Davis Commits to UCLA

Steve Lavin can give up taking Nyquil to help on those sleepless nights for awhile.

UCLA’s rookie basketball coach capped off one of the nation’s finest recruiting efforts Monday when highly touted point guard Baron Davis of Santa Monica Crossroads High announced he would sign with the Bruins.

Davis’ decision came a day after another top recruit, Schea Cotton of Bellflower St. John Bosco High, also committed to UCLA. Cotton, a 6-foot-5 guard/forward, signed a letter of intent Monday.

“Recruiting is one of the amazing parts of the game that’s so unpredictable,” Lavin said. “You learn to hold onto your hat and drink a lot of Nyquil at night.”

Since Davis hadn’t signed his letter of intent as of Monday night, Lavin couldn’t comment on his top recruit because of NCAA rules. But he hinted at his exuberance.

“I felt the finish to our season seemed to capture a lot of people’s imaginations,” Lavin said. “That has continued over to the recruiting, and we have great momentum in that area right now.”

Davis, a 6-foot-2 point guard, committed to UCLA in September but did not sign a letter of intent after he and his sister, Lisa Hodoh, became the subject of a Pacific-10 Conference investigation after Hodoh bought a used car from then-UCLA Coach Jim Harrick.

Although Davis and Hodoh were cleared of any wrongdoing, Davis decided to start the recruiting process over and wait to sign until the spring. He attended most UCLA home games last season and slowly took a liking to Lavin and his staff.

As of last week, however, Davis said he was leaning toward signing with Kansas. He had also considered Georgia Tech.

“I was all set to commit to Kansas, but last Friday I sat down with my family and that’s when I decided I wanted to stay closer to them,” Davis said. “UCLA offered everything that Kansas did, and it allowed me to stay home. I decided on the Bruins Friday night.”

Davis, who averaged 25 points and eight assists last season in leading Crossroads to the State Division IV title, had to keep the news quiet over the weekend since he had committed to announcing the decision on live television preceding the Clipper-Utah Jazz NBA playoff game at the Sports Arena.

An indication of how important Davis’ decision was to many, Fox Sports West invited the top recruit to tell the world his college choice during the Clipper pregame show. The station even sent a limousine to pick him up and bring him to its studio in Century City.

About two dozen family members and reporters sat in the studio as Davis looked into the camera and announced his decision by discarding caps from Georgia Tech and Kansas, leaving only the one from UCLA to put on his head.

When the camera was turned off, a relieved Davis conceded he never thought he’d be signing with UCLA after all that had happened last fall. Harrick’s sale of a 1991 Chevy Blazer to Hodoh played an indirect role in his firing before the start of the season.

Davis, frequently seen driving the Blazer, said he took a lot of ribbing about the incident during the season.

While Davis was committing to UCLA for the second time, Harrick was reportedly flying to the University of Rhode Island to interview for its coaching vacancy.

“In the end, it all boiled down to Coach Lavin,” Davis said. “We had a great home visit earlier this month, and I wanted to help set a trend of top L.A. players staying home and playing for UCLA.”

Davis, expected to start immediately for the Bruins, is the school’s sixth and most likely final recruit this season. He joins guards Earl Watson of Kansas City Washington and Rico Hines of Frederick, Md.; guard/forwards Billy Knight of Westchester and Cotton, and forward Travis Reed of Fontana A.B. Miller.

Hines was signed by Harrick a year earlier but had to sit out a year to improve his grades to meet NCAA eligibility requirements. Cotton also is not academically eligible because of an insufficient score on the Scholastic Assessment Test. He will take it again in June in an attempt to qualify.

Lavin said none of the recruits, including Cotton, were special admits, meaning they needed help from the chancellor’s office to gain admission.

“We feel this class is what we needed to help us be one of the top teams in the nation next season,” said Lavin, who guided UCLA to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament last month. “It’s definitely a top class.”