Basketball Recruiting Season Heats Up

The most important month in high school basketball starts after school lets out.

During the next 31 days, college basketball coaches will be watching the country’s most talented high school players compete in summer camps and tournaments in Los Angeles and across the nation.

In this summer evaluation period, coaches make the crucial decisions that will determine their program’s success.

At 12:01 a.m. last Saturday, coaches began the recruiting period by contacting their most prized recruits. Starting today, coaches will travel around the country to evaluate these players. Scholarships will be offered and accepted in November before any of them play their first high school game during their senior season.

“July can make or break your recruiting season and your program,” UCLA assistant coach Lorenzo Romar said. “According to the NCAA rules, you can only see a player twice during the school year. You depend a lot on July to make decisions on guys.”

The Nike All-American Camp and the Adidas/ABCD Camp attract the most prominent college basketball coaches, including Indiana’s Bob Knight, Arizona’s Lute Olson, North Carolina’s Dean Smith, Kansas’ Roy Williams and UCLA’s Jim Harrick.

Many of these same coaches will head West to attend the West Coast All-Star Camp at Cal State Dominguez Hills, Superstar Camp at Cal State Long Beach and the Slam-n-Jam National Invitational at Cal State Long Beach. It’s common to see coaches such as Utah’s Rick Majerus and Cal’s Todd Bozeman holding court at the Hof’s Hut in Long Beach after watching a full day of activity at Cal State Long Beach.

And those being watched will notice who is watching.

The current consensus best player in the nation, guard Kobe Bryant of Lower Merion High in Ardmore, Pa., certainly has the bloodlines. His father, Joe [Jellybean] Bryant, played eight years in the NBA, including three with the then-San Diego Clippers. Bryant, who will attend the Adidas/ABCD Camp, works out regularly with the Philadelphia 76ers, said Bob Gibbons, publisher for Lenoir, N.C.-based All Star Sports Publications.

Mater Dei transfer Schea Cotton and most of the top California prospects, including Olujimi Mann of Santa Ana Valley, will compete in the Nike All-American Camp, which will be held this week at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis. Crossroads’ 6-0 guard Baron Davis is another member of a talented junior-to-be class.

Mann, a 6-4 guard, and 6-7 small forward Greg Clark from Grossmont High of La Mesa, said they will sign with NCAA champion UCLA, giving the Bruins a quick start in the recruiting wars.

According to basketball analysts, the top two local players are 6-foot guard Danny Walker and 6-1 guard Jason Hart, both formerly of Westchester High. Other local players to watch include 6-6 forward Kejuan Woods of Crossroads, 6-0 guard Michael Johnson of St. Bernard, 6-5 forward Chris Popoola of Westchester, 6-5 forward Noel Bloom of Crossroads and 6-1 guard Marques Jessie of Culver City.

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Summer Hot Spots

The top high school basketball players will be evaluated by college recruiters at tournaments and camps throughout Southern California and the nation in July. Seniors to watch LOCAL

Name School Ht. Pos.* 1. Olujimi Mann Santa Ana Valley 6’-4” CG 2. Corey Benjamin Fontana 6’-6” G/F 3. Greg Clark La Mesa Grossmont 6’-7” SF 4. Eddie Miller Chatsworth 6’-8” PF 5. Ortege Jenkins Long Beach Jordan 6’-2” SG 6. Danny Walker Fremont** 6’-0” SG 7. Jason Hart Inglewood** 6’-1” PG 8. James Lee Artesia 6’-5” SF 9. David Lalazarian Tustin 6’-6” SF 10. Will Porter Nogales 6’-1” CG 11. Tremaine Mayeaux Redondo 6’-3” SF 12. Brian Johnson Dominguez** 6’-5” CF 13. Dony Wilcher Fremont 5’-8” PG 14. Brian Jackson Damien 6’-5” SF 15. Michael Garrett Santa Barbara 6’-0” PG 16. Brian Jones Banning 6’-2” SG 17. Jermel Jones Fremont** 6’-2” SF 18. Tony Parker Rowland 6’-1” SG 19. Ike Harmon Santa Ana Valley 6’-6” CF 20. Brandon Price Bishop Montgomery 6’-5” SF

*The Top 10

Name School Ht. Pos.* 1. Kobe Bryant Lower Merion (Pa.) 6’-6” CG 2. Jermaine O’Neal Eau Claire (S.C.) 6’10” C 3. Tim Thomas Paterson Catholic (N.J.) 6’-9” C/F 4. Chris Carrawell Cardinal Ritter (Mo.) 6’-6” SF 5. Charles Hathaway Hillwood (Tenn.) 6’-9” C 6. Ronnie Fields Farragut (Ill.) 6’-3” SG 7. Shaheen Holloway St. Patrick (N.J.) 5’-10” PG 8. Michael Bibby Shadow Mountain (Ariz.) 6’-2” PG 9. Lester Earl Glen Oaks (La.) 6’-10” C 10.Malik Allen Shawnee (N.J.) 6’-9” C

*CG is combo guard, CF is combo forward, SF is small forward, SG is shooting guard, PG is point guard, PF is power forward. **Probable school for 1995-96 season after transfer. Compiled bt SEAN WATERS / Los Angeles Times *LOCAL EVENTS

Dates Event Site 1 Thur.-Sat Carson Summer Finale Carson High 2 Thur.-Sat Servite Classic Servite High 3 Sat.-9 Discovery Shootout CS Dom. Hills 4 Sun.-12 Superstar Camp CSULB 5 11-14 West Coast All Star Camp CS Dom. Hills 6 11-14 Great Western Shootout Ocean View High 7 13-16 Fairfax Tournament Fairfax High 8 15-20 Slam-n-Jam Natl. Invt. Tourn. CSULB

*National Events

Dates Event Site 1 Thur.-11 YBOA 19-under Men’s Univ. of North Florida National Tournament Jacksonville 2 Fri.-12 Nike All-American Camp Hoosier Dome Indianapolis 3 Fri.-12 Adidas/ABCD Camp Fairleigh Dickenson U. Teaneck, N.J. 4 11-15 Dave Krieder Camp Showmaker Center, Univ. of Cinn. 5 14-19 Five-Star Camp Robert Morris College Coraopolis, Pa. 6 15-16 Nike/Morris Shootout Morris, Ill. 7 15-22 Nike National Summer Nevada Las Vegas Prep Championship (north, south gyms) 8 17-22 The Big Time/AAU Tourn. Durango H.S., Las Vegas 9 24-29 Las Vegas Grand Finale Cimarron Memorial Cheyenne highs, L.V. 10 25-31 22nd Annual Nike/BCI Arizona State, Summer Prep Intern. Tempe 11 29-31 Steamboat Classic Memphis, Tenn.

*A day in the life Saturday’s schedule for the Adidas/ABCD Camp

8 a.m. Wake-up 8-9 a.m. Breakfast 9:20-10:10 a.m. Class* I 10:35-11:45 a.m. Class II 11:45-12:45 p.m. Lunch 1-1:10 p.m. Meeting 1:15-2 p.m. Guest speaker 2-5 p.m. Afternoon games 4:45-5:45 p.m. Dinner 6-6:10 p.m. Meeting 6:15-7 p.m. Guest speaker 7-10 p.m. Evening games 10:15-10:25 p.m. Meeting 10:30-10:50 p.m. Snack 11 p.m. Lights Out

*Achievement Test Preparation Class