From: maryb@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.college
Subject: Jayhawk Post #10 (Pollard commits)
Date: 5 Nov 92 00:39:42 CST
Organization: University of Kansas Academic Computing Services

This article is from the Tuesday, November 3, 1992 issue of the University
Daily Kansan.

HIGH SCHOOL CENTER COMMITS TO KANSAS
by David Dorsey, Kansan sportswriter

   Kansas basketball fans who asked high school senior Scot Pollard for his
autograph last Saturday night during "Late Night with Roy Williams" will get
to see more of the big man next season. Pollard, a 6-10, 230 pound center from
Kennewick, Wash., gave a verbal commitment to attend Kansas shortly before the
"Late Night with Roy Williams" scrimmage began and is expected to sign a
national letter of intent when the early signing period begins Nov. 11.
   Pollard said that Kansas coach Roy Williams had made an impression on him
throughout the recruiting process. "He's a class act all the way," Pollard
said. "He really helped me with my decision. I knew pretty much before I made
the visit that I was going to commit. I just had a few unanswered questions
that were answered after I met the team and saw the town."
   Pollard, who chose Kansas instead of Arizona, said he wanted to see
Lawrence and some of his future teammates before he made a definite decision.
"I can handle being in Lawrence," he said. "It's a small town, but Kansas City
is nearby, and it shouldn't be a problem. As for meeting the team, I wasn't
worried because I know Coach Williams is not going to go out and recruit a
bunch of bad people. I liked the people on the team, and they seemed like the
kind of people I'd like to be around."
   Pollard moved from the San Diego area to Kennewick about a year ago to be
with his mother. His father died last October, and his mother had been in poor
health, confined to a wheel chair. "Emotionally and physically, she was not
very well," Pollard said. "I thought it would be good for my mom to be with me
where she wanted to live. Now she's doing about 100 times better."
   Pollard said he averaged about 19 points and 10 rebounds a game during his
junior season at Torrey Pines High in San Diego, Calif. He also averaged 5.5
blocks a game.
   Bob Gibbons, national recruiting analyst, ranks Pollard as one of the top
40 high school centers in the nation.
   Although he is a good shot-blocker, Pollard said that he did not enjoy
posting up as much as he preferred the transition game. "I like to run," he
said. "They know I like to fast break, and Coach Williams said that the team
would begin to play more up-tempo."
   Pollard will fill the last of the four scholarships available for next
season. Nick Proud, a 6-10 forward from Sandy, Utah, 6-7 B.J. Williams from
Wichita and 5-11 Jacque Vaughn of Pasadena, Calif., are the three other high
school seniors that have verbally committed and are expected to sign letters
of intent during the early signing period.
   Roy Williams is unable to comment on next season's recruiting class until
the signing period begins, but Gibbons already ranks the group as one of the
best in the nation. "Pollard and Proud should be able to complement one
another," Gibbons said. "Both are athletic big-men."

Posted to r.s.b.c. by Kansas Mary
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.college