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By Arlie Rahn
Arizona Daily Wildcat
October 10, 1996
A potential NCAA violation at UCLA may land Arizona a pair of top recruits. If nothing else, recent events have made the Pacific 10 Conference basketball recruiting race a little more interesting.UCLA head coach Jim Harrick's son was reported to have sold a car valued at $12,750 to the sister of potential recruit Baron Davis for $5,000. The incident has threatened Davis' eligibility, and with an NCAA investigation pending, it has made things much cloudier for a pair of twins who had all but signed with the Bruins.
Jaron and Jason Collins, 6-foot-11 brothers, had verbally committed to UCLA, but now may be having second thoughts.
"I know they were very disturbed by it," said Gary Thran, athletic director of Harvard Westlake High School in North Hollywood, Calif. "They will look into the matter real close before they make any decision."
The Collins brothers were looking forward to playing with the 6-foot-1 Davis, from Crossroads High School in Santa Monica, Calif., who was rated the top prep point guard in the nation after the Nike Basketball Camp in July. Now that his future is in jeopardy, the twins are looking much closer at the two other schools in the running: Arizona and Stanford.
"If this is a serious issue, I think they may consider going somewhere else," Thran said. "Their mom would love them to go to Stanford because of their academic prestige. The only problem with Arizona is that their dad would not be able to see them play every game."
The Wildcats received more good news when 6-7 recruit Chris Owens, from Duncanville (Texas) High School, left his visit to Arizona this weekend in good spirits.
"Chris has expressed a good deal of interest in Arizona," Duncanville High School basketball coach Phil McNeilly said. "They are definitely high on his list.
"He has some other schools he would like to visit, but he is strongly considering Arizona."
While Arizona might have recruited one highly regarded prospect, one recruit out of the running is 6-9 Long Beach (Calif.) star Michael Batiste, who has verbally committed to Arizona State.
Batiste is currently at Long Beach City College, where he averaged 24 points and 7.9 rebounds last season.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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