Stepheson and USC
Daily News colleague Scott Wolf had this story about Alex Stepheson and USC in today's paper.
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About Inside UCLA
This is Brian Dohn's sixth season covering UCLA after spending 4 1/2 years covering the Dodgers for the Daily News and other Los Angeles Newspaper Group papers. He graduated from Rutgers, where the first college football game was played in 1869. Sure, the Scarlet Knights suffered for a long time, but now RU is doing what Jerseyans always thought was possible. Winning at Rutgers also proves winning is possible everywhere else in the nation, so underachieving coaches better be careful. Now, if only men's hoops can turn it around.
I think if aboya would not have returned then having stepheson would be great. but with aboya coming back the bench would have been too crowded.
By the time Stepheson would be able to play, Aboya will be gone... So Aboya has no bearing on AS's decision...Aboya is going to play his last season next season, the 08-09 season, and AS's first season of eligibility back after his transfer will be the 09-10 season... (this comment is for MDUNN)
never underestimate the sneakiness of floyd. he may somehow find a way to get the medical exemption to go through after coming up with a scholarship out of thin air.
The ncaa was not sure if he would had to sit the season because of the reason on why he transfered. that's why i made that comment....(for bruinword)
i dont understand why he would want to play for a team that is going nowhere. Mayo gone, derozan is one and done, gibson will be gone next year. i dont get it. usc is going to be terrible in basketball again. why not come to a school that went to 3 Final Fours and just pulled in the #1 recruiting class. that is unless he is scared. maybe he doesnt think hes good enough to beat out these freshmen.
Brian:
Isn't USC loosing two scholarships due to academic issues?
My guess is that if he thought he'd get playing time at UCLA then he would have come...
But he didn't want to be the next Stanback. (Assuming the roster for '09-'10 still has some tweaking)...
SC opted to use last season for the penalty and played with only 11 scholarship players. This was due to the previous year in which Pruitt, Stewart, and Young left.
as for using three final fours as a reason to motivate AS to come to UCLA...look at the school he transferred from. PT and maybe being used more offensively seem to be his main motivating factors.
Does anybody here think the one and done for college basketball is a joke???
The reason why he did not choose UCLA is because Howland does not guarantee players PT. Without PT you can't be a one and done player.
It only makes sense to go to a school where you will be guaranteed PT, (weak line-up). But gets max exposure due to SC being in the Pac-10 and being in LA.
After the Pro Scouts go to the UCLA game, they probably figure why not go check on the SC game since I'm already in town!!
Alex going to SC makes perfect sense, remember he's not playing BB for the education. He's playing BB to go to the NBA. Therefore you will pick a school based upon where you can get the most exposure to get to the NBA.
I'm sure when Floyd is recruiting these one and done's, he's not talking to them about the great educational experience they will get at SC. He's talking to them about getting exposure to scouts and the NBA. I mean come on, how many scouts are traveling up to Pullman to watch a player that may be drafted in the 2nd round. They probably wait for that team to come down to LA to watch.
I bet Floyd will be kicking himself if he loses out on a top player like AS because he wasted a scholarship on Lil Romeo in the Derozen package deal.
Does lil romeo even have skills??? or was he a waste of a scholarship???
heard a rumor that nikola was going back to serbia. whats the status on that???
Alex Stephenson's mother, Diane Stephenson, told The Press-Enterprise that it's not a done deal with USC. She was surprised with Scott Wolf's article. They haven't made the decision yet and Alex is still considering UCLA along with ASU.
Waste of a scholarship, definitely. If derozan goes after one, are they actually planning on keeping lil romeo on scholarship for the rest of his eligibility? That would be hilarious if they waste 4 years of scholarship on one year of a player. Maybe at that point lil romeo will just drop out of school and move back to beverly hills.
i'm pretty sure ben promised love pt and other top recruits such as jrue as well. but that is kind of self evident where there is no doubt as to their ability to start.
MDUNN said: Does anybody here think the one and done for college basketball is a joke???We'll probably start seeing it happen less in college as high schoolers opt to play in Europe for a year, ala Brandon Jennings.