Thursday, May 21

Basketball: Courting youth

Taylor King is the worm caught by the early bird. A little over a year ago when his classmates were deciding where to attend high school, King was settling on a college. Read more...





Coaches recruit with modern twist

When women’s basketball coach Kathy Olivier wants to contact a prospective recruit, she has a variety of options at her fingertips. She can hop on a plane and travel anywhere in the country, pick up a telephone and dial, or simply type 439 into her cell phone, which, when translated into letters, reads “Hey.” It’s the latter form, referred to as text messaging, along with e-mail and instant messaging that are transforming recruiting from a semi-formal process into an all-out dogfight for an athlete’s attention. Read more...



M. basketball: Fouls fire up player’s game

Determined to find a way to coerce junior center Michael Fey into being more aggressive, UCLA coach Ben Howland seems to have found a solution. Fey, who was virtually silent in the Bruins’ first exhibition game before picking up a questionable fourth foul early in the second half, seemed to play with renewed energy and anger after that. Read more...