hi all. my first post here.
i'm from ucla so i wanted to see what the fuss was on other boards. for the record, unlike other bruins, i liked lavin a lot....just a guy thrown into a no-win situation, but he always spoke well of his stay there and i appreciated that. i wanted to ask about KA, but first,,,as a die hard bruin here are my thoughts on why we have a good chance.
someone here mentioned KA's d or lack thereof. there's certainly no better place to go to round out his game, and that's the cachet ben carries with him. the addition of mccray was huge, as ben's biggest problem was selling the program. but with ben's rep among his peers and the nba as a teacher + mccray's ability to connect with kids and his job as a trainer for the combines and off-season work with howard and wall, i think they make for an ideal environment to learn bball. KA also went out of his way to correct someone(twitter) who was trying to persuade him that ucla was not a good fit. i found that interesting because really, KA didn't have to reply at all.
if there's any truth(and there probably isn't) to any notion of players forming packages, be it KA + bazz/goodman/parker, those paths all intersect at westwood and nowhere else. be that as it may, i've always been a big believer in "close to home" and ucla is way way out west, though KA has been adamant about playing far away being no problem...."not scared,,,"[sic] i believe was his response. the thing that bothers me is KA's rumored commit to ucla always seems to involve another player and not of his own. anyway, there has been a palpable difference in high school kids concerning their thoughts on ucla and it's all because of mccray....ucla DOES seem to be on a lot of kids' minds.
anyway,,,to my question. why has KA never had dook and unc on his short list, the two schools that do well in the area,,and of course the hurley connection?
thx
Correction. Anderson has not always been adamant that playing far away from from home would be no problem. KA has said his parents want him to not be concerned whether close or far, but he has said that while proximity to his parents wasnt important to them, that it was important to him. I'd have to find the article, but he certainly pointed out that proximity would be a factor.
I'd also argue that St. John's is every bit as good of a place to round out his game as UCLA. Lavin has sent as many players to the NBA in his time as Howland and there is nobody on the UCLA assistant staff that compares to Dunlap X's and O's wise. Lavin hasn't had an issue bringing talent in and hasn't lost a step since his UCLA days. His recruiting prowess has followed him.
I don't know where Anderson will go. I suspect he will stay near home because at SJU he has the same advantages that you believe UCLA is selling. St. John's offers a world-class basketball staff, great arena, the BEST conference in basketball by far, Madison Square Garden in addition to the one thing UCLA can't offer which is proximity to home and his parents.
Another thing I'll add is that defensively, UCLA isn't really a "fit" all that much. UCLA plays entirely man defense. From the last Zags piece with comments by Konchalski, it was said "The more you rely just on man-to-man defense, I think it’s going to be a hard matchup for him.” I don't think this is anything different than many SJU fans saying. SJU plays mostly zone defenses of different types. SJU plays some man-defense as well, but of all the schools on Kyle's list, SJU is by FAR the best fit defensively. Many like to speak about how Georgetown's offense is a great fit, but I'd argue that SJU's offense and defense the best overall fit for his game.
Finally, no UNC hasn't been involved heavily at any time with Anderson as far as I remember. UNC hasn't really recruited heavily from NY in the Roy Williams era. Good luck.
