RECRUITING / JEFF FELLENZER : Scouts Keeping Eyes on Woodbridge Sophomore Burgess

It must be fun being Chris Burgess these days.

Talk about needing a pair of shades to block out those blinding rays of the future . . .

Though still at least a year and a half away from signing a college letter of intent, Burgess, a 6-foot-10, 225-pound Woodbridge High sophomore, already has become a household name among college basketball coaches throughout the country.

And for good reason.

After transferring from Mater Dei, where he spent most of his freshman year on the varsity bench, Burgess averaged 21.9 points and a county-best 11.4 rebounds last season for Woodbridge. He shot 51% from the field, and even made 38% of his three-point attempts. About the only thing Burgess didn’t do exceptionally well was shoot free throws: a sub-par 62%.

USA Today recently listed Burgess as one of the 10 best sophomores in the country. Others included Schea Cotton of Mater Dei and Jarron Collins of North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake.

Burgess is a physical player who can score and rebound effectively inside, and who has the shooting touch and range to be an outside threat.

He turned a few heads on Saturday during a Slam-N-Jam development league game at Compton Dominguez High. After catching a pass near the top of the key, Burgess surprised his defender with a head fake, charged down the lane on two dribbles and threw down a dunk.

Burgess is just one gem in an exceptionally gifted sophomore class, in Orange County and Southern California.

At the head of that class, of course, is the 6-5 Cotton, perhaps the No. 1 sophomore in the country. Other junior-to-be standouts include 6-9 Mike Vukovich and 5-10 Kevin Augustine of Mater Dei; 6-11 Eric Chenowith of Villa Park; Harvard-Westlake’s Collins twins, 6-9 Jarron and 6-10 Jason; 5-9 Kenny Brunner of Compton Dominguez; 6-7 Shannon Johnson of North Hollywood High; 6-6 Travis Reed of L.A. Manual Arts; 6-4 Leon Jones of L.A. Fremont, 6-2 Deaundre Tanner of Inglewood, and 6-6 Erron Maxey of Lake Elsinore Temescal Canyon.

“The sophomore class is shaping up to be the top high school class in Southern California history,” said Garth Franklin, co-publisher of the Los Angeles-based Recruiting Plus newsletter. “And the best prospect in the class, in my opinion, is Chris Burgess.”

Few players seem more driven to reach greatness than Burgess. How’s this for an “off-season” schedule: Besides playing for Woodbridge in a twice-weekly spring league at Capistrano Valley, he’s one of the stars of Pat Barrett’s VBA traveling team, which competes on weekends at the Slam-N-Jam league in Compton, and recently won the Las Vegas Easter Classic. Other members of the team include sophomores Cotton, Brunner and Reed, junior Olujimi Mann of Santa Ana Valley and freshman Jason Thomas of Compton Dominguez.

On a recent Saturday, Burgess scored 34 points to lead VBA to a victory at Compton High. Less than two hours later, he was at Capistrano Valley, where he scored 42 points to help Woodbridge beat Mission Viejo.

Burgess also lifts weights daily; works out twice weekly with noted personal trainer Eric Moreno (Cherokee Parks of Duke is among his other pupils) on his speed, quickness and jumping ability, and practices his moves and footwork with other post players on Sunday nights at Woodbridge under the tutelage of former college coach Bob Gottlieb.

College coaches love his talent and work ethic and the fact he has a 3.6 grade-point average.

Even Burgess’ social life has a basketball twist to it. His girlfriend, Stephanie Kettner, is a sophomore forward at Irvine High.

One of the front-runners courting Burgess, a Mormon, is Brigham Young. Burgess’ father, Ken, was raised in Alpine, Utah, just north of BYU in Provo. Chris was born in nearby Orem. Ken Burgess, who is 6-4, played basketball as a freshman walk-on at BYU before bad knees ended his career.

Last fall, Burgess and his father took a weekend trip to BYU, where they watched the basketball team practice. That trip came shortly after they accepted an invitation to visit UCLA.

