UCLA basketball has been bringing in top recruits left and right. In Grant Sherfield, Coach Alford has another top-100 player coming in.
After securing the No. 5 recruiting class in the country for 2017, UCLA basketball has already brought in two top-100 recruits for their 2018 class in Jules Bernard and David Singleton. This is not all that is on the mind of head coach Steve Alford though. With the commitment of 2019 guard Grant Sherfield, Alford has secured his second top-100 recruit in the class of 2019.
In fact, with this commitment, UCLA’s 2019 class is now ranked No. 1 in the nation by 247Sports.
Before receiving the commitment from Sherfield, the class was being held down by LaMelo Ball, the No. 17 ranked recruit in the class. Ball will look to follow in the footsteps of his brothers Lonzo (now playing for the Los Angeles Lakers) and LiAngelo (currently on the UCLA roster) by playing under Coach Alford.
With Sherfield’s commitment coming quite early for the 2019 class, UCLA’s start on this class has gone from very good to absolutely elite. The Bruins have now secured commitments from at least two top-100 recruits in every recruiting class from 2012-2019.
The commitment of Sherfield was broken by Jeff Goodman at ESPN and via Sherfield’s twitter page:
Across several recruiting sites, Sherfield is highly-regarded in this class. By the 247Sports Composite Ranking, the 6’3″ guard comes in at No. 88. He recently visited the UCLA campus on Oct. 21 and clearly walked away with a positive experience. He chose the Bruins over schools such as Kansas, Wichita State, Alabama, TCU, and Stanford (among others).
Over the past several years, UCLA has a reputation of being able to funnel players to the NBA and that trend is expected to continue. With that being said, Sherfield’s future role with the team is dependent on whether or not the players currently on the roster or those in the 2018 recruiting class stay in school or decide to leave to play professionally.
As of right now, Sherfield is a top scorer for his age and should step in right away as an elite bucket-getter. As a sophomore in high school last season, the guard averaged 20.9 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game while splashing 38% of his 3-pointers.
According to Goodman, Sherfield had this to say about his commitment:
Sherfield: “I’ve been building a relationship with UCLA for the last few years. It’s the best fit for me both offensively & defensively.”
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) October 30, 2017
Next: UCLA's 2017-18 starting lineup
For UCLA basketball, this is an awesome commit early in the process for the class of 2019. With two top-100 guys already in tow, the program can focus on the upcoming season, where they are expected to be a top-25 team. When Ball and Sherfield arrive on campus for the 2019-20 season, UCLA is hoping to be prepared to make another deep run in the NCAA Tournament. A Ball-Sherfield backcourt is a great start to making that happen.