Schools Rolling Out Red Carpet for Prince

Compton Dominguez basketball Coach Russell Otis still remembers the day when he realized one of his young players stood out like, well, a prince among men.

That player, with the regal bearing and the regal name of Tommy Prince, scored 18 points Saturday in helping Dominguez to a convincing 77-59 victory over Tustin in the Southern Section Division II-A championship game at The Pond of Anaheim.

A smooth 6-foot-5 swingman, Prince has steadily developed into one of the most heavily recruited players in the country. Most coaches and talent evaluators consider Prince to be among the top three senior prospects in California, along with 6-7 Paul Pierce of Inglewood High and 6-11 Jelani McCoy of San Diego St. Augustine.

But three years ago, Prince was a varsity freshman who had played organized basketball for barely a year. One day early that season, practice at Dominguez was scheduled to start in a couple of hours and Prince, with a fever and a headache, was too sick to play. Problem was, he was at his grandmother’s house several miles from school, he didn’t have a ride, and he couldn’t reach Otis by phone.

So he started to walk. Ninety minutes later, a physically exhausted Prince showed up to tell Otis, in person, that he didn’t think he could practice that day.

“At that point,” Otis said, “I knew we had something special. I don’t think I’ve ever had a kid who worked so hard and wanted to be as good as Tommy does. People like him come along once in a lifetime.”

The hard work has paid major dividends for Prince and his talented teammates, who consider Prince their undisputed leader. Much like another soft-spoken left-hander, UCLA forward Ed O’Bannon, Prince leads by example on the court.

“Tommy doesn’t say much, but when he does, everyone listens,” said freshman forward Jason Thomas, who credited Prince with helping him handle the pressure of playing in a championship game just a year out of junior high.

Prince, an excellent defensive player with huge hands and a soft shooting touch who struggles occasionally from the perimeter, will take averages of 19 points and seven rebounds into the Southern California Regional playoffs, which begin Tuesday night. “He’s just so unselfish,” Otis said. “If we needed him to score 30 points a game, believe me, he would.”

That notion was confirmed in the championship game of the Artesia Best in the West Tournament in December. Prince put on a dazzling offensive display in scoring 36 points in Dominguez’s double-overtime victory over Inglewood. The Dons also won last week’s much-anticipated rematch at Compton College, even though Prince was held to six points and Pierce had 35 points and 14 rebounds.

College coaches haven’t been fooled by Prince’s relatively modest statistics, either.

Among the schools recruiting Prince are UCLA, USC, Arizona, Arizona State, Maryland, Oregon, Nevada Las Vegas, Indiana and Temple. Earlier this season, longtime North Carolina assistant Bill Guthridge dropped by a Dominguez practice and told Otis that Prince was “a North Carolina type of player.”

USC interim coach Charlie Parker and UCLA assistant Lorenzo Romar, along with Kansas Coach Roy Williams (Pierce has orally committed to the Jayhawks), watched the Dominguez-Inglewood game last week.

Prince confirmed reports that he favors UCLA, when he was relaxing in Pauley Pavilion after a Dominguez practice before the Tustin game. Otis bused his team to UCLA last Thursday and Friday to get the players acclimated to a big arena.

“I feel comfortable here, and I get along well with the guys on the team,” Prince said.

Was he concerned about playing time, what with the development of Bruin freshman standouts Toby Bailey and J.R. Henderson?

“Being around better players will make me a better player,” Prince said, adding that playing time as a freshman will be an important factor in his decision.

Prince, who has maintained better than a 3.0 grade-point average while taking advance-placement classes at Dominguez, said he probably will take official recruiting trips to UCLA, Maryland and either Arizona or Arizona State. He is scheduled to retake the Scholastic Assessment Test on April 1, and doesn’t expect to sign until after April 12, the first day of the spring signing period.

Notes

UCLA has three available scholarships, one of which is saved for Prince. The Bruins also would like to sign 6-1 Shomario Richard of La Puente Nogales. Richard, a super-quick point guard who is averaging about 28 points and 10 assists, would help offset the loss of Tyus Edney. Richard was held to seven points on 2-of-12 field-goal shooting in Mater Dei’s 83-33 victory over Nogales in the Southern Section Division I-A championship game Saturday night. Richard has not yet qualified academically, however. He said Sunday that his first official recruiting trip probably will be to UCLA as soon as his season ends. He also likes Long Beach State, Utah and Nevada Las Vegas. Other schools recruiting him include Wyoming, Nebraska, Oklahoma, San Diego State, Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount.

Another player who intrigues Bruin coaches is Rico Harris, a 6-8, 235-pound forward from Temple City High. Harris, who has grown four inches in the last two years and wears size 18 shoes, is a good shooter and post-up player. He was in the UCLA locker room after the recent UCLA-Duke game. Harris, who averaged 28 points and 15 rebounds this season, took official trips to Oregon and Arizona State last month. He has not yet achieved a qualifying score on the SAT, but is reportedly only a few points short.

Add UCLA: The Bruins also are recruiting Kendrick Spruel, a 6-8 swingman from Baton Rouge, La., who some coaches and scouts say is in the mold of Houston Rockets forward Robert Horry. Alabama and Florida are among the schools high on Spruel’s list. Spruel, who impressed Bruin coaches during a national prep tournament in Las Vegas in December, probably will schedule a trip to UCLA when his season is over.