With 4-star Boogie Ellis (Mission Bay/San Diego, CA) released from his NLI with Duke, the UCLA basketball coaches have reached out to the combo guard to try and bring him to Westwood.
The UCLA basketball team has one scholarship available for the fall. With three players declaring for the NBA Draft, that has given head coach Mick Cronin space to work with on the recruiting trail.
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Last week, Cronin was on the east coast and in Texas observing several prospects, so he is hitting the trail hard. It has also been reported that he has made progress with a few local prospects. Last week, Sierra Canyon’s Kenyon Martin, Jr. surprisingly added the Bruins as one of his final choices.
Washington, Georgetown, Virginia, Arizona, Oregon, Gonzaga, Kansas,memphis, UCLA and Vanderbilt have all reached out on Boogie Ellis
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) May 2, 2019
On Thursday, it was reported that UCLA had reached out to another big-time prospect, 4-star combo guard Boogie Ellis. This comes on the heels of Ellis recently severing ties with Duke, who released him from his national letter of intent.
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If UCLA can land the 6’2, 165 lbs. San Diego product, then it would fill a huge requirement for the Bruins. Currently, UCLA is thin at point guard as Tyger Campbell is the only floor general on the roster.
With Jaylen Hands moving on, that has put the weight of the offense squarely on Campbell who is recovering from an ACL injury which kept him from playing last season. If Ellis joins the Bruins, he will be a legitimate dual threat as he can not only act as a distributor and backup Campbell, but he is also deadly from beyond the three-point line.
Ellis has excellent ball control and has no problem taking the rock up court, but he is also savvy enough to find the open man on the floor. He is also very aggressive and will drive the lane when he sees an opening. And if that does not work out, he has no problem backing up to take midrange and long distance shots where he is quite lethal.
As of yet, Ellis has not released his top candidates, but UCLA could have an edge. Cronin recently hired former San Diego State assistant Rod Palmer who is familiar with Ellis as he was trying to recruit him to play with the Aztecs.
If Palmer can reignite that relationship, that would bode well for the Bruins.