The UCLA basketball team may have found a quick fix for what will likely be its biggest loss of the offseason, freshman All-American Kevin Love.
J’Mison Morgan, a highly touted 6-foot-11-inch center from Dallas, has asked out of his commitment to Louisiana State and reportedly hopes to attend UCLA this fall.
If Morgan is able to come to UCLA, it is unlikely he would dominate as immediately as Love did, but Morgan is good enough to start for the Bruins next season.
“It was a real hard decision for me,” Morgan told The Dallas Morning News. “My comfort level was at LSU, but I felt like UCLA was a better fit for me as far as exposure.”
LSU must release Morgan from his commitment before UCLA can contact him. LSU may be more likely to do so because Morgan committed to play for coach John Brady, who was fired on Feb. 8. Morgan said he is not as comfortable with Trent Johnson, the former Stanford coach whom LSU hired on April 10. And Morgan had seriously considered UCLA before he chose LSU in November 2007.
If LSU chooses not to release Morgan from his commitment, Morgan would be forced to sit out one season before he could play for another school.
But if the school does release Morgan, UCLA could land the type of big man it will likely need for the 2008 season.
Morgan is not as highly rated as Love, but he would likely start for UCLA because of a potential paucity of big men on the Bruin roster.
Of the four Bruins who have entered their names in the NBA draft, Love is the least likely to return to school because he is projected as a top-10 pick.
Junior forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, who can play on the wing or inside, could return if he doesn’t hear that he will be a first-round selection.
Forward Alfred Aboya is still mulling his decision. Coach Ben Howland said that Aboya may leave the team to focus on academics and that he doesn’t expect a final decision from Aboya until the end of the summer.
Chace Stanback, a 6-foot-8-inch freshman, announced last week that he will leave UCLA and transfer to another school.
The only other big men on the roster ““ sophomores Nikola Dragovic and James Keefe ““ are not particularly accomplished low-post defenders, and both have spent most of their time playing on the wing in the Bruins’ offense. Neither has the back-to-the-basket scoring skills Love and Morgan possess.
That would leave plenty of room for Morgan and the Bruins’ one committed incoming big man, Drew Gordon, in next year’s lineup. The addition of Morgan would elevate a recruiting class that pundits rate as the best in the country.
Along with Gordon, Howland and the Bruins have received commitments from guards Jerime Anderson, Jrue Holiday and Malcolm Lee.
If Morgan is able to come to UCLA, it would be the biggest incoming class of freshmen since 2005.
That class included Aboya, Mbah a Moute, point guard Darren Collison, guard Michael Roll and forward Ryan Wright.
Four of those five freshmen were a significant part of the 2006 Final Four team, Howland’s first ever.