RECRUITING / JEFF FELLENZER : College Coaches Are Starting to Worry About Sales Pitch to Youngest Murray

Cameron Murray has heard all the speculation:

* The Glendora High senior guard, who averaged 27.7 points a game as a junior, wants to attend UCLA, where his brother Tracy earned All-Pacific-10 honors.

* No way he’ll go to UCLA because feelings are no longer amicable between the Murrays and UCLA after Tracy’s decision last year to give up his final season of eligibility and turn pro.

* He’s going to sign with the University of Oregon so that he can be near Tracy, who now plays for the Portland Trail Blazers.

* He’ll sign with California, where he could help offset the expected loss of sophomore point guard Jason Kidd to the NBA after next season. Plus, Cal forward Lamond Murray is his cousin.

* He is enamored with the competition, atmosphere and exposure of some of the big-name Eastern schools, especially Georgia Tech, and will sign with one of them.

The facts:

* The Murrays have good feelings about the UCLA program, but the Bruins appear set at point guard with junior Tyus Edney, freshman Cameron Dollar and the expected signing of 6-5 Bellflower St. John Bosco senior Jelani Gardner. As a result, Murray told the Bruins in the spring that they would not be among his final five choices.

* He is not considering Oregon, but likes Cal.

* Although he acknowledges a fondness for Georgia Tech, he doubts whether an Atlantic Coast Conference or Big East school would commit its point guard position to a kid from the West Coast.

* Murray is considering 12 colleges. In no particular order: USC, Cal, Arizona, Nevada Las Vegas, Cal State Long Beach, Arkansas, Michigan, Georgia Tech, Boston College, Vanderbilt, Syracuse and Tennessee. Coaches from each of the schools will visit the Murray home sometime after the fall recruiting period for basketball begins Sept. 10, then the group will be narrowed to five.

“I’d like to sign in November, but I won’t rush it,” said Murray, who made an unofficial visit to USC last week.

Murray, a 6-foot guard with outstanding shooting range, enjoyed a productive summer. He was selected to play in the exclusive top 20 game at the Nike invitational camp in Indianapolis in July and scored 16 points, including four consecutive three-point baskets. Murray also played well at Slam-N-Jam national tournaments in Long Beach and Las Vegas.

He is one of 40 players nationally to receive an invitation to the Nike Career Developmental Weekend and Fab 40 Shootout, scheduled for Sept. 10-12 at Beaverton, Ore.

“I was very nervous about the summer, but I accomplished everything that I wanted to,” Murray said. “I really wanted to work on my court leadership and to just keep improving as a point guard.”

Some college coaches wondered if Murray is too one-dimensional, questioning his ballhandling, passing and defensive skills. There are fewer questions today.

“In my opinion, other than Allen Iverson (from Hampton, Va.), Cameron is the top point guard prospect in the country,” said Bob Gibbons, a respected talent evaluator from Lenoir, N.C., whose scouting service for colleges has 250 subscribers nationwide. (Iverson’s college future is in question. He faces sentencing Sept. 8 on three felony convictions for his part in a February bowling alley brawl in Hampton.)

“Cameron understands the way the game should be played, which I think is due to his experiences playing against talented older players at a young age. I think he’s very underrated, perhaps underappreciated by people on the West Coast.”

Murray got an up-close look at the recruiting process when Tracy was a senior four years ago.

“As a family, we were kind of overwhelmed by all the attention with Tracy,” said Bob Murray, the players’ father. “Now we’re handling it a little better with Cameron.”

Still, there are questions, but Murray knows who to turn to for answers.

“When I’m confused about something in recruiting, I go right to Tracy.”

Notes

Two prominent basketball players UCLA is recruiting--6-8 Mark Madsen of Danville, Calif., and 6-9 J.R. Henderson of Bakersfield--may be ready to make their college decisions soon. Madsen, a hard-nosed, relentless low-post player, would give the Bruins a dimension they have lacked in recent seasons. Madsen has narrowed his choices to UCLA, Stanford, Brigham Young and Utah. Insiders think he will choose the Bruins or Stanford. Henderson, who has UCLA and Cal at the top of his list, disappointed some coaches and scouts this summer with his work ethic and lack of toughness, but his offensive skills are terrific. He would like to play small forward in college, which, at UCLA, could ultimately mean that freshman Charles O’Bannon will become an off-guard. Cal would love to have Henderson next season to replace junior forward Lamond Murray, who, along with point guard Jason Kidd, very likely could declare himself eligible for the NBA draft.

