Alaska hoops lands two more recruits
Published Monday, May 5, 2008
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Stumble It!A pair of junior college transfers from the Los Angeles area will be joining the men’s basketball team at the University of Alaska Fairbanks this fall.
Nanooks coach Clemon Johnson announced in a press release late Saturday night that Demetrius Love of Long Beach, Calif., and Kevin Buggs of Compton, Calif., will be among the newcomers on the team this year.
Both players attended four-year schools as freshmen and then transferred to Compton Community College for their sophomore seasons.
Love is a 6-foot-7 forward. Buggs, 6-1, is a guard.
Love was an honorable mention pick to the All-South Coast Conference Northern Division team, ranking fifth in the state in blocked shots and ninth in rebounds.
“His physique impressed me first, and then we he came up he had an opportunity to come up her and play, I was impressed with his physicality,” Johnson said. “He gives us another dimension in the post area.
Love spent his freshman season at NCAA Division II Cal State Dominguez Hills. He played in 25 games, averaging 1.8 points and 1.3 rebounds per game.
“We will look for him to be an offensive presence in the post, a strong rebounder and a defensive presence in the post,” Johnson added. “He has the physicality to push people around.”
Buggs joins the Nanooks after earning all-conference second-team honors at Compton last season.
Buggs and recruit Emmanual Jenkins of Tacoma, Wash., will give the Nanooks much more versatility at the guard position, Johnson said.
“His normal position is point guard, but we will try to find different ways to use him as well,” Johnson said. “Having him and Emmanuel here will allow us to put two outstanding point guards on the floor at the same time, which will prevent a lot of the full-court traps and things of that nature that people were using on us last year.”
Buggs spent his freshman season at Division I San Jose State, where he started 20 of 29 games. He averaged 3.0 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game.
At Long Beach Polytechnic High School, Buggs was a member of the California Interscholastic Federation’s 2002 Division I-AA championship team. He was an All-CIF second team member in his senior season.
In addition to Love, Buggs and Jenkins, Evan Matteson of Lynnwood, Wash., will join the Nanooks in the fall.
Contact the news-miner sports department at 459-7581.
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I cant wait for next year season Coach Johnson and his staff are going and getting real ball players.
Yes because Coach Ostanik and Coach Sokiatias WON with those kids no one else wanted from Alaska
Kind of interesting to see 2 players that enrolled in 4 year schools, transfered to Compton and are coming to UAF???? Why do you think that is?
KUDU'S what hckywtcher said about Ostanik and Sokaitis. They coached, taught young men to grow, and had successful squads. And you know what? They did it with home grown talent! I think you may want to change the name to the University of lower 48-Fairbanks.
Regardless of where the talent comes from, Coach Johnson was brought here to win! He has winning credentials, and I'm sure he can recognize talent when he sees it, he has played with some of the best! As for Coach O and Coach Sokaitis, both are two of the best coaches in Nanook history, no question! However, let's not live too long in the past, those sunny days are in the rear view mirror. Hopefully, more bright days are in the future for the 'Nooks! Go 'Nooks!
Where were his winning credentials from? He had almost zero head coaching experience. He was brought up because he was a "buddy" of one of the administration. That was a sad backdoor thing that most former Nooks that supported Coach Sokaitis and Coach Ostanik will never overlook. I won't even comment on what I have heard first hand from up on the hill. Those "sunny" days should still be shining if it wasn't for a dishonest, backstabbing administration. You know it's pretty darn bad when a lot us burned the blue and gold when this all went down. Go seawolves?!?!?!
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