Zags’ big day includes big Daye
Gonzaga University announced its 2007 men’s basketball recruiting class on Wednesday, and Bulldogs coach Mark Few promptly declared it “the best we’ve ever had here.”
Heading the list of three high school standouts and one junior college player who signed national letters of intent with the Zags is Austin Daye, a 6-foot-10, 190-pound small forward from Woodbridge High School in Irvine, Calif.
Daye, the son of former UCLA great Darren Daye, is ranked as the 32nd-best prep recruit nationally by one scouting service and was named to the Long Beach Press Telegram’s “Best in the West” first team. As a junior, he averaged 16 points, nine rebounds and 3.4 blocks per game.
According to Few, former UCLA coach Jim Harrick had Daye on his AAU team last summer and said he had the best upside of any kid he saw.
“Jim just thought Austin’s upside was tremendous, and we all think that, too,” Few said. “He can pass, he can shoot, he’s really long, he’s got a great feel for the game and he’s incredibly driven.”
Joining Daye as members of this year’s GU recruiting class are Steven Gray, a 6-4 shooting guard from Bainbridge (Wash.) High School, Robert Sacre, a 7-foot, 255-pound center from Handsworth Secondary School in North Vancouver, British Columbia, and Ira Brown, a 6-4, 235-pound forward and sophomore at Phoenix (Ariz.) College.
“This is a great class,” Few said, noting it is ranked as the 11th best in the country by one scouting service. “Our staff did a great job. Not only are these kids highly rated and talented, but they’re the type of guys who are really driven, which is what we’ve always had here and have been really successful with.
“And they have aspirations beyond Gonzaga, too, which I think is important, too.”
Gray, ranked No. 52 among all recruits nationally, was named to Washington’s Associated Press All-State team after averaging 24.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, four assists and 2.5 steals as a junior last winter. He was also honored as second-team Best in the West selection.
Sacre, who is ranked No. 100 nationally in the Class of ‘07, averaged 25 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks last season and was named the most valuable player in the British Columbia Provincial Tournament.
His father, Greg LaFleur, is a former tight end for the NFL’s old St. Louis Cardinals and his mother, Leslie Sacre, played basketball at Louisiana State University.
The most intriguing signee might be the 24-year-old Brown, who was an eighth-round pick of the Kansas City Royals in the 2001 amateur draft.
Brown played four seasons of minor league baseball – including one with the Spokane Indians – before enrolling at last fall at Phoenix College, where he averaged 17 points, 10 rebounds and recorded 21 double-doubles as freshman.
“An opportunity came up to really add some athleticism,” Few said of Brown, who is ranked as the 42nd-best JC player in the country by one scouting service. “He’s also a really, really mature leader with a very mature approach, and that’s going to be as big a factor next year as his athleticism.
“Ira is a man, and he’ll help us kind of bridge the gap until these other guys are ready to assume leadership and toughness roles.”
In further assessing his latest recruiting class, Few added:
“These are all guys who can play anywhere in the country – like the kinds of guys and classes we should have, based on the success we’ve had. And that’s why they’re coming here.
“With this group, it’ll put us in the thick of things for years to come.”
EWU
Eastern Washington added three players, including Nathan Lozeau, a 6-10, 260-pound post from Marysville, Wash.
The Eagles also picked up a high school shooting guard in 6-3 Trey Gross out of California and a 6-9 Arizona junior college wing in Kaylone Riley.
“I’m very excited about this class,” third-year coach Mike Burns said. “All three of these young men will make a tremendous impact on our program in the future.”
Lozeau is ranked as the eighth-best center on the West Coast by Scouthoops.com. He averaged 17.8 points on 60 percent shooting and 9.8 rebounds for 15-5 Marysville-Pilchuck High.
Gross averaged 18 points and seven rebounds at Edison High School in Stockton.
Riley, listed by Rivals.com as one of the top 125 junior college players, averaged 12.5 points, 9.8 rebounds and 3.2 blocks at Mt. Hood last season before transferring to Phoenix College to join a Las Vegas high school teammate. Phoenix is ranked 10th in the NJCAA Division II preseason poll.
WSU
As expected, Washington State received a letter of intent from Oregon native Abe Lodwick to fill its only open scholarship for next season.
Lodwick, a 6-foot-7 swingman from Bend, led his Mountain View High team to a conference championship last year and scored 15 points a game.
“We are very happy to have an addition to our program from the Pacific Northwest,” WSU coach Tony Bennett said in a statement. “Abe is an excellent student who has a desire to be at Washington State and compete at a high level.”
Washington
Highly regarded prep forwards Matthew Bryan-Amaning and Justin Holiday both signed letters of intent to attend the University of Washington, fifth-year coach Lorenzo Romar announced.
Bryan-Amaning is a native of Surrey, England, who came to the U.S. last year to attend prep school in South Kent, Conn. He averaged 14 points and nine rebounds as a junior at South Kent. The 6-9 forward is the nation’s No. 34 recruit in ratings published by USA Today.
Holiday posted averages of 20 points, 11.7 rebounds and 3.3 blocked shots as a junior at Campbell Hall High in North Hollywood, Calif. His 106 blocked shots were 60 more than any other player in the league that he also led with 373 rebounds.
The 6-6 forward was ranked as the 17th-best prospect in the state of California by Rivals.com. He was listed No. 23 in the Best in the West poll conducted by the Long Beach Press-Telegram. Holiday received honorable mention All-America accolades in Street & Smith’s magazine.