Burgess admits he was a Duke fan as a youngster, though UCLA has since passed the Blue Devils in his mind, he says. (“Hey, remind him that he also used to root for UNLV when they were winning all the time,” says Ken Burgess with a laugh.) Then again, Duke recently began recruiting him, so stay tuned.

Though it’s still early in the recruiting process--colleges can’t contact prospects directly until July 1 before their senior year of high school--Burgess says his top four choices are UCLA, BYU, Duke and Arizona. He also singled out Kansas, Kentucky and Syracuse as schools he would be interested in visiting.

Burgess admits he faces a difficult decision on several fronts: On one hand, he could leave home and follow his religious convictions at BYU of the lower-profile Western Athletic Conference, where he would probably be the best player on the team the moment he walks on campus, much like he is now at Woodbridge.

Or he could choose to stay closer to home and play in front of his family and friends, at UCLA or Arizona, where he would be just one of several outstanding players, similar to his situation with the VBA team now.

“I want to go somewhere I can be an impact player as a freshman, like (UCLA’s) Toby Bailey and J.R. Henderson were,” Burgess said. “I’d rather play around other great players, too.

“And I’d like to win a national championship.”

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Recruiting Notes

Among the leading candidates to replace Steve Lavin as UCLA’s restricted earnings coach is Mater Dei assistant Tom Lewis, who played one season for Bruin Coach Jim Harrick at Pepperdine.

USC has completed its basketball recruiting now that 6-6 swingman James Brown of Compton Dominguez has had his transcripts approved by the university, and has signed a letter of intent. The Trojans picked up an extra scholarship, which they used to sign Brown, when center Kirk Homenick decided to quit playing for medical reasons. They almost got another one, but sophomore guard Claude Green has decided to stay in the program and redshirt next season.

California has signed a highly regarded point guard, 6-3 Prentice McGruder of Southeastern College in West Burlington, Iowa. McGruder, from Benton Harbor, Mich., chose the Golden Bears over Michigan State, Cincinnati and Minnesota, among others. He will compete with sophomore-to-be Jelani Gardner for playing time, and gives Cal a penetrating, slashing type of point guard with a “pass-first mentality,” according to his coach at Southeastern, Chuck Chrisman.

Add Cal: According to a source close to Cal Coach Todd Bozeman, rumors that Gardner was ready to transfer in the wake of family differences with Bozeman--Kentucky and Fresno State were mentioned as possible destinations--are “absolutely false.”

Add Pac-10 hoops: Arizona is trying to persuade former St. John’s forward Roshown McLeod of Jersey City, N.J., to take a recruiting trip this weekend. The 6-9 McLeod, who almost signed with the Wildcats out of high school, played two years at St. John’s before deciding to transfer after last season. He had been scheduled to visit Tucson last weekend. But after visiting Duke last week, and attending the school’s basketball awards banquet, McLeod orally committed to the Blue Devils. He would be the first transfer in Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s career at Duke.

Oregon has signed one of the most underrated prospects in Southern California, 6-7 forward Andre Larry of L.A. Verbum Dei. Larry, a good student, had taken unofficial trips to UC Santa Barbara and Pepperdine before visiting Oregon recently and signing with the Ducks.

Brigham Young has received a commitment from one of the top juniors in Northern California, 6-9 Eric Nielsen of Irvington High in Fremont. Nielsen averaged about 19 points and 12 rebounds last season.

Football report: Cal has signed defensive back Louis Henderson (6-2, 190) of Westchester High. Henderson was also a standout wide receiver at Westchester, catching 17 passes last season. He was considering offers from Hawaii and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, but had hoped to sign with a Pac-10 school.

UCLA might have another scholarship available soon, much to Coach Terry Donahue’s chagrin, if star outside linebacker Donnie Edwards decides to enter the NFL’s supplemental draft this summer, as has been discussed. If he plays next season at UCLA, Edwards would be a graduate student.