Jeff Eisenberg E-mail Eisenberg at
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Diana Taurasi, Loree Moore and Kelly Greathouse. Each of these
three collegiate basketball standouts were heavily recruited coming
out of high school; each of them are from Southern California; and
each of them decided to attend East Coast colleges rather than
attend UCLA.
This mass exodus of California’s premiere women’s
basketball talent has become a disturbing trend over the past few
years and is one that Bruin head coach Kathy Olivier must quell if
her team is to become nationally competitive again.
California has always been a hotbed for high school hoops,
boasting four of the nation’s top 20 girl’s teams last
season, according to USA Today. Furthermore, the network of club
teams in the state helps to develop talent that has top collegiate
coaches around the nation drooling.
With that in mind, Olivier has an obligation to protect her home
court and ensure that the area’s premiere talent remains at
home in Los Angeles.
When the Bruins last won the Pac-10 in 1999, the squad was led
by Maylana Martin and Janae Hubbard, both former California prep
superstars. Each parlayed their success at the high school level
into tremendous collegiate careers, as the Bruins reached the NCAA
West Regional Finals and finished the season ranked in the top
10.
The only chance the Bruins have to return to national prominence
is if Olivier can convince the top local stars that they do not
need to head East to compete for a national championship,as she did
with Martin and Hubbard.
While the Bruins obviously have not stopped recruiting in
Southern California, over the past few years they have been unable
to sign the type of marquee talent necessary to revitalize the
program. Of the eight current scholarship players who were in-state
recruits, only injured star Michelle Greco was among the most
sought after players in her class coming out of high school.
This decline in talent has left the Bruins mired in a two-year
slump, during which they have won just 7 of their last 29
conference games.
The Bruins play with the desire and intensity of a champion, but
lack the talent to compete against the upper echelon of the
Pac-10.
Nonetheless, rebuilding the program quickly may not be as
improbable as it once seemed.
Olivier has signed an outstanding five-player recruiting class
for 2002 that features prospects Nikki Blue and Lisa Willis, two
top-40 guards from Southern California.
In particular, the signing of Blue may be an indication of a
Bruin resurgence in the near future. Perhaps the top combo guard in
the nation, Blue averaged 34 points per game at West High School
(Bakersfield) as a junior, and chose UCLA over top-ranked
Connecticut after an intense recruiting battle.
With Blue in the fold as well as four other top recruits, UCLA
should be vastly improved next season. Nonetheless, Olivier cannot
afford to relax. Instead she must find a way to use this class as a
foundation for future success.
The 2003 class in California is superb and features 6-3 center
Lauren Ervin, a Nike All-American at Artesia High School last year
as a sophomore and one of the top scorers and rebounders in the
state.
It is essential that Olivier prove to Ervin and other top
Southern California prospects that they can remain in Los Angeles
and compete for a national title.
Not every Diana Taurasi or Loree Moore is going to choose UCLA
over Connecticut or Tennessee, but if the Bruins can convince just
a fraction of the elite in-state talent to come to Westwood, they
should flourish both in the Pac-10 and on the national level.