Gary Franklin, Mater Dei
Photo by Louis Lopez
The careers of California head coach Mike Montgomery and Stanford’s Johnny Dawkins will forever be intertwined after being hired within 20 days of each other at the Pac-10 Conference’s Bay Area schools.
Montgomery, who coached at Stanford from 1986 to 2004, and Dawkins debuted by leading their respective programs to 20-win seasons a year ago and now appear to be simultaneously hitting stride on the recruiting trail.
Both added to promising incoming classes this month with key commitments.
Gary Franklin of Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) committed to the Golden Bears on Oct. 9 and gave Montgomery a point guard to go along with the Price High School (Los Angeles, Calif.) duo of Allen Crabbe and Richard Solomon, as well as Illinois wing Alex Rossi.
Franklin, a USC verbal commitment prior to Tim Floyd's departure, pointed to Montgomery’s track record with guards that goes back to his days at Stanford with the likes of Julius Barnes, Brevin Knight, Chris Hernandez and Casey Jacobsen.
“He (Montgomery) was a huge factor,” Franklin said. “I see the way that he uses Jerome Randle and I think we are similar guards offensively. He allows him to be a scoring point guard and that’s what I want to be.”
Randle was an All-Pac-10 selection as a junior under Montgomery’s tutelage, averaging 18.3 points and five assists per game – up from 11.8 and 3.7 as a sophomore.
The 2000 Naismith Coach of the Year has also developed plenty of quality big men (Mark Madsen, Jarron and Jason Collins to name a few), a fact that helped sway Solomon back in August.
“He looked at other players his height and how they have fit in with what Mike (Montgomery) does, life after basketball and what he wanted to do as far as computer science,” Richard Solomon Sr. said of his son’s decision. “He shook it all up and thought this might be the best situation for him."
Most peg the Golden Bears as the Pac-10 favorite this season, which could mean a fifth conference title for Montgomery. Going back to his days in Palo Alto, Monty has finished in the top three in the Pac-10 nine straight seasons.
“That’s huge for me to know that we will compete to be in the top three in the Pac-10 year in and year out,” Franklin said.
Expectations aren’t nearly as high at Stanford (most publications pick the Cardinal in the 8-10 range) after losing leading scorers Anthony Goods and Lawrence Hill from a team that reached the College Basketball Invitational last season.
But that will change in the future as Dawkins has commitments from three 2010 Top 100 talents, reeling in two of them this month.
Bellevue, Wash., point guard Aaron Bright (ranked No. 95) was the first to verbal in July, while Canadian native forward Dwight Powell (No. 22) and California wing Anthony Brown (No. 53) have signaled their intentions to head to “The Farm” within the last three weeks.
The fourth member of the class is Washington small-school star John Gage. Both Powell and Gage are skilled 6-10 post players. Powell was an integral part of Grassroots Canada’s highly-successful travel circuit team, while Gage led Vashon Island to a 26-1 record and 2A state title last winter.
Add California’s Crabbe (No. 42) and four of the Top 100 players nationally in the class of 2010 are headed to the Bay Area, a good sign for fans of the two programs.
Irving set to decide
A sign of the times, the big news Wednesday came via Twitter when St. Patrick (Elizabeth, N.J.) guard Kyrie Irving announced he will decide between Duke, Kentucky and Texas A&M Thursday on ESPNU.
While reports are flying that Mike Krzyzewski has already secured the 6-foot-1 guard’s services, Irving has issued the following “tweets” over the past 24 hours;
“I have not committed to duke (sic)…”
“I don’t know what’s going on with all these supposed sources but I have not committed to duke (sic)…”
And again, “I have not committed to duke (sic)!!!”
Irving is rated No. 19 in MaxPreps.com’s 2010 Top 100 and it has been widely reported he could be a package deal with Harrison Barnes of Ames, Iowa – rated No. 4 nationally. Those arrangements rarely materialize but landing both could help Duke take a big step toward ending North Carolina's recent ACC dominance.
