The fans who showed up at the West Los Angeles Community College
gym late Saturday afternoon got an early glimpse of the immediate
future of the UCLA men’s basketball program. All five
incoming freshmen, along with two of last year’s freshmen
sensations, Jordan Farmar and Josh Shipp, are playing for
Sinclair’s Bruins as part of the Nike Los Angeles ProCity
College League, and all of the players received significant playing
time in the Bruins’ 83-43 victory over Entertainment Tonite.
While the game was the second of the summer for Sinclair’s
Bruins, it was the first game in which all of the incoming freshmen
participated. Ryan Wright and Darren Collison made their debuts
alongside their new teammates. Wright, a 6-foot-9-inch power
forward from Ontario, Canada, scored four points and had five
rebounds in just 10 minutes of action. “It was good to be out
there playing with the guys,” Wright said. “I need to
become more aggressive (over the summer) and get my hands
ready.” Collison, a 6-foot guard out of Etiwanda High School,
also stood out in his first game, scoring eight points and dishing
out four assists while showing off his athleticism with a breakaway
dunk in the second half of the game. “It was fun playing with
the other freshmen,” Collison said. “This summer can
help me get a lot stronger and I’m looking forward to
it.” Those freshmen playing in their second game were also
productive in their minutes on the court. Michael Roll, a
6-foot-5-inch guard from Aliso Niguel, contributed eight points,
six rebounds and five assists in 15 minutes, while Luc Moute, a
6-foot-7-inch guard out of Monteverde Academy in Florida, had six
points and five rebounds in his 20 minutes on the court. Perhaps
the most impressive performance of the bunch came from Alfred
Aboya. The 6-foot-7-inch 220-pound power forward out of Tilton
School in New Hampshire grabbed nine rebounds and shot 6-of-8 from
the field for 12 points in a team-high 23 minutes while
aggressively throwing his body around on both ends of the court.
Cedric Jones, the coach of Sinclair’s Bruins, has been
extremely impressed with the maturity of the incoming UCLA
freshmen. “They are a lot more polished than I had
anticipated,” Jones said. “They play real strong
together.”
TRANSITION TO COLLEGE: Some of the incoming freshmen have bigger
transitions to make than many of their peers. Aboya and Moute, for
example, are both natives of Cameroon who moved to the United
States for high school. Aboya, who moved to the United States the
summer before his junior year of high school, and Moute, an honor
roll high school student who speaks several languages and was the
prince of his village in Cameroon, are both enrolled in summer
school classes at UCLA. “(UCLA classes) are extremely
different,” said Aboya, who originally committed to
Georgetown, but rescinded on his commitment when coach Craig
Esherick was fired. “We have some tutors that can help us
overcome our deficit.”
OTHER BRUINS IN ACTION: Sophomore guard Aaron Afflalo and senior
Michael Fey played for Hank’s Big Time in the game preceding
the Sinclair’s Bruins match. Afflalo and Fey each scored 21
points in an 83-80 loss to Hank’s Lil’ Hoopers.