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Photo of the Day: Rey Maualuga Needs a Haircut

Rey taking in lessons from the Bengals' LB coach.

Coach Floyd's Response to Early Recruitment

As we all know, Coach Floyd took some flak when Ryan Boatwright (a HS freshman to be) committed to SC after a camp held at Galen Center.  Here's Coach Floyd's response to the criticism and concern:

TF: Well, in a perfect world, all of these young players would make their decisions in the fall of their senior years.  But it's not the world that we're in.  We didn't invent taking young players.  Bob Knight took Damon Bailey 20 years ago as an eighth grader.  Chris Leak was offered by Wake Forest as an eighth grader and went to Florida as a football player.  Our competition across town (UCLA) took a commitment from an eighth grader, Taylor King.  Last fall, there were two freshmen that committed in their first week of school to Illinois and Marquette.  It's where it is.  I think that we all recognize that young people can have great talents, and if those players have dreamed about going to your school, they tend to ask you if they're being offered a scholarship by your school. And if you don't tell them that you are, then you offend them.  If you tell them you've offered, sometimes you have to be prepared for them to accept it, and that's just the nature of recruiting in the world that we live in right now.

I think it all started, or it really started accelerating, when these high school players were allowed to go to the NBA.  After [Kevin] Garnett went in 1995, kids started thinking. Sophomores started thinking about declaring for the NBA in two years.  So we've seen a 14-year-old golfer in Michelle Wie play on the LPGA Tour and play on the men's tour.  We've seen a 12-year-old girl this year quality for the U.S. [Women's] Open.  I'm seeing it in all sports, and I think athletes are bigger and stronger, and it's something that's talked about at an earlier age than it was 15 years ago because of the cost of college tuitions and educations.  At supper tables with the parents, they're talking about saving for college, and they want their kids in that place.  All I know is that any commitment that we make to a young player, we will honor.

To me, one of the biggest benefits of taking a young player is I think the NCAA has done a poor job of educating high school counselors on Form 48H.  I think it's why so many young prospects are in prep schools right now, because counselors merely have most of these kids on degree tracks to graduate from high school with no awareness of the 16 core course requirement and the GPA requirement that is needed at the college level. But when you identify prospects early, we then have a chance to interact with those counselors and let them know what classes that these young players should be in.  And as far as the two young guys that we have taken commitments from, there's absolutely no reason why they should have every opportunity to qualify at the point when they make their graduation from high school and get ready to move on to the college level.

Personally I'm against early recruitment, but I also think Coach Floyd took an unfair amount of flak for the Boatwright commitment.  Coach Floyd does bring up a good point that kids today are developing at a much younger age and parents/kids are becoming more savvier and business-like about the future of their star child.  Either way, the last thing I want to see is early recruitment become a fact of life in college basketball recruiting...

Thursday Top 3

• Remember to watch the NBA draft tonight on ESPN @ 7pm EST.  Let's hope Nick sneaks into the lottery and Gabe stays in the 1st round.  I predict Nick goes to the Hornets @ #13.   

• Some footage from Day 1 and Day 2 of the USC Rising Star Camp this weekend.  I was really impressed with Joe Adams on the defensive side of the ball.  He played tight in coverage and showed the speed and hips necessary to be shutdown CB.  I'd imagine the coaching staff has him up high on their priority list with Patrick Johnson reaffirming his commitment to Miami a few days ago. 

• Some rare video footage of Romeo Miller and Ryan Boatwright from USCHoops.TV.  Romeo doesn't look that bad, but you can tell he's still quite a ways from getting any significant PT.  He might be able to create on the offensive end, but judging from his build, he'd get demolished on the defense.

Wednesday Top 3

• As mentioned earlier today, Donte Smith from Mt. San Antonio College will petition to the NCAA to join the SC basketball team this Fall.  The story behind Donte is he failed to qualify coming out of high school by .002 points due to his mother being sick his senior year.  OU was heavily recruiting Donte, but after this weekend's USC Elite Camp, he decided to commit shortly after being offered by Coach Floyd and staff. 

If Donte qualifies, he'll battle it out with Angelo (if he also qualifies) for playing time and add necessary depth at the PG position.  Having played one season at Mt. SAC, he'll have 3 years of eligibility at SC. 

• The 2nd commit of the day for the basketball team came from 8th-grader, Ryan Boatwright from Aurora, Illinois.  Here's a few comments about Ryan's decision from his father:

"They were the first one to show interest in Ryan," said Boatwright's father, Mike. "A lot of people have said Ryan isn't that good, but he went to USC's camp and played well."

Boatwright played well enough that Floyd put forth a scholarship offer on the final day of camp. DePaul, Indiana and a few smaller schools had expressed interest, but USC was the first to step up with an offer.

"It shocked me," Mike Boatwright said of the offer. "But Ryan loved it there and he decided on his own."

"The campus is gorgeous," he added. "It's a private school and both myself and his mom were impressed with the academic standards at USC. That's really what got us."

Personally, I don't take much stock into this commitment.  With Dwayne Polee Jr. - the other 8th grader to commit last year - I can see the possibility of him wearing a SC uniform because of his ties and location relative to the program, but in this case we have an 8th grader making a tremendously important decision coming off the high of playing well at a college camp.  When you add distance as a factor and the local schools whispering in his ear, the chances that this commitment sticks doesn't look too good.  At this point it's completely worthless to speculate, so I'll put this on the back burner for a WHILE...

• Congrats to Hershel Dennis for receiving a sixth year of eligibility from the NCAA.  As I mentioned before, Hershel was one of the more impressive players I saw during Spring practice and at the Huddle.  Let's hope he sees the field and makes good of this opportunity. 

Quick Update: USC Basketball Gets Two New Commits

Both committed at the USC Elite Camp this weekend:

• 1st Commit:  Donte Smith from Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, CA.  Sleuth over at USCHoops.com says he is the top JUCO PG in the nation. 

• 2nd Commit:  Ryan Boatwright, a PG out of Aurora, Illinois.  Ryan is part of the Class of 2011, meaning he is going to be a Freshman in HS this Fall (!). 

I will have more on the commitments later tonight.