J'mison Morgan Considering UCLA Again

By Bruin Basketball Report

Five star basketball recruit J'mison Morgan has submitted a request for a release from his commitment to LSU, the Dallas Morning News reported.

Morgan, a South Oak Cliff HS senior, had signed a national letter of intent with LSU last November; however, after John Brady was fired as head coach at LSU, Morgan began to reconsider his commitment to the university.

After meeting with new LSU head coach Trent Johnson two weeks ago, Morgan remained undecided on his basketball future, even though reports from the LSU athletic department indicated Morgan had reaffirmed his commitment to the school.

The 6'10 265 lb center reportedly submitted his release papers to LSU over the weekend and is now awaiting to hear back from school administrators on his official release.

LSU is not obligated to release Morgan from his commitment. If LSU does not grant his release, Morgan would have to sit out a year before transferring to another school to play basketball.

Morgan is reportedly considering UCLA to attend next fall to play in the 2008-09 season.

UCLA had aggressively pursued the highly sought after Morgan last year in a tough recruiting battle with schools including LSU, Alabama, and Kansas.

With the early entrance into the NBA by UCLA center Kevin Love, an opportunity opened up for a big man, like Morgan, to play major minutes on an elite team. UCLA's third consecutive visit to the Final Four seemed to weigh heavily in Morgan's decision.

"It was a real hard decision for me," said Morgan to 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 assistant coach Butch Pierre's re-hire by Coach Trent Johnson seemed to be the key to keeping Morgan at LSU, but at the end, the prospects of playing in Westwood and gaining national exposure on a bigger stage was more important to Morgan.

Morgan averaged 13.5 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocked shots as a senior last season.

If Morgan decides to attend UCLA, he will be joining a recruiting class already ranked No.1 by most experts. Already commited to UCLA are guards Jrue Holiday, Jerime Anderson, Malcolm Lee, and post player Drew Gordon. Morgan's commitment would put an exclamation point on an already stellar class.

(photo credit: Dallas Morning News)

Comments

[jake]

Wow - at least at bit more official. I hope there are no issues with Trent Johnson that would prevent him from being released. That would certainly ease my concern regarding bigs. Crossing fingers and waiting.

I think Trent is a stand-up guy and will grant the release. If a kid doesn't want to be on a team, forcing him to stay or sit out a year doesn't help anybody. To be fair, it's not like the kid just changed his mind. The old coach got canned, and yes I know the rules state that this is not enough of a reason to allow an incoming committed player to leave without permission from the school - but I just don't see how that is fair to the athlete.

Here's to Trent - hoping he does the right thing and let him go, regardless if he ends up at UCLA or somewhere else.

[Torp]

Great News! Let em go TJ...

[leroi]

Jumping well ahead of myself here (love doing that!) IF it works out, is this the Fab 5 all over again? I guess not because all 5 wouldn't start. But in terms of talent, how does it compare?

[1&done]

J'Mison Morgan is a shot-blocking and rebounding machine! This would be Howlands "Ace in the hole" some of us were talking about the last two weeks. "Git-r-done" Ben!

[Bruinau]

To answer Leroi's question, the problem with Michigan's fab 5 was no point guard. They got 2 shooting guards in that class but no leader and that proved to be their downfall: ie, no national championship.

[J]

How good is this guy, these high school stats, 13.5 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocked shots are not THAT great, KLove was scoring over 30 points per game, and over 17 rebounds in High school! He is a bit bigger than KLove though right? Does he have a lot of potential and can he shoot Free throws like Love?

[Peter]

He doesn't have to be just like Love to be successful next year at UCLA. In fact, he seems more mobile and might play well with a fast, guard-oriented team.

[Bruin 2005]

Since Chris Weber was paid several hundred thosand dollars before turning pro we should stay away from the fab 5 comparisons...that was a bigger issue than a point gaurd!

[J]

I know he doesnt have to be just like Love, I am just curious if he is as good as him? or even close?

[BruinFan]

holding my breath...

J'mison:
-Better exposure for basketball
-Hotter West Coast women
-I'll be your agent and get you endorsement deals
-Your game will drastically improve

Red carpet is waiting....do it!

[LN23]

Kevin Love is a special player so its not even close. First, lets wait for it to be official. Second, he's a way better center than Aboya of keefe so be grateful.

[Rob]

Christ, I can't even pronounce the kid's first name, but hope that Johnson let's him go. Morgan sees an opportunity to play with Holiday and other top ranked freshmen, in addition to Collison and (most likely) Shipp, Mbah a Moute. No doubt that he's making the right choice by seeking to play for UCLA.

[JonW]

Nice evaluation of J'mison Morgan from ESPN--

Evaluation

Morgan has all the physical tools to be an impact center at the high major level. He has an impressive frame (extremely long arms), broad shoulders, and overall great length for the five spot. Despite his size he gets off of the floor remarkably quick and has excellent timing around the basket at both ends. He is a very good rebounder and possesses nice instincts around the basket. He is capable of running the floor, but is not very fluid in that area of his game. As with most "bigs" his defense is ahead of his offense. Morgan is one of the most prolific shot blockers in the country due to his long arms and quick reactions. Offensively, his post skills are raw and he needs to develop a go-to move other than a dunk. In addition, Morgan needs to utilize his impressive frame more effectively when posting up - he allows defenders to come around him too often to deflect entry passes. However, an area that he is quite good at despite his youth is his patience while posting up - he reads defenses very well and usually delivers a pin-point pass to an open teammate. Overall, despite his raw offensive game, Morgan will be recruited at the highest level and should have a very productive college career.

