M.hoops wins one, loses one

Wednesday, May 15, 1996

UCLA recruiters sign ‘Dunkin” Hines, James opts for DukeBy
Scott Yamaguchi

Daily Bruin Staff

Nate James, one of the nation’s finest prep basketball players
and the top-rated recruit on UCLA’s list of prospects, spurned the
Bruins’ offer Tuesday, opting instead to play for coach Mike
Krzyzewski at Duke University.

Still, the recruiting well has not run completely dry for the
UCLA coaching staff, which had its bad news offset, to some degree,
by the signing of Rico Hines on Tuesday.

Hines, a 6-foot-4-inch, 190-pound guard, was a teammate of
James’ at Saint John’s Prospect Hall in Frederick, Md. As a senior,
Hines averaged 11.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.4
steals per game from his off-guard position.

Nicknamed "Dunkin’" Hines, he earned first-team All-Area honors
and was the Most Valuable Player in the Frederick County All-Star
game after scoring 27 points.

"His outstanding overall athletic ability caught our attention
as much as his basketball talents," UCLA head coach Jim Harrick
said in a statement. "He’s an exciting player. Rico is a tremendous
finisher on the break who also possesses defensive skills.

"We also know he’s a fundamentally sound player coming from Stu
Vetter’s program."

Vetter, who also coached UCLA point guard Cameron Dollar at St.
John’s Prospect Hall, is well-known as one of the most successful
prep basketball coaches in the nation. His programs have been
nationally rated by USA Today every year since 1983.

Hines, originally from Greenville, N.C., transferred to St.
John’s Prospect Hall from D.H. Conley High School in Greenville,
where he averaged 19.0 points a game in basketball and was also a
standout in football and baseball.

This season, St. John’s Prospect Hall finished 21-3 and was
ranked seventh in the nation by USA Today.

* * *

Five current members of the UCLA team have been invited to try
out for the USA Men’s 22-and-under World Championship Qualifying
Team.

Dollar, along with senior Charles O’Bannon, juniors J.R.
Henderson and Kris Johnson and sophomore Jelani McCoy will be among
the 41 college players at the Trials, to be held May 31 and June 1
at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Stanford head coach Mike Montgomery will serve as head coach of
the national team, and two of his players ­ Brevin Knight and
Tim Young ­ are the only other athletes from the Pacific 10
Conference invited to try out.