SB Nation User Blog: Raisin

Baseball 1st Round Pick Gerrit Cole Picks UCLA Over Yankees

Raisin — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 06:22:33 -0000

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

Orange Lutheran HS pitcher and Yankees first rounder Gerrit Cole spurns the Yankees for UCLA per the New York Times:

When the Yankees drafted pitcher Gerrit Cole in the first round of the June draft, they believed that Cole would sign with them and forego a college scholarship. It turns out that Cole has changed his mind and will go to U.C.L.A. instead.

According to a person involved in the negotiations, the Yankees have learned that Cole intends to go to college, no matter what they offer. The person was granted anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly before Friday’s deadline for teams to sign drafted players.

Cole is represented by the agent Scott Boras, who is known for asking for lucrative bonuses. But the Yankees have reached deals with first-round Boras clients the last two seasons, and the person said the failure to sign Cole had nothing to do with him.

Instead, Cole and his father had a change of heart and decided to go to college rather than negotiate with the Yankees.

“It was not a negotiating issue,” the person said. “It was not a number issue.”

This is a huge coup for UCLA, he's one of - if not the best HS recruits and would bring a mid to upper 90s mph fastball and devastating hard slider to UCLA.

Cole does have till 9 pm tomorrow to change his mind. We'll see if this is just posturing, Scott Boras does know all the tricks in the book.

The Fab 4 at the Nike Hoop Summit

Raisin — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:00:21 -0000

Drew Gordon, Jerime Anderson, Jrue Holiday and Malcolm Lee will all 4 be in Portland.

All 4 incoming recruits are at the Nike Hoop Summit up in Portland, Oregon. The game itself is tomorrow at 1 pm at the Rose Garden and will be aired on FSN.

Draft Express had a blurb on Jrue Holiday who continues to impress:

Guard Jrue Holiday stood out again today as he's done many times in the past with his well-rounded skills that constant allow him to make plays. On a roster with a handful of other play-making guards, it's particularly impressive that Holiday starts at the point considering he could play off the ball just as effectively. The UCLA bound senior had his passing skills on full display today, and showed ridiculously nice form on his jumper. When you look at the balance of his base, his point of release, and the rotation on the ball, it's hard to find anything to criticize about the way he shoots the ball. The same could be said for his defensive stance, though he may not have the ideal quickness laterally to lock down quicker guards at the NBA level. Holiday may not be the best pure athlete when it comes to run/jump explosiveness, but he shows great control of his body which allows for difficult finishes driving to the hoop in traffic.

Jrue Holiday Named Gatorade Nat'l Player of the Year

Raisin — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:02:44 -0000

According to Tracy Pierson at BRO.

Jrue would be the second consecutive Bruin to get that honor, following in Kevin Love's footsteps. Here's the link to the brief write-up at BRO.

Baseball Opener PPD Due to Rain

Raisin — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 23:55:47 -0000

Doubleheader tomorrow...as Mr. Cub would say, "let's play two!"

UCLABruins.CSTV.com:

Friday evening's season-opening baseball game between UCLA and Oklahoma has been postponed due to inclement weather. The Bruins and Sooners will play a doubleheader on Saturday, Feb. 24, with first pitch of game one slated for 12 p.m. at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

Sophomore left-hander Gavin Brooks will start for the Bruins in game one, and junior left-hander Tim Murphy will take the mound in Saturday's second game.

Oklahoma will counter the #1 ranked Bruins (it never gets old saying "#1 ranked Bruins") with RHP Jeremy Erben in game one and freshman RHP Michael Rocha in game two.

2 Future Bruins to McD's All-American Game

Raisin — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 00:34:00 -0000

Bumped. Speaking of "young" ballers CONGRATS to Jrue and Malcolm. GO BRUINS. -N

Congrats to future Bruin Guards Jrue Holiday and Malcolm Lee. From BruinReportOnline.com:

Two of UCLA's signed recruits for 2008 -- Jrue Holiday of North Hollywood (Calif.) Campbell Hall and Malcolm Lee of Riverside (Calif.) North, have been named to the 2008 McDonald's All-American Game.

The game will be played on March 26th at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and televised by ESPN at 9:30 p.m. Here is the complete roster (warning: PDF file). North Carolina (3) and Ohio State (2) were the only other schools with more than one All-American.

UPDATE: Here is a little preview of Jrue:

And Malcolm:

Of course don't forget Drew Gordon and Jerime Anderson, the two other blue chippers who make up next year's number 1 recruiting class in America. GO BRUINS. -N

Frank Gansz Jr. Named Special Teams Coach

Raisin — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:47:02 -0000

He was with the Ravens the last two years.

UCLA Press Release

He was the ST coach with the Ravens the last two seasons, the Chiefs from 2001 - 2005 and the Raiders in 1998 and 1999.

Also, Dohn reports that Kevin Craft (Mt. Sac JC) will be able to go to spring practice and thus compete for the QB job next season.

Timmy's Falling on the Sword Saves Mayo 6 Game Suspension

Raisin — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 21:01:50 -0000

Per Yahoo! Sports.

By admitting complicity, Timmy saved Juice Deuce at least a 6-game suspension. That seems like quite a big difference in penalty since NCAA rules were still violated: link.

UCLA #1 in Baseball America's Preseason Top 25 Poll

Raisin — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 18:10:38 -0000

UCLA was also #7 in the PG Top 100.

The Bruins come in at #1 on BA's preseason poll.

Baseball America also has a nice write up (subscriber content) on the great job Coach John Savage has done so far, detailing his three great recruiting classes thus far and the success the Bruins had in the regionals last year.

BA's 2008 Lineup

C Ryan Babineau Jr.
1B Cody Decker Jr.
2B Alden Carrithers Sr.
3B Jermaine Curtis Jr.
SS Brandon Crawford Jr.
LF Justin Uribe So.
CF Blair Dunlap* R-So.
RF Gabe Cohen So.
DH Casey Haerther So.

LHP Gavin Brooks So.
LHP Tim Murphy Jr.
RHP Charles Brewer So.
RP Jason Novak Jr.

Mallett Officially Transferring

Raisin — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 19:02:53 -0000

His dad says it's official. Mallett hasn't picked a new school yet.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080109/SPORTS06/80109055/1054

Ryan's dad said he's going to visit 3-5 schools and decide from there. Jim Mallett specifically mentioned that his son is considering Texas A&M, Arkansas and UCLA. He also mentioned Tennessee since they are trying to get former Michigan OC Mike DeBord and the QB coach UCLA is also interested in, Scot Loeffler.

EDIT: Brian Dohn says Neuheisel interviewed Scott Loeffler.