2015 guard ready to break-out
Better start familiarizing yourself with the name Cushan Allen.
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A 2015 sleeper prospect, Allen spent the bulk of his sophomore season playing through an ankle injury.
"I feel like without the injury, I could have played way better," he told GoldenBearReport recently.
Opposing coaches also agree, and while Allen's recruitment has been slow to take off, an upcoming summer spent playing for AAU power, Cali Supreme, should jumpstart things.
"He has a lot of potential," said Ronald Cass, one of Allen's coaches. "I definitely see him playing at like a Pac-12 school."
Allen, too, envisions himself playing on the west coast, although not necessarily for whom you might think.
"I like UCLA and USC," explained the Los Angeles native, "but I really like Cal. I've been watching Cