Maybe LaVar Ball’s pleas to have his son land with the Lakers aren’t so crazy after all.
Lakers head coach Luke Walton and players Brandon Ingram and D’Angelo Russell scouted Lonzo Ball and UCLA during their game Wednesday night against Markelle Fultz-less Washington.
Ball went for 19 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and four steals in a 98-66 blowout of the Huskies.
North Carolina, last year’s NCAA runner-up and the No. 5 team in the AP poll, and No. 3 UCLA are the current favorites to win the NCAA championship as the calendar flips to March, according to Bovada.
Both face odds of 6/1.
No. 1-ranked Kansas (7/1), No. 4 Gonzaga (8/1) and No. 2 and reigning NCAA champion Villanova (10/1) follow.
Odds to win the 2017 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship
LaVar Ball backpedaled somewhat late Saturday after initially dropping another doozy on the national news media regarding his son Lonzo Ball.
“All I said was that my boy is going to play for the Lakers, and I’m going to speak it into existence,” the elder Ball told ESPN on Saturday night. “I want him to be a Laker, but I wasn’t saying he’s only going to play for the Lakers.”
He added: “I’m not trying to say he won’t play for a different team. But I’d like him to play for the Lakers because it’s home, and I’d love him to learn from Magic [Johnson]. He’s the best guard ever to me, and nobody better for Lonzo to learn from than Magic Johnson.”
LaVar had initially said on the Kevin & Mike Show on SportsRadio1290, “My son will only play for the Lakers.”
LaVar Ball has made a habit of making over-the-top statements regarding his son, including recently saying that Lonzo will be better than Steph Curry.
Chris Smith, the 6-foot-9 small forward from Huntington Prep (WV) School, committed to UCLA on Saturday, according to Scout.com.
“I just felt like I fit in their play style,” Smith told Scout. “I talked to their coaches and I talked to them about my role on the team next year and things like that. Just L.A. and being out there and away from home, I just feel like I fit better on their team. I just know that L.A. is where I want to be,”
Smith announced in January that he would reclassify from the 2018 class to 2017. He joins Kris Wilkes, Jaylen Hands, Jalen Hill, Cody Riley, and Liangelo Ball as the sixth commit in the Bruins’ 2017 class.
By BETH HARRIS
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Like any shooter in a slump, Isaac Hamilton just kept putting the ball up, figuring it would eventually go in.
Did it ever.
The senior guard scored 33 points — three off his career best — and hit a career-high nine 3-pointers to help No. 3 UCLA rout Arizona State 102-80 on Thursday night.
The Bruins improved to 11-0 at home.
The performance left Hamilton speechless. He cut his tongue in the game and needed stitches afterward, leaving him unavailable to talk to media.
“He’s back,” guard Lonzo Ball said. “I like playing with him like that.”
For those holding out hope of seeing Lonzo and LiAngelo Ball balling it up at UCLA during the 2017-18 season, Steve Alford says Lonzo is “absolutely” going to be one-and-done.
Not exactly shocking news, considering Ball is now the projected No. 4 pick via DraftExpress.com and will be watched by nearly 50 NBA scouts on Saturday when No. 2 UCLA (11-0) faces Ohio State in the CBS Sports Classic in Las Vegas.
But it isn’t always that a head coach comes flat out and says that about a star freshman, either.
“Do we know he’s a done and done, do we know he’s not gonna be here long? Absolutely,” Alford told ESPN’s Cari Champion for a feature that aired Friday. “Do his teammates know that? Absolutely. Everybody understands that but if you’re around ‘Zo, you would think this is a lifetime deal.”
