Saturday, April 18, 2009

USC recruit Monique Oliver granted a release?

I first heard about this Thursday, but now there's a short story in the Long Beach Post about the All-American from Long Beach Poly:

http://lbpostsports.com/newsdesk.php?story=2773

Then there are these posts from the USChoops message board, making allegations about former Coach Mark Trakh's supposed disappointment in Oliver's performance at the McDonald's All-American game April 1:

http://uschoopsmessageboard.yuku.com/topic/4705

(I doubt that even if Trakh hadn't liked her play during the game that he would have said anything to a stranger about it, much less wanted to rescind her scholarship because of it).

Of course speculation is that there will be an "exodus" of commits now that Trakh is gone and with the rumored possibility of Michael Cooper taking the job. But a source within the Long Beach Poly community, where Oliver hails from, told me yesterday that the 6-foot-3 center didn't have the grades to be accepted into USC.

For now, I'm waiting for an announcement as to whether Oliver is gone or not.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

If it was academics, she would be the first Trakh recruit to be disqualified for that reason. I just don't believe it. SC has a group of players on their mens' team that essentially couldn't find their butt with both hands. Sidney is coming in he hasn't even taken his SAT. SC is a private and unless Mo has failed badly at Poly (not a rigorous academic institution), it's very hard to believe that Trakh would have recruited her or that SC would have denied her.

What about her choices? Rutgers, Texas.....Maryland? If she can't get into SC, how is she going to manage at Maryland? Bad grades would mean a JC like Sanford did.

Rebecca said...

Building on the anon comment, UT-Austin and RU are two of the toughest state schools to get into for out-of-state residents. If her issue were grades, it's not bloody likely she'd be able to go to RU or especially Texas (something tells me that even if the admissions office were willing to relax requirements, a former Duke coach would not go for it). There's got to be more to it than that.

Sue Favor said...

I doubt it too, unless Oliver really slid in her senior year.....that's becoming more known now, that you can't just stop working once you get signed, as colleges monitor their recruits throughout their senior years after they sign in November.

Hopefully my reliable source can find out what's really up over there. I'm beginning to think Jody Wynn is the smartest coach on the west coast for getting out.

Anonymous said...

I doubt it was her grades because the proceedure would have been different. Since LOI's were signed only a short while ago, why would USC still bind her to a verbal if they knew she couldn't gain admittance.

Anonymous said...

is she still bound to a verbal or is she looking elsewhere? there could still be the possibility that she could still come back! no?