Nevada recruiting even better than before

For a couple of recruiting cycles, Nevada's Mark Fox was picking up support talent to surround his star players Nick Fazekas, Ramon Sessions and Marcelus Kemp. Whether by purpose or due to the vagaries in landing new players, no possibly or expected-to-be future pros were signed. The possibilities of limited playing time or a number of starting positions sewn up may have factored into this limited recruitng haul.

But both Fazekas and Sessions are gone and Kemp will be too after the upcoming season.

So Fox needed some [re]building blocks in the 2007-2008 recruiting class and he has hit the jackpot with his first three verbals.

The case can actually be made that he is doing better than ever recruiting-wise because Fazekas, Sessions and Kemp were not considered NBA possibilities when each was signed but the three new recruits have at least received mention as possible future pros.

Reno prep star Luke Babbitt heads the list. He was originally headed to Columbus, Ohio and Thad Matta but re-thought his options and decided to stay close to home, real close.

Babbitt is a smaller version of Fazekas. Not a great athlete, he's a smart player who is equally effective inside and outside. We described him in an article some time ago as having long, longer and longest shooting range. Look for him to be an immediate starter for Nevada and soon to be the team's top scorer as THE building block..

What other Western Athletic Conference (WAC) coaches will try to do against Babbitt is force him to spend energy and hopefully fouls in defending. Babbitt's quickness and foot speed aren't remarkable so opposing teams will try and force him to match up against a more athletic opponent who can dribble drive and also be a threat from outside.

But on the flip side, it will be critical for opponents to play someone who can handle defensive chores inside and outside in order to match up with Babbitt, and that may be difficult.

Then two others joined with the Wolf Pack in early October, Mark McLaughlin and London Giles.

The 6-4 McLaughlin had earlier given a verbal to Washington State [is there a pattern forming here?] but re-opened his recruitment after having second thoughts about his fit with Tony Bennett's offensive style.

For what it's worth and truth is usually a rare commodity in this regard, McLaughlin was also being seriously wooed by Illinois and Oregon. If true, Fox won out over the PAC-10 and Big Ten, a feat that rarely occurs for a WAC team.

All indications are that McLaughlin should be the starting shooting guard for the Pack by his sophomore season, if not earlier.

Nevada has worked the Northwest well in recruiting, having earlier landed Kemp, Lyndale Burleson, Richie Phillips from the rain forest.

Giles is out of Texas, Dallas specifically. He plays the point and that spot is for the taking next season in Reno. Described as underrated and a very hard worker by his club team coach, Giles supposedly turned his back on entreaties from Marquette, USC, Oregon State and Santa Clara.

Again, if true, this is quite the coup but we have our doubts if USC was ever seriously in the mix.

Landing three talents who have the potential to be starters early in their college careers easily qualifies as a superb recruiting haul, the best to date in the WAC. Maybe it's true that Mark Fox isn't going anywhere despite his superb success in the Biggest Little City In The World and all the 'talk' that has 'placed' him elsewhere replacing so-and-so.

Nevada will stumble a bit this season in league play but looks to have re-loaded for 2008-2009 quite well. Having the WAC tourney in Reno after this season will be a bonus for what will be a young but talented team.