Whatever you’re doing right now, stop doing it. This is important.
Imagine someone named Bobo.
If you’re like me, he’s probably wearing a rainbow Afro wig, a giant red orb on his nose and shoes 10 sizes too big. He’s pulling coins out of his ears and rubber chickens out of his pants.
My guess is you probably aren’t imagining the man who is the missing piece of the men’s basketball team’s return to the Final Four.
You should be.
Bobo, aka J’Mison Morgan, is a 6-foot-10-inch, 275-pound baby-faced man-child. He first dunked at age 6 and first broke a backboard at the ripe old age of 8. Now, that may or may not be true, but the kid is a beast. He’s the No. 25 player in the 2008 class and the fourth-best center, according to Rivals.com. If he had any more stars attached to his name, he’d be listed as a galaxy.
But the best part about him? He wants to come to Westwood.
See, this high school senior from Dallas originally signed with Louisiana State way back in November, passing on UCLA, which many thought was his second choice.
But that all changed. LSU’s John Brady, the coach who recruited Bobo, was fired midseason, sparking rumors that a certain big man wasn’t so happy.
The Bobo-to-the-Bruins-Train picked up more steam as soon as a certain Kevin Love decided to jump early to the NBA. The man who would become UCLA’s center of choice took notice from across the country.
Then, about a month ago, former Stanford coach Trent Johnson was hired to replace Brady. After initially meeting with his prized recruit, he apparently failed to show him enough love and didn’t try to contact Morgan for over two weeks.
And Bobo’s mom, Bianca Morgan? Not too happy.
According to published reports, she said, “I just felt like if you want a kid, you should at least try to show him some type of interest. I don’t want my kid going somewhere he’s not wanted. If Trent would have shown some kind of interest, this might not have happened.”
Whammy, Trent. Throw some ice on that burn.
This all caught Johnson like a sucker-punch with 275 pounds behind it. He swears he tried to contact Bobo, but he never called back.
Either way, it was apparently too little too late.
LSU granted Bobo’s request to be released from his letter of intent on Tuesday, and it seems that mere paperwork is all that stands between him and officially becoming a Bruin.
It’s all enough to make a grown man-boy cry.
You see, adding Bobo to an already ridiculously talented recruiting class (some have termed it “The Fab Four”) would put the Bruins immediately back in the spotlight as championship contenders. As good as James Keefe played down the stretch and as good as incoming freshman Drew Gordon may very well be, without Bobo, the Bruins would lack a true presence at the center position.
They’d be like a Hostess cupcake without the cream filling, or the Beatles without Ringo Starr, or a Ferrari with no carburetor. They’re all very good by themselves, but let’s not pull any punches here. Where would The Beatles have been without Ringo?
Probably not raising championship banner No. 12 in Pauley Pavilion.
E-mail Feder at jfeder@media.ucla.edu if you know how they got “Bobo” from “J’Mison.”