Friday, Oct. 17, 2008 | 2:56 p.m.
Jabari Brown Highlights
The weekend college basketball teams can officially begin practicing doubles as one of the season's marquee recruiting weekends.
As UNLV gets set to host tonight's FirstLook 2008 at the Thomas & Mack Center, its coaches and player are also in pitch mode with prep prospects in town checking out the Rebels' program.
It started as early as Friday morning, when Lon Kruger's ball club held its first true practice of the season at the Mack. On the sidelines, seated in between injured forward Matt Shaw and Kentucky transfer Derrick Jasper, was Jabari Brown.
The 6-foot-3 backcourt prospect is considered one of the big names early on in the class of 2011. As a freshman last season he helped Richmond (Calif.) Salesian High to a 21-9 record. Brown projects out as a combo guard at the next level.
Also in town for FirstLook will be entire Corona (Calif.) High and La Verne (Calif.) High teams.
The biggest influx of prep talent in the stands will be locals.
With the Rebels' 2009 scholarships all spoken for, the coaching staff is beginning to look further down the road. The biggest local name in the Mack tonight could be 6-4, 200-pound junior guard Moses Morgan out of Palo Verde High. Ranked as a four-star product by Rivals.com, he's currently No. 68 on that recruiting site's list of the top 150 prospects in the 2010 class. He is a probable to attend this evening.
If he shows up, he'll surely be near two other locals who are already committed in Findlay Prep's Carlos Lopez and Mojave's Anthony Marshall, both of whom are on the Rivals 150 list for '09. Justin Hawkins, the Rebels' other prep commit for '09 out of Woodland Hills, Calif., will also be in attendance. Other Findlay prospects expected to be there are 6-foot-3 guard Cory Joseph (Rivals No. 110 in class of 2010, originally from Pickering, Ontario), 5-foot-9 guard of Issiah Grayson (Rivals No. 150 in class of 2010, originally from Tucker, Ga.) and 6-foot-3 senior guard Willie Hankins, originally from Los Angeles.
Two bigger bodies who will not be present are Keith 'Tiny' Gallon and Renardo Sidney. Both seniors have been rumored to be considering UNLV in recent weeks despite the fact that Kruger & Co. have no more scholarships to hand out for next season.
The front-runner for Gallon, a Houston native who plays at Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., is Oklahoma. The Sooners drew a commitment from Gallon's good pal and Houston Hoops teammate Tommy Mason-Griffin late in the summer. As for Sidney, Kruger has never spoken with the Fairfax (Calif.) High big man, regarded as one of the best in this year's senior crop.
Local prospect Johnson elsewhere tonight
Cheyenne's Elijah Johnson, rated as the No. 27 prospect in the '09 class by Rivals.com, is taking in Late Night in the Phog tonight at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kan.
The Jayhawks appear to be atop Johnson's list along with Oklahoma, Texas and UCLA.
Another Top-25 Note
UNLV landed in yet another preseason Top-25 list on Friday, as Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News, who is counting down his Top 40 in a running format, unveiled the Rebels as his No. 24 team in the land on Friday.
The Rebels' other Top-25 nods so far included CBSSports.com (22nd), Rivals.com (23rd), Athlon (24th) and ESPN's Andy Katz (24th).
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