[alan]

I'm excited about this and hopes it will happen. Just don't expect another Kevin Love just yet. I think he has a great chance of starting, but even if he turns out to be just a good freshman backup to Keefe or Aboya, this would add much-needed depth to the frontcourt.

Even with him, our strength next year will be in the very deep backcourt.

[BruinFan]

FYI Bruin Fans:

Love dropped to #11 on mocknbadraft
updated today...

[Bruin 2005]

``He's planning for sure to attend UCLA next year,'' said Ronnie Morgan, J'Mison's brother, said Tuesday.

According to numerous recruiting experts, the Bruins already have the top recruiting class in the country with Jerime Anderson, Drew Gordon, Jrue Holiday and Malcom Lee. Now that class could be bolstered by Morgan, a 6-foot-10 center. The Bruins desperately need a center since Kevin Love has declared for the NBA draft.

Asked whether he thought LSU would grant the release, Ronnie Morgan said: ``They haven't made an (official) decision yet, but they say they're going to.''

Los Angeles Daily News

[Bruin 2005]

I'm not standing by this reporting I am just putting it out there...note the bad grammer "said, said" and the mispelling of "to"...obviously not a UCLA Grad.

[KDL1984]

I'm hoping and praying that Trent doesn't hold those last second wins by UCLA over Stanford against the kid. He deserves to play at a school he wants to be at. And making him sit out would be cruel. Trent Johnson is a stand up guy that did wonders for the Stanford program. He'll do the right thing here too.
No other recruiting class would come close! Now, all we have to do is let Ben do the recruiting for the football team!

[KDL1984]

Listen Rick,
I was just kidding!

[jake]

JonW,

Thanks for sharing the ESPN evaluation. Comparisons to Love are not fair - Love isn't something you just replace - with all the different skills sets he brought to the team - and doing what Love did as a freshman was amazing. The important thing here is upside. Howlands band of recruiters have had him on the radar for some time so that is noteworthy. Perhaps not ready to be a pure plug and play but not many out of high school are. If he has a good attitude and work hard in this system under the guidance of Howland - that is what we are looking for. Hanging around Pauley in the summer playing against all the studs that showcase themselves around here won't hurt either. Perhaps I can talk Kareem into some offensive skills tutoring ala Bynum - with some soft baby hooks with either hand.

First things first ... hate to jump the gun here.

[BruinFan]

Jake, grab the beer and the nachos....I hope u have season tickets folks!!

[george]

KDL1984 - I doubt that TJ will hold "those last second wins against UCLA" as a reason not to release this kid. First, TJ seems like a very fair-minded individual. Second, UCLA dominating Stanford next year may not be, from his perspective, such a bad thing!

[db]

Comparison between Love and Morgan is unfair. Love was ahead of his game at his age as well as his league was easier than Morgan's league so highschool avg. is not a really good comparison.

I am not surprised Love dropped to 11 as projected as I have been saying for NBA, he is not that great. IMO Morgan in the long run have greater potential than Love. Love's potential is about to level out due to his lack of athleticism. Course basketball IQ makes up for some of that.

It is like Al Horford where he came out of highschool not even close to Love's number or hype, but will have a much better NBA career because of his athleticism.

Course all tremendous players have one thing in commmon. They have both athleticism and basketball IQ.

[willis]

Another important thing to remember here is that this is an "out of state" 5-star recruit. If Morgan comes to UCLA from Texas this will be the 2nd consecutive year that Howland lands a big time out-of-stater, Love being from Oregon in 2007. This puts UCLA in a recruiting world with the likes of UNC, Kansas, Arizona, and Duke, etc., who always land 5-star out-of-staters to keep their programs thriving. Howland is lucky to have the very hot and fertile recruiting base of LA in his back yard to fill most of his roster, but getting a 5-star out-of-stater every year or every other year is critical to staying a top 5-10 program. Although Howland has LA pretty well locked up for those he really wants, (Farmar, Afflalo, Collison, Shipp, Lee, Holiday, Stanback), he does not have it fully locked up, (Mater Dei's Wear twins, UNC's Stepheson and Thompson). You will remember other out-of-state Bruins like Walt Hazard, Mike Warren, Lew Alcindor, Mike Warren, Henry Bibby, Larry Farmer, Andre McCarter, JaRon Rush, Dan Gadzurik, et. al. Landing Love and Morgan takes UCLA's program to a whole 'nother level!

[willis]

...and I forgot Lucius Allen!

[jake]

Willis - completely agree. You turn the corner in recruiting if you can start recruiting out of state. Success breeds success. When you think of all the 6th/7th/8th graders out there right now seeing UCLA this and UCLA that ... and final fours etc ... added into the historical mystique of the program via Wooden etc ... then you start truly building a pipeline of blue chippers knocking on the doorstep. Bring it.

[BruinFan]

Whatcha talkin about Willis:

I finally agree w/ ya....join me and Brew in with beers and nachos as we roll out the red carpet for Morgan....

I'm not celebrating until it is official....

I, like other Bruin Fans are salivating....

J'Mison you are a smart man in choosing UCLA.....the hot women and endorsement deals are waiting....your game will drastically improve too....

BBR, when Mr. Morgan decides to transfer, it is time to have a party....in Westwood at Westwood Brew Co....I'll host it...(but am not payin for anybody)...cheers....I am losing sleep on this possible outcome....

[1&done]

I'll buy you a brewski at Westwood Brew Co. BruinFan! I think BBR will have a Morgan update soon.

[KDL1984]

I'll be there too with a Captin Morgan in my hand!