Jayhawks get jump on Miles

By Gary Bedore     Jul 18, 2000

Roy Williams was one of the first major college basketball coaches maybe the first coach to show interest in Portland, Ore., Jefferson High point guard Aaron Miles.

Williams scouted the 6-foot, 170-point assist machine twice last season, when Miles was just emerging on the national scene.

Williams’ head start in recruiting Miles might be paying off as the blue-chipper has cut his list of prospective colleges to four Kansas, Duke, UCLA and Arizona.

“I like them all. They are all great schools,” Miles told Mike Sullivan of Insider’s Report on Monday in an interview at the Nike Peach Jam Tournament in Atlanta.

“I have four great schools with rich traditions on my list. So until I have a chance to take some visits, I can’t say for sure who I would be leaning to.”

Miles, whose stock has soared this summer to the point he’s now regarded as one of the top 20 players in the country, plans to make four visits and sign with a school in November.

From all accounts, he sounds like a young Jacque Vaughn.

“My heart gives me the will to win. Individual stats aren’t important. Only winning the game is important,” Miles told Insider’s Report. “I want to make sure I keep my teammates happy and get them involved in the game.”

Miles averaged 13 points, seven assists and three steals last season for Jefferson. He said Williams’ decision to stay at Kansas kept the Jayhawks on his list.

“What he showed me was he has character. By staying loyal to his players and program, he showed me he is a special coach. I was impressed by what he did,” Miles told IR.

Miles has yet to set any dates for campus visits.

Last week, Jamal Sampson, 6-10, from Santa Ana, Calif., said he would visit Kansas this fall, along with North Carolina, Arizona and UConn. He also has been considering Kentucky, UCLA and Syracuse.

Josh Childress, 6-6 of Los Angeles, made an unofficial trip to KU last winter and is still considering KU, Stanford, UCLA, Arizona and North Carolina.

Latimore update: Dennis Latimore, a 6-8 power forward from Halstead, is playing for Pump and Run AAU of Los Angeles this summer.

KU ‘s Williams, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, Arizona’s Lute Olson, Stanford’s Mike Montgomery and Florida’s Billy Donovan all watched Latimore play at the Big Time Tournament in Las Vegas.

Latimore, who has been compared to Duke’s Shane Battier, tells PacWest Hoops that KU, UCLA, Arizona and Florida are the main contenders. Latimore says he wants to take all five campus visits and ink in November.

UNC commitment: New North Carolina coach Matt Doherty already as a verbal commitment from Jackie Manuel, 6-6 from Newman High School in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. UNC also is after James White, 6-7, of York, Pa.

Willowridge preps: KU coach Williams was spotted scouting Houston Willowridge High teammates T.J. Ford and Daniel Ewing at the adidas camp in New Jersey. Ford is a point guard, Ewing a shooting guard. Ewing told Pac West Hoops he’s down to Duke, KU, Arizona, Syracuse, Georgia Tech and UCLA.

Carter update: Jason Carter, 6-8 from Las Vegas, who has listed Kansas in the past, told the Las Vegas Review Journal he’s considering UCLA, Xavier, USC and VIllanova. Meanwhile, Chuck Hayes, 6-6 from Modesto, Calif., says he’s down to Kansas, Kentucky, UCLA, USC, UTEP, Utah, Pepperdine and St. Louis. Chad Bell, 6-11 of Los Angeles, told All Star Report he’d visit KU this fall, plus Kentucky, New Mexico and two yet-to-be-determined schools.

Lee likes four: David Lee, 6-9 from St. Louis, told Kentuckywildcats.net he’s close to cutting his list to three or four schools. He has made an unofficial trip to Kansas. Some say his favorites are Florida, Duke, Kentucky and Missouri.

Recruiting discussion: KU coach Williams joined 149 other coaches at Sunday’s three-hour NABC summit in Las Vegas to discuss summer recruiting.

No plan was acted upon, and one probably won’t be conceived until November at the earliest, when the NCAA’s Basketball Issues Committee meets.

“The tenant of the meeting was not to come up with a plan for 2002 (when summer recruiting will be banned),” NABC executive director Jim Haney told the Las Vegas Review Journal. “It was to provide coaches with information on what 2002 could do. Our stance is, we’re 100 percent entrenched that we need to have summer evaluation. But ultimately it’s the Basketball Issues Committee’s job to deal with this.”

The NABC hopes to have a plan devised by November that the committee can adopt and present to the NCAA management council in April. A final vote would come in October 2001. Legislation is in place to reduce the number of evaluation days a coach can have in July from the current 24 to 14 in 2001, with no days in 2002.

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