Shareef O’Neal officially enrolls in UCLA five months after commitment
(Keila Mayberry/Daily Bruin staff)
By Gabriel McCarthy
Aug. 6, 2018 11:52 a.m.
Shareef O’Neal is officially coming to Westwood.
The UCLA men’s basketball program announced Monday that the forward will be on the roster as a freshman, ESPN reported.
O’Neal, the son of 15-time NBA All-Star and Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal, did not sign his National Letter of Intent during the spring recruiting period, where the rest of the Bruin recruiting class officially joined the squad.
O’Neal was ranked No. 32 in the ESPN 100 for the incoming freshmen class. He was ranked No. 9 in the country at power forward and joins a UCLA recruiting class ranked third in the nation behind Duke and Kentucky, respectively.
The freshman will join four players who were named in the ESPN 100 featuring one five-star recruit in center Moses Brown, four four-stars and one three-star.
Hailing from the nearby Crossroads School in Santa Monica, O’Neal led the school to a California State III state title. He attracted interest from California schools as well as programs across the country including California, USC, Arizona, LSU and Georgetown.
The freshman committed to UCLA in February after decommitting from Arizona in the wake of an FBI probe into the basketball program. O’Neal did not sign in the spring period due to academic reasons, ESPN reported.
