Monday, April 9, 2007

Brandon Jennings... Verbal Commit?

According to GOAZCATZ.com the race for point guard Brandon Jennings' commitment is up for grabs. Jennings, a 6'0" 175lb junior from Oak Hill Academy VA, gave a verbal commitment to the Trojans last fall. Jennings' commitment was considered to be pretty solid. He transferred to Oak Hill Academy from Dominguez High School and stated that he was looking forward to playing college ball in California in front of his family. Jennings also spent last summer playing AAU basketball with the SoCal All-Stars alongside current Trojan guard Daniel Hackett and Trojan commit Malik Story. With Jennings' verbal commitment he became the immediate heir apparent to the vacancy at point guard that is expected to be left with OJ Mayo's departure to the NBA. Jennings has NBA talent is already projected to be a top pick in the 2009 NBA Draft.

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There are three schools in the running for Jennings' commitment: USC, Arizona, and UConn. It will be up to Tim Floyd to win back the commitment of this prized recruit. Floyd will also be busy recruiting other top players in the 2008 class including the #1 overall prospect Greg Monroe and (my personal favorite) Demar Derozan from Compton High School. Luckily for Floyd he will have help recruiting Jennings. Trojan commit Malik Story has decided to transfer to Oak Hill Academy next year and will be playing alongside Jennings. Hopefully his recruiting is as good as his outside shooting.

2 comments:

mel kiper fan said...

This was a shocking move by Jennings, but at least he came out and said it now and not a week before next year's signing day. He still hasn't dropped his verbal commitment, so maybe he just wants to see what else is out there. Since he'll only be considering 2 other schools (Connecticut and Arizona), he's not really reopening his recruitment. Reopening would be if he drops USC as his favorite, telling every school that he's available. At the very least this means that Floyd must keep him interested. This may be Lute Olsen's last year at Arizona, so from my estimation, it's down to us and UConn. UConn's Jim Calhoun is a hell of a coach and a great recruiter too. His former players include Clifford Robinson, Donyell Marshall, Kevin Ollie, Ray Allen, Rip Hamilton, Caron Butler, Emeka Okafor, Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva, Josh Boone, Rudy Gay, and Marcus Williams, all NBA players. Hope Floyd can seal the deal.

Joey said...

This guy is definitely a big recruit for Floyd since Mayo and Pruitt will be gone after next season. However, UCONN is rebuilding so they have a good sell getting Jennings. People have been saying Lute is gonna retire for years so until it happens, don't count him out. Because for a guy that was speculated to retire, it didn't sway 5-star PG Jerryd Bayless. We'll see how Floyd can sell his program to a 5-star guy when he actually has to do more than just answer the phone. (ala Oj Mayo). I think Floyd will come through because jennings will stay west. Should get interesting.