Another Pacific NW recruit eludes UA; Miller still recruiting smart
by Javier Morales on Apr. 30, 2010, under SportsRELATED TOPIC: Check out a poll at WILDABOUTAZCATS.com that asks, “Is Terrence Jones’ signing with Washington a good thing for the Pac-10?”
Portland Jefferson forward Terrence Jones became the eighth Top 50 recruit from the Pac-10 region to announce he would sign with Washington since 2003 (Terrence Jones photo)
Another top-notch recruit from Oregon — Portland Jefferson High School forward Terrence Jones — is going somewhere other than Arizona, which makes UA followers long for the days of Damon Stoudamire, Salim Stoudamire, and, yes, even Chris Rodgers leaving the Pacific northwest for Tucson.
At least Jones, rated the No. 13 prospect by Rivals.com, is staying in the Pac-10 region. He announced this afternoon that he will be headed for Washington, joining high school teammate Terrence Ross, who is rated No. 48 by Rivals.com.
Since Sean Miller and assistant coach Book Richardson arrived in Arizona last April, the Wildcats’ recruiting success includes New York more than Oregon or Washington.
Miller has signed two New Yorkers (because of Richardson’s AAU background there): Kevin Parrom and Lamont “MoMo” Jones, with more potentially on the way in 2011 with Sidiki Johnson and Angel Nunez. Because of this, the general misnomer is Miller is going after East coast players more than West coast talent.
In his almost 13 months on the job at Arizona, Miller has signed eight players, three of whom are from southern California — Derrick Williams, Solomon Hill and Jordin Mayes — and another from Arizona (Daniel Bejarano). The West coast presence is still there. UA loyalists, however, recall the days when Lute Olson made the Wildcats a regional power by attracting talent from Oregon and Washington in addition to the Los Angeles area.
Some of Olson’s best players came from Washington (Jason Terry and Michael Dickerson) and Oregon (the Stoudamires). Rodgers had his struggles at Arizona, but he was named the Portland Interscholastic League Player of the Year in 2002 and he played in the Jordan Brand Capital Classic in Washington, D.C., along with fellow UA teammates Hassan Adams and Andre Iguodala.
Marcus Willliams, a standout from Seattle Roosevelt High School, also attended Arizona, although he left prematurely to the NBA after averaging 16.6 points and 6.7 rebounds a game as a sophomore in 2006-07.
Before his leave of absence and retirement rocked the program, Olson was set to sign Tacoma 5-Star prospect Abdul Gaddy and Portland prospect Mike Moser, but they went elsewhere with Olson no longer around.
Miller and his brother, assistant coach Archie Miller, recruited Jones after they arrived in Tucson last year. One of their first in-home visits in September was with Jones and his mother Linda Mashia-Jones.
Shortly after Concord (Mass.) Middlesex player Rod Odom, who also plays forward, verbally committed to Arizona in October, Jones and his mother backed away from Arizona. “I guess you could say their focus has shifted and their needs have changed in regards to Terrence,” Mashia-Jones told me at the time.
After the jump: More information about West coast prospects and Pac-10 schools, plus a chart detailing where the regional prospects have gone since 2003:
Arizona is now without both of them. Odom de-committed and subsequently signed with Vanderbilt, and the Wildcats must play Jones at least twice a year (maybe three times if UA and Washington meet in the Pac-10 tournament).
How important is it to attract talent from the West coast? Upon his hiring, Miller said, “The one striking part about our program here is that it’s amazing to me where the greatest players at this university have come from: Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Chicago and obviously up and down the entire West Coast. We’re going to be selective and most importantly we have to take the players that can do what we want to do.”
Translation: The ability of the player and his adaptability to Miller’s philosophies outweigh where the recruit comes from, as should be the case. Furthermore, while researching the Rivals.com Top 50 recruits since 2003 — the year the site offers as its earliest rankings — the percentage of those recruits from Pac-10 locales (Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington) is only 15.3 percent (61 out of 400 prospects).
Why confine the area of recruitment locally, when most of the top-notch talent is spread throughout different parts of the country? Hence, the recruiting effort in New York makes plenty of sense.
Some other noteworthy data from the Rivals.com rankings:
- Arizona has signed only five of these 61 Rivals.com Top 50 players who are from Pac-10 locales. Four of them were from California, including San Diego product Jeff Withey, who never played for Arizona and is now at Kansas. None were from Washington or Oregon. Phoenix product Jerryd Bayless is the other regional player signed.
- UCLA leads with 14 of these 61 prospects signed and Washington is second with eight, followed by Arizona, USC (4) and Cal (3).
- The Pac-10 has managed to keep 65.6 percent of these recruits (40 total) from going out of the region.
- The best years are this year (83.3 percent, five of six staying home) and 2008 when all six of the regional prospects played for Pac-10 schools, four of which were California products who signed with UCLA — Jrue Holiday of North Hollywood, Jerime Anderson of Anaheim, Drew Gordon of San Jose, and Malcolm Lee of Riverside.
- The worst year was last year, when only four of nine prospects (44.4 percent) stayed in the Pac-10 region. Notable players to leave included Jordan Hamilton of Los Angeles to Texas; Michael Snaer of Moreno Valley, Calif., to Florida State; and Peyton Siva of Seattle to Louisville.
- One man’s team of regional prospects who did not play in the Pac-10 since 2003: Rodrick Stewart, Seattle (2003 — Kansas);Marvin Williams, Bremerton, Wash. (2004 — North Carolina); Amir Johnson, Los Angeles (2005 — Louisville); Kyle Singler, Medford, Ore. (2007 — Duke); and Austin Daye, Irvine, Calif. (2007 — Gonzaga).
SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO?
Number of top Rivals.com Top 50 recruits from Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington who have stayed in Pac-10 locales since 2003:
| YR | PLAYERS | STAY | GO | TOT | PCT. |
| 2010 | 3. Enes Kanter, Merced, CA (Kentucky)* 13. Terrence Jones, Portland (Washington) 23. Josh Smith, Covington, WA (UCLA) 26. Keala King, Compton, CA (ASU) 41. Tyler Lamb, Santa Ana, CA (UCLA) 48. Terrence Ross, Portland (Washington) |
5 | 1 | 6 | 83.3 |
| 2009 | 6. Jordan Hamilton, Los Angeles (Texas) 7. Michael Snaer, Moreno Valley, CA (Florida St.) 13. Abdul Gaddy, Tacoma, WA (Washington) 16. Renardo Sidney, Los Angeles (Mississippi St.) 27. Solomon Hill, Los Angeles (Arizona) 28. Tyler Honeycutt, Sylmar, CA (UCLA) 39. Peyton Siva, Seattle (Louisville) 48. Kawhi Leonard, Riverside, CA (San Diego State) 49. Brendan Lane, Rocklin, CA (UCLA) |
4 | 5 | 9 | 44.4 |
| 2008 | 2. Jrue Holiday, N. Hollywood, CA (UCLA) 3. Demar DeRozan, Compton, CA (USC) 36. Jeff Withey, San Diego, CA (Arizona)** 37. Jerime Anderson, Anaheim, CA (UCLA) 45. Drew Gordon, San Jose, CA (UCLA)** 47. Malcolm Lee, Riverside, CA (UCLA) |
6 | 0 | 6 | 100 |
| 2007 | 5. Kyle Singler, Medford, OR (Duke) 6. Kevin Love, Lake Oswego, OR (UCLA) 11. James Harden, Rancho Dominguez, CA (ASU) 13. Jerryd Bayless, Phoenix (Arizona) 21. Jamelle Horne, San Diego, CA (Arizona) 25. Austin Daye, Irvine, CA (Gonzaga) 37. Taylor King, Santa Ana, CA (Duke) |
4 | 3 | 7 | 57.1 |
| 2006 | 4. Chase Budinger, Carlsbad, CA (Arizona) 6. Spencer Hawes, Seattle (Washington) 10. Brook Lopez, Fresno, CA (Stanford) 28. Robin Lopez, Fresno, CA (Stanford) 38. Derrick Jasper, Paso Robles, CA (Kentucky) 41. Alex Stepheson, Studio City, CA (N. Carolina)*** 44. Patrick Christopher, Compton, CA (Cal) 48. Quincy Pondexter, Fresno, CA (Washington) 50. James Keefe, R. S. Maria, CA (UCLA) |
7 | 2 | 9 | 77.8 |
| 2005 | 5. Martell Webster, Seattle (Washington) 28. Micah Downs, Kirkland, WA (Kansas) 29. Amir Johnson, Los Angeles (Louisville) 37. Bryan Harvey, Compton, CA (Louisville) 47. Jon Brockman, Snohomish, WA (Washington) 50. Artem Wallace, Toledo, WA (Washington) |
3 | 3 | 6 | 50.0 |
| 2004 | 11. Marvin Williams, Bremerton, WA (N. Carolina) 12. Dorell Wright, Los Angeles (DePaul) 14. Robert Swift, Bakersfield, CA (USC) 17. Demarcus Nelson, Elk Grove, CA (Duke) 22. Jordan Farmar, Woodland Hills, CA (UCLA) 26. Arron Afflalo, Compton, CA (UCLA) 43. Josh Shipp, Los Angeles (UCLA) 46. Gabriel Pruitt, Compton, CA (USC) 50. Bryce Taylor, Encino, CA (Oregon) |
6 | 3 | 9 | 66.7 |
| 2003 | 10. Leon Powe, Oakland, CA (Cal) 18. Trevor Ariza, Los Angeles (UCLA) 25. Rodrick Stewart, Seattle (Kansas) 33. Ekene Ibekwe, Carson, CA (Maryland) 34. Aaron Brooks, Seattle (Oregon) 35. Thomas Gardner, Portland (Missouri) 40. Mohamed Abukar, Escondido, CA (Florida) 46. Marquis Kately, San Francisco (Cal) 49. Lodrick Stewart, Seattle (USC) |
5 | 4 | 9 | 55.6 |
| TOTAL | 40 | 21 | 61 | 65.6 |
* — Originally from Turkey, played one year of prep school in Tarzana, Calif.
** — Transfer out of conference
*** — Transfer in conference
April 30th, 2010 on 9:36 pm
GREAT data but you can’t really count Kanter as he is Turkish, born in Switzerland and played in prep school in Nevada, West Virginia and later California. He has few real ties to the west. Sidney spent all but two years in the South and only moved to L.A. as a HS junior. He also signed with USC first before being released and heading to Miss State. Rodrick Stewart also transferred signed and played for USC then transferred to Kansas.
April 30th, 2010 on 9:46 pm
Good points, the only reason why I included Kanter is because he committed to Washington before and he is listed as playing his senior year in California, which technically is Pac-10 turf. That’s why I included an asterisk. And my data goes off what Rivals.com shows as the initial school these guys signed with. For instance, Withey transferred to Kansas, but he did sign with Arizona out of high school, so that should count as a “get” for the Wildcats from the Pac-10 region.