College Basketball: Top 10 West Coast Schools with the Most Recruiting Cache
Some schools recruit. Others reload. And some just seem to choose which of the elite-level high school players they want.
At the top of the college basketball food chain exists a handful of schools that are annually recruiting some of the best of the best.
Let's take a look at the top 10 West Coast schools that carry the biggest amount of recruiting clout.
10. Stanford
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While the Stanford Cardinal program is not what it was during Mike Montgomery's glory days (393-167 from 1986-2004), "life on the Farm" still annually attracts many high school star players every year.
And why not?
You get to play in the Pac-12 and get a world-class education to boot.
Current Cardinal head coach Johnny Dawkins is bringing in talent.
In 2010, Rivals.com ranked Stanford's recruiting class as No. 16.
9. UNLV
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While going to college in the self-proclaimed "Entertainment Capital of the World" is not for everyone, plenty of high school star players listen when UNLV calls.
After all, it's Vegas baby.
The Runnin' Rebels aren't dominating like they did in the 1970s-80s under Jerry Tarkanian, but they are still an intriguing program.
In July 2008, ESPNU named UNLV the eighth-most prestigious collegiate basketball program in the nation since 1984.
After some lean years, Lon Kruger brought stability to UNLV over the last seven seasons, winning 70 percent of his games as head coach.
Dave Rice, who played under Tarkanian and was a Runnin' Rebel assistant for 11 years, now has the task of taking the program into the future.
8. USC
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Kevin O'Neil is working hard to establish Southern Cal basketball.
Not an easy job when you are at a football school—USC football will always be King.
Not an easy job when you are dealing with sanctions from the previous coaching staff.
But the Trojans continue to work on making progress.
Building a state-of-the-art, on-campus arena (the Galen Center) certainly helps the image of the program.
So does making it to the NCAA tournament, which the Trojans do on a fairly regular basis.
While USC basketball isn't exactly a national program, they do spark recruiting interest just because they are Southern Cal.
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7. Oregon
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As long as Nike's founder Phil Knight is a devoted Oregon athletics booster, the Ducks will always have serious recruiting clout.
Oregon's athletics facilities are amazing.
The new Matthew Knight Arena is second to none
The Jaqua Academic Center For Student Athletes may be as good as any such facility in the country.
Second-year head coach Dana Altman hit the ground running and hasn't stopped since being hired.
He has the Ducks heading in the right direction, after posting a 21-18 record and a CBI Championship in his first season.
And Altman has pulled in the 2011 Rivals.com No. 21 recruiting class.
6. Gonzaga
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Mark Few has established a top-level program at a small school (less than 5,000 students) in a small city (Spokane, Wash.).
He has taken Gonzaga from being an obscure, mid-major novelty to NCAA tournament darlings to a respected program that many schools are hesitant (or refuse) to schedule.
Few's record speaks for itself. He has gone 315-83 as the Bulldogs head coach.
His Bulldogs' teams have made it to the NCAA tournament all 12 years of his coaching tenure and advanced to at least the second round in nine of those 12 years.
Mark Few competes and succeeds in recruiting battles with Pac-12 schools.
The Zags have had four NBA first-round picks (John Stockton, 1984; Dan Dickau, 2002; Adam Morrison, 2006; Austin Daye, 2009) in school history, along with others such as Ronny Turiaf and Richie Frahm who have gone on to play in the NBA and overseas.
5. Cal-Berkeley
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Cal has been a program that has featured many top-level players over the years.
Going back to the 1990s when Jason Kidd and Lamond Murray were doing their thing or more recently when the Bears, under Mike Montgomery, won the Pac-10 title, Cal's program continues to be an interest to recruits up and down the West Coast.
Cal is another school that provides the possibility of playing big-time sports and getting a top-level education also.
The Bears 2010 recruiting class was ranked No. 21.
With recruiting success like this, look for Cal to compete for the inaugural Pac-12 championship.
4. Washington
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Year after year, the Washington Huskies are at or near the top of the Pac-10 (soon to be the Pac-12).
Lorenzo Romar has averaged 22 wins per season over the nine years that he has been the Huskies head coach.
During that time, UDub has made three trips to the Sweet 16 and has won the conference tournament or the conference title four times.
Romar has a very fertile Seattle recruiting base to build from and he has been successful at keeping most of the best ones close to home.
Washington has had a fairly steady flow of players into the NBA over the past decade, which always helps in securing the next great players for the Huskie program.
3. UCLA
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UCLA hasn't continued to win national championships, but the gravitational pull of the program is still strong.
There is a continued mystique about UCLA basketball.
Ben Howland, in his eight years as head coach, has taken the Bruins to the NCAA championship game once and the Final Four three times.
Howland's biggest problem is that he has recruited so many good players (Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, Darren Collison, etc.) who have left the program early, it's hard to keep the cupboard stocked from year to year.
Storied Pauley Pavillion, the Bruins' home, is in the middle of getting a major facelift.
2. Texas
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OK. I know that it is pushing it to say that Austin, Texas should be considered West Coast. But, let's face it: There are a lot of people that think that everything east of the Hudson is unsettled wilderness.
Whereas Texas primarily recruited from within the Lone Star State, now they are a player on the national recruiting scene.
Rick Barnes has established the Longhorns basketball program as one of the top programs in the country.
Success breeds success. UT has gone to the NCAA tournament every year and averaged 25 wins per season in Barnes' 13 years at the helm.
It doesn't hurt recruiting when you can point to national Player of the Year Award winners, such as T.J. Ford, LaMarcus Aldridge and Kevin Durant as some of the players to come through the program.
1. Arizona
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Sean Miller has done a fantastic job of rebuilding the Arizona basketball program in an amazing two-year period.
Miller took over a program that had drifted from national prominence during the last years of Lute Olson's tenure.
But Miller has put together three great recruiting classes, and took the Wildcats to the Elite Eight this past season.
The long-term reputation of the U of A program as being a pipeline of talent to the NBA is still widely recognized.
And it doesn't hurt the current program that Derrick Williams, the most recent Wildcat star, should be the first or second player drafted in the 2011 NBA draft.
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