A year ago UCLA signed a recruiting class rated by most experts among the top 10 nationally, with two McDonald's All-Americans from Southern California -- guards Arron Afflalo and Jordan Farmar.
That highly recruited class -- which also included center Lorenzo Mata from South Gate High and swingman Josh Shipp from Los Angeles Fairfax -- continues its crash course in college basketball against UC Irvine today at Pauley Pavilion. Mata, who sat out the first two games because of a sprained ankle, is expected to make his debut today.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday December 31, 2004 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 0 inches; 30 words Type of Material: Correction
UCLA basketball -- An article in the Nov. 27 Sports section about recruiting by UCLA said former Bruin player Mike Warren was from Pittsburgh. Warren is from South Bend, Ind.
But in the recruiting world, Afflalo, Farmar, Mata and Shipp are old recruiting news two games into the season.
Coach Ben Howland has already signed his second class -- five players, including three from outside the United States. It has been ranked from about No. 12 to No. 20 in the country and below Washington's and Arizona's in the Pacific 10.
Still, recruiting analysts say, Howland has methodically reconstructed the faltering Bruin program by following his own, successful blueprint.
"His first class got Ben the top-quality building blocks," said Clark Francis, editor and publisher of Hoop Scoop Online. "Keeping Jordan Farmar [of Woodland Hills Taft] and Arron Afflalo [of Compton Centennial], that was big. That was key."
The newest group consists of Ryan Wright, a forward from Canada; Alfred Aboya, a center/forward, and Luc Richard Mbaha Moute, a swingman, both from Cameroon; point guard Darren Collison from Etiwanda High; and small forward Mike Roll from Aliso Niguel High in Aliso Viejo.
If they aren't as recognized nationally as Howland's first class, Francis said he thought the coach accomplished what he needed to.
"He needed to get a [power forward] and he did that with the kid from Canada and Alfred Aboya," Francis said. "The other kid from Cameroon is a great athlete, and he could be a surprise. The two local kids are role players and they add depth. They're two kids who want to be at UCLA.
"Now Ben's got some depth. Now he has the luxury of aiming for some big names around the country because he can afford to finish second sometimes. He needed to stabilize things there and get some backup help. He's done that."
What Howland hasn't done yet is sign a highly rated player from any of the other 49 states. A radio talk show caller last week was angry that "Howland can get kids from Africa but not New York," and said this wouldn't have been a problem had UCLA hired Rick Pitino. Instead Pitino took the Louisville job, where his newest group of signees has been rated No. 1 by several recruiting services, including Francis'.
