May 19, 2005
Revisiting Lawrence Westbrook
Remember Lawrence Westbrook? He's the Arizona high school scoring champ whom the Lobos had looked at but not seriously recruited. He averaged 40.1 points per game last season, breaking a 41-year-old state scoring record.
I wrote about him on this blog on January 23. What made that blog entry unusual were quotes from his high school coach in Chandler. The coach called him a ball hog. He said Westbrook was just a junior but that the Lobos could take him right now if they want.
That's harsh stuff, and not the sort of quotes I usually get from a high school coach. You can read my original blog entry here:
At the time, I put it up on the blog and forgot about it. But since then, I've spoken with Westbrook's parents, who have presented a different picture of their son.
Westbrook averaged 40.1 points, 9.5 rebounds, six assists and three steals per game, his father said. That doesn't jibe with what the Chandler coach said about Westbrook averaging 0 assists and 0 rebounds.
Westbrook is leaving Chandler and will transfer to a prep school, most likely one of those basketball factories. He has a 3.7 grade-point average, which seems at odds with the bad-guy image the coach implied.
It's easy to second-guess yourself in journalism. For one, there's a daily record of your work. Plus, if you don't, your readers will do it for you.
I wasn't particularly interested in exploring that story much more after the coach said UNM had backed off. I write about Lobo basketball, not Arizona high school players. But those quotes from the coach were pretty juicy and probably deserved a follow-up with the Westbrooks.
Recruiting coverage is a tricky animal. You deal with high school coaches, college coaches, AAU coaches and parents, all of whom can have conflicting desires. And all of it is dependent on the flimsy whims of teenagers.
I don't know if this sets the record straight about Westbrook. But it does present a clearer picture.
Posted by jcarlton at May 19, 2005 03:15 PM
