It must have appeared odd to anybody aside from Jordan McLaughlin when USC assistant basketball coach Tony Bland bounced a bowling ball into the wrong lane Saturday night.
For the Etiwanda High School point guard, it was just one more sign that USC was the school for him.
“I was winning and he was about to try and beat me,” McLaughlin said. “I said, ‘If you miss, I’ll commit.’”
On Wednesday, McLaughlin stayed true to his word, verbally committing to USC in a decision that boiled down to the Trojans, UCLA, Kansas and Indiana.
The No. 9 point guard in the country, according to scout.com, plans to sign a letter of intent during the early signing period that begins Nov. 13.
Though the senior plays in a deliberately slow-paced offense at Etiwanda, which won the CIF-SS Division 1AA championship last season, the 6-foot McLaughlin appears to be new USC coach Any Enfield’s choice to direct the speedy attack that famously landed Cinderella team Florida Gulf Coast in the Sweet 16 last March.
Enfield got the last word with McLaughlin, who visited Kansas and UCLA before taking his final recruiting trip to USC last weekend.
Utilizing Florida Gulf Coast game film, Enfield and his staff illustrated for McLaughlin why he fit so perfectly in their “Dunk City” offense.
“I got to be with the coaching staff for more than like an hour or two at a game,” McLaughlin said. “Being with them the whole weekend and getting a feel for them just really got my attention.
“Coach Enfield, his style of play made a big impression. He wants to play exciting and fast and that’s what I want to do.”
When McLaughlin left Rancho Cucamonga on Friday afternoon for USC, it was just one of three schools under consideration along with UCLA and Kansas. During the two days he spent at USC — he also made an unofficial visit shortly after Enfield was hired April 1 — the choice became obvious.
McLaughlin said he was tempted by the tradition at Kansas, but the option to play this close to his family was too good to pass up.
Bland, an assistant Enfield hired away from San Diego State, had a head start after recruiting McLaughlin for the Aztecs before joining the USC staff in April. After spending Friday evening and all of Saturday with the USC staff, McLaughlin’s mind was basically made up.
“We had breakfast early Sunday morning and I kind of threw out a few hints to the coaches and they started to get a smirk on their face,” McLaughlin said. “Those were all really great programs and it’s hard to turn them down, but at the end of the day you’ve got to choose one.”
McLaughlin represents a significant victory for Enfield over UCLA’s first-year coach Steve Alford. Etiwanda graduate Darren Collison, who led the Eagles to their only CIF championship before last season, chose UCLA to end a heated recruiting battle in 2005. The fourth-year NBA veteran is one of several professional players to come through the Etiwanda program.
“Everybody has the desire to play in the NBA,” Etiwanda basketball coach Dave Kleckner said. “But not everybody has the work ethic and the discipline. I see how Darren works in the offseason and Jordan has that. He’ll have a great career at USC and I don’t see why it has to stop there.”
