Rebels’ dream recruit would be a game-changer

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Friday, Jan. 13, 2017 | 2 a.m.

It’s no secret that UNLV basketball is in the early stages of a massive rebuilding effort. After hiring a new coaching staff in April and bringing in 10 new scholarship players in one offseason, the climb back toward contender status is going to be a long and painstaking process. There are no shortcuts.

Well, that’s not entirely true — there may be one way to speed things up.

Brandon McCoy is a 7-foot, 220-pound center from San Diego. He’s rated as the No. 15 recruit in the Class of 2017. He’s athletic, physical, productive and hardworking. And he’s currently considering UNLV.

Land McCoy, and the Rebels could be back on track sooner than anyone expected.

What seemed like a long shot in the offseason isn’t so farfetched now. In October, McCoy took an official visit to UNLV. A couple of weeks later, he announced his final five college options, and the Rebels made the cut along with Arizona, Oregon, Michigan State and hometown San Diego State.

According to a source, McCoy hasn’t made any final decisions yet and is still considering all of his remaining options — including UNLV.

NCAA rules forbid college coaches from commenting on unsigned recruits, but Marvin Menzies has to be salivating at the thought of adding McCoy to the current roster. Menzies and his staff were forced by circumstances to build their initial 2016 class with leftovers, and they did a commendable job, adding talented long-term building blocks like Cheickna Dembele and Troy Baxter. Throwing a veritable blue-chip prospect like McCoy into the mix would really give Menzies something to build around. As a junior at Cathedral Catholic last year, McCoy posted 21.2 points, 10.8 rebounds and 3.6 blocks per game, and most people familiar with his game seem to think he would make a smooth transition to the college level.

“He likes to get the ball down low and attack the basket,” said Gary Franklin, coach of McCoy’s AAU squad, Cal Supreme. “That’s become a lost art, in a sense. A lot of big kids want to play away from the basket, but Brandon wants to play down inside. He’s got good touch down there, a good jump hook, a good drop step. He just loves to attack the basket. Some bigs are not as comfortable around the basket as he is. The fact that he embraces being around the basket will make him very special at the next level.”

That must be like music to Menzies’ ears. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Menzies is more committed to post play than any other coach in the country, and it’s tantalizing to think what he could do with a true back-to-the-basket dominator like McCoy.

Last year under Menzies, New Mexico State ranked 10th in the nation in posting up, as the Aggies threw the ball inside on 14.1 percent of their offensive possessions. The year before that, NMSU was No. 4 in the nation (16.8 percent). The year before that, it was No. 2 (17.0 percent).

Menzies also has a strong track record of developing big men, as he turned unknown prospects Sim Bhullar and Pascal Siakam into double-double machines at New Mexico State. Bhullar went on to play with the Sacramento Kings in 2014-15, while Siakam was a first-round draft pick (No. 27 overall) in 2016 and is currently starting at power forward for the Toronto Raptors.

McCoy’s high school coach, Will Cunningham, said development could be a factor in McCoy’s college decision.

“He’s a skilled big guy,” Cunningham said, “but it’s hard to find a lot of matchups for him in high school because most kids don’t have that size, so he’s able to dominate. He ends up guarding perimeter guys, which probably helps his inside-out game, but offensively he likes being around the basket. He’s a true center, and you don’t find many of those. I think he wants to go to a place that’s competitive, where he has a chance to get better and grow. He wants to be a next-level player. He has the potential to go past college and play [professionally], so he’s probably looking for a school that can help him achieve all those things.”

The other contenders for McCoy’s services are not nearly as reliant on post play, which may help the Rebels’ case when decision day comes. Arizona ranked 40th in post-ups last season, while Michigan State was 68th, San Diego State was 93rd and Oregon was 310th. On the flip side, of course, those programs have had more success on the court than UNLV in recent years.

Add McCoy to the foundation Menzies is starting to lay in Las Vegas, however, and the wins could start to pile up quickly. By all accounts, McCoy is a hard worker dedicated to improving his game.

McCoy’s work ethic was the first thing that stood out to Franklin.

“He’s always worked extremely hard,” Franklin said. “When he joined us, the kid would go through two or three practice jerseys, just pouring with sweat. He really wanted to compete. Brandon just has a really strong passion for the game. In our program, we had all age groups in there — 16s, 17s, our 10th grade team, the senior team — and he would jump in and scrimmage with all of them. He came in as a sophomore, and even though he was playing up with the older group, he wanted to play his age group, he wanted to play with the older guys — he just wanted to get in there and play. There were times we had to pull him aside and tell him to slow down a little bit.”

It’s understandable if Rebels fans are a little gun-shy with top recruits, as local 2017 prospects Troy Brown and Charles O’Bannon both had UNLV in their final lists, only to choose Oregon and USC, respectively. But Menzies is highly regarded as a recruiter, as are assistant coaches Andre LaFleur, Rob Jeter and Eric Brown, and they have been making encouraging inroads in Southern California. Sometimes, it only takes one high-profile commitment to change momentum on the recruiting trail.

McCoy was in Las Vegas with his high school team in December for the Tarkanian Classic, and UNLV coaches were in the stands to watch. Cathedral Catholic lost to Desert Pines, but McCoy showed well with 24 points.

Desert Pines coach Michael Uzan is familiar with McCoy, as his son Capri Uzan (a 2017 Air Force commit) played AAU ball with him as a freshman and sophomore.

Michael Uzan made sure to put McCoy front and center in the defensive game plan.

“We tried to make sure he touched it as far away from the basket as possible,” he said. “If he did touch it [down low], we’d try to double down on him. You have to keep him away from the rim. He’s a 7-footer, he’s aggressive and athletic and if you give him that space he’s going to take it.”

Away from the court, Uzan had nothing but good things to say about McCoy.

“Brandon is a great kid. The kids like him. He’s funny and the team has a good time when he’s around. I love Brandon.”

McCoy has indicated he'll wait until the high school season is over (and possibly until the spring signing period, which begins April 12) before making his decision. If UNLV can beat out the competition, bring the big man to Las Vegas and accelerate the rebuilding process, Menzies will love him, too.

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