Prep phenom Malik Hairston has chosen a school,
but will not reveal it until a press conference scheduled for
Wednesday afternoon at Detroit Renaissance High School. That means
UCLA fans, many of whom have grown frustrated with Hairston’s
months of indecision, will have to wait another day before they
find out whether or not he will become a Bruin. In fact, Hairston,
who has been deciding between UCLA, Kansas, Ohio State, Oregon,
Oklahoma and Michigan, alluded to the possibility that he might
delay the decision even further when asked to reveal his choice.
“Well, I haven’t made it final,” Hairston told
the Lawrence Journal-World. “I have the school in my head.
I’m going to have it sit there to marinate.” Widely
regarded as the top unsigned prep basketball player in the nation,
the 6-foot-5 Hairston would probably be UCLA’s top incoming
recruit. Coach Ben Howland has already signed arguably the
Pac-10’s best class ““ a four-person crop that includes
Taft High point guard Jordan Farmar and Compton Centennial shooting
guard Arron Afflalo. Trevor Ariza’s decision to leave school
for the NBA Draft opened up a scholarship for Hairston. UCLA has
also shown interest in former Kansas center David Padgett, who
announced last month that he will leave the Jayhawks at the end of
the spring semester.
MEN’S GOLF: For the second straight year,
the UCLA men’s golf team enters the NCAA West regionals as
the No. 1 seed. “It’s a great honor to be selected as
the top seed in the West again,” coach O.D.
Vincent said. “We are prepared to defend our title,
and this is the first step on the road to the national
championship.” This year, the Bruins are the third-ranked
team in the country. Seven Pac-10 teams enter the regionals, led by
UCLA, second-seeded Arizona State, and third-seeded Arizona. The
top nine teams will advance to the NCAA Championships at The
Cascades Course in Hot Springs, Va. Last year the Bruins won the
regional championship format by one shot over Arizona. The
tournament will be held May 20-22 at Crosswater Golf Course in
Bend, Ore.
TRACK: Oregon’s Tommy
Skipper and Arizona State’s Jacquelyn
Johnson were named Pac-10 athletes of the week on Monday.
Skipper finished first in the decathlon at the Pac-10
Championships, finishing first in the pole vault, javelin, 100
meters and shot put. Johnson finished first in the Pac-10
heptathlon, the first Sun Devil ever to do so, by placing first in
the 100m hurdles and high jump.
WOMEN’S ROWING: The schedule for the
Pac-10 Rowing Championships has been released. The championships
take place in Rancho Cordova. The morning races of the
women’s varsity will be at 8 a.m., and the afternoon races
begin at 12:50 p.m. UCLA is one of the eight competitors from the
Pac-10.
Compiled by Ben Peters and Jeff Eisenberg, Bruin sports
senior staff, and Sagar Parikh, Bruin sports contributor. With
reports from Daily Bruin wire services.