La Salle gets commitment from Calif. center

If you listen to the coach at California prep hoops powerhouse Mater Dei, La Salle got "a steal" in landing a commitment from senior post player Miles Brookins.

"I'm telling you, he would have been getting some Pac-12 offers," said Mater Dei coach Gary McKnight, talking Thursday over the phone about how Brookins canceled visits after his visit to La Salle. "He would end up being a three-year starter anywhere he went."

McKnight said Brookins was a late-blooming type in the sense that he was 6-foot-1 as a freshman but kept growing. He was the team's backup center last year, but the starter now is at Oregon.

"He's a little over 6-10 now. He's a lefthander. He can run the floor and he's coachable. He shoots a 15-footer and he's very conniving inside, especially being lefthanded. People just aren't used to a baby hook from a lefthander."

Other schools already in on Brookins, according to McKnight, included Nevada, Hawaii and Pepperdine, with Pac-12 schools starting to show interest.

- Mike Jensen