Does Kyle Anderson make UCLA relevant on the recruiting trail again?

Kyle Anderson, a 6'8" point forward out of Jersey City and the No. 3 recruit in the Class of 2012 according to our Consensus Rankings, ended his recruitment on late Monday night by opting to head west to join UCLA rather than stay at home and play for Seton Hall.

Landing Anderson is an impressive feat by Ben Howland, as he stretched his tentacles across the country to pull the youngster out of Seton Hall's backyard. Anderson joins Dominic Artis, a point guard and Cali-native that attends Findlay Prep in Las Vegas but grew up in the same town that the movie Coach Carter was based on, and Jordan Adams, a 6'5" wing that Howland was able to reel in from Georgia. Both are top 75 recruits.

"I chose UCLA cause I feel they can help me improve my defense and we will have a good chance of winning a National Championship," Anderson said.


With Anderson joining Artis and Adams in UCLA's 2012 recruiting class, the Bruins now have one of the best in the country, and they aren't done yet. The next target for Howland and his staff is Shabazz Muhammad, the consensus No. 1 player in the country who many believe favors UCLA at this point in his recruitment. Throw in the possibility of landing a big man like Tony Parker or Shaq Goodwin, two Atlanta-area kids that UCLA is in the mix with, and the Bruins could end up with a scary-good team in 2012.

Seriously. Look at this potential line-up:

PG - Larry Drew or Dominic Artis
SG - Shabazz Muhammad
SF - Kyle Anderson
PF - Reeves Nelson
C - Joshua Smith
Bench - Travis and David Wear, Jordan Adams, Shaq Goodwin/Tony Parker?

Let me ask you this: is UCLA's roster better than what Sean Miller has put together for the 2012 season at Arizona? Actually, it doesn't matter, because both of those teams are going to be ranked in everyone's top five, if not their top two. Apparently all it took to get the Pac-12 back on the map was the threat of expansion.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Howland still have quite a bit of work left to do chasing down Muhammad, Parker and Goodwin for that situation to be feasible. but part of what makes Anderson's commitment so important is that it will no doubt help Howland attract interest from the other three recruits. Its not secret that elite players have had their issues playing in Howland's grind-it-out, defense-oriented system.

While he did make three consecutive Final Fours -- and, in the process, send numerous players to the NBA, where they are flourishing -- his "loaded" 2008 recruiting class, a class that was supposed to keep UCLA atop college basketball after losing Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love to the 2008 Draft, was a massive bust. Drew Gordon and J'Mison Morgan transferred out. Jrue Holiday left school after one season. Malcolm Lee left this past summer. The only guy remaining is Jerime Anderson, who never lived up to his hype and spent this summer dealing with the legal ramifications of stealing a lap top.

With three straight 'meh' classes coming in the past three seasons, there is now reason to once again be excited about the prospect of Howland bringing in prospects that can compete for a national title in Westwood.


Kyle Anderson mixtape, because we all like moving pictures:


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