anxious and excited to experience the whole process.”

Price lists eight colleges, in no particular order, as early favorites: UCLA, USC, California, Kansas, Arizona, Memphis State, Arkansas and Cal State Long Beach.

Asked to handicap five of the schools, Price offered these insights:

* Cal: “Coach (Todd) Bozeman is very inspirational. He’s also a young coach who seems easy to talk to and can really relate to his players.”

* Kansas: “Roy Williams is an extraordinary coach. He coaches the game like it’s a chess match. The program is also squeaky-clean. They do everything by the rules and they win.”

* Arizona: “Lute Olson is real laid-back and never seems to lose his cool. I was disappointed with their (the Wildcats’) loss in the NCAA tournament (in the first round to Santa Clara), but like good teams always do, they’ll bounce back.”

* USC: “I went to Coach (George) Raveling’s open house on campus recently and found out some good things. He is very easy to talk to and he can talk about any issue. His door is always open and he’s an inspiration to his players.”

* UCLA: “They play my style of ball--run and gun, shoot the three. Charles (O’Bannon) should add some firepower too. I know Toby (Bailey, 6-5 swingman from Loyola High) and Jelani (Gardner) like UCLA, and they could end up playing the wing position, so it’s a question of making sure I would fit in.”

Price said that the fact his parents, Rosita and Rick Price Sr., are UCLA graduates would not have a bearing on his decision.

“Not at all,” he said. “It’ll be my decision; they really haven’t pushed that point.

“I think it would be a good experience for me to move out of the area, but if I had a gut feeling to stay home, I would.”

Price is debating whether to sign a letter of intent in November or wait until the spring, as Lakewood Artesia’s Charles O’Bannon and Avondre Jones did last season.

“I don’t want to do anything too hasty,” he said. “I also don’t want to drag it out too long, though at least the O’Bannons (including Charles’ older brother Ed, also a highly recruited prep player; both are now at UCLA) and Vonnie (Avondre Jones, who signed with USC) got a chance to consider everything before they signed.”

Price is awaiting results from his second attempt at passing the Scholastic Aptitude Test. He scored 690 on his first try. He needs to score 700 to be eligible as a freshman.

Notes

No word on the status of the three USC basketball signees who are awaiting results from their college entrance examinations--6-foot-4 guard Stais Boseman, 6-6 forward Jaha Wilson and 6-3 guard Claude Green. There have been reports that Wilson may attend a prep school in the fall if he doesn’t earn the minimum score to be eligible as a freshman, and Boseman, who attended Morningside, could end up at Ventura College. . . . One of the fastest-rising players in the senior class is 6-2 guard Jeremy Veal of San Dimas, a Southern Section Division III first-team selection who averaged 23 points a game last season. Veal has impressed scouts with his speed and quickness, ball handling and shooting range. He could play either point or off-guard in college. Veal has already passed the Scholastic Aptitude Test and has a cumulative grade-point average of about 3.45. Colleges that have shown the most early interest include Stanford, USC, Arizona State, Loyola Marymount, Cal State Long Beach, Oregon State and Providence. Veal says his mind is “wide open,” but acknowledges being a lifelong UCLA fan.

Joel Francisco of the Long Beach-based Southern California’s Finest basketball scouting service ranks Veal as the No. 6 prospect in the area in his pre-summer report. Francisco’s top 12: 1) Henderson, 2) Price, 3) Gardner, 4) Fantasia Johnson (6-0, North Hollywood), 5) Kris Johnson (6-5, Crenshaw), 6) Veal, 7) Jamie Gillin (6-4, Compton Dominguez), 8) Tremaine Fowlkes (6-6, Crenshaw), 9) Jason Pickett (6-2, Banning), 10) Tommie Davis (5-8, Fremont), 11) Bailey, 12) Mike Carson (6-10, Chino Don Lugo).

The consensus choice for the nation’s top senior prospect is 6-5 swingman Felipe Lopez of Rice High in New York. The early college favorite for Lopez, a native of the Dominican Republic, appears to be Georgia Tech. He is also considering Seton Hall, St. John’s, Syracuse, North Carolina, UCLA, Indiana, Florida State, Kansas, Ohio State and Arizona.