Add UCLA: The Bruins are trying to get an official recruiting visit from promising 6-11, 250-center Todd MacCulloch of Winnipeg, Canada. MacCulloch was impressive with his play at last month’s Basketball Congress International tournament in Tempe, Ariz. He has good hands, runs well and can shoot. Notre Dame is considered the leader for MacCulloch, who also plans to visit Nebraska and Washington; his family owns property in the Seattle area. Connecticut and Washington State are also hoping for visits. UCLA is also seeking a visit from 6-9 forward Maceo Baston of Dallas. Baston is expected to visit Nevada Las Vegas (the leader), Kentucky, Michigan and Arizona State. (Sun Devil guard Stevin Smith attended Baston’s high school, H.G. Spruce). UCLA and Oklahoma State are competing for Baston’s final official visit.

Coach George Raveling confirmed that the only non-guard USC is recruiting is 6-6 forward Tremaine Fowlkes of Crenshaw High. Raveling tried to get a visit from 6-10 center-forward Raef LaFrentz of Monona, Iowa, who most coaches and scouts consider the top overall prospect in the high school class of ’94. LaFrentz was once considered a certainty to sign with Iowa, but Kansas and Missouri are making inroads.

More hoops: Mike Carson, a 6-11 center from Chino Don Lugo, is leaning toward Arizona State over Oregon and Utah . . . The finalists for 5-8 point guard Tommie Davis of Fremont High: USC, Arizona, Providence, Boston College and Houston. Arizona State has stopped recruiting Davis, although his mother reportedly plans to move to Phoenix. Sun Devil Coach Bill Frieder prefers 5-10 Prince Fowler of Las Vegas Western, who is planning trips to Oklahoma, Arkansas, Arizona State, Miami and UNLV. Arizona and Duke are still hoping to secure in-home visits. . . Besides Henderson, Cameron Murray and Jelani Gardner, other California players invited to attend the Nike top 40 weekend: Toby Bailey (Loyola High), Rick Price (Gardena Serra), Miles Simon (Santa Ana Mater Dei), Tim Young (Santa Cruz) and freshman Schea Cotton (Bellflower St. John Bosco). . . . Duke and Stanford are favored by 6-4 guard Trajan Langdon of Anchorage, Alaska, who has already made two unofficial visits to the Duke campus. However, Langdon’s father, Steve, a professor of anthropology at the University of Alaska-Anchorage, has three degrees from Stanford.

Huntington Beach High forward Tony Gonzalez (6-6, 225), one of the country’s outstanding two-sport prep athletes, is planning to sign a football letter of intent in February so that he can play both football and basketball as a college freshman. Football players who sign basketball letters of intent, such as USC freshman guard Stais Boseman, are not allowed to play football as freshmen. Arizona is considered the favorite over Arizona State, Washington, Notre Dame, Syracuse and Florida State. Although USC and UCLA are still recruiting him for both sports, Gonzalez seems almost certain to leave Southern California.

Recent unwritten commitments: 6-8 forward Andrae Patterson of Abilene, Tex., to Indiana, and 6-5 swingman Mark Young of Baton Rouge, La., to Louisiana State.

Football news: Former Dorsey High wide receiver Antonio Carrion, who had signed with San Diego State, failed to qualify academically and probably will enroll at a community college. The Aztecs also lost freshman running back-defensive back Z-Ukoni Hodges from Pasadena Blair. Hodges left the team for “personal reasons,” according to an Aztec spokesman. Former Pasadena Muir linebacker Derek Norman, who was a non-qualifier, will attend the school under terms of Prop. 48. . . Add Prop. 48s: Tyron Gunn, an All-City Section defensive lineman from Washington High, has enrolled at Fresno State, along with running back Woody Green of Portland, who had signed with Oregon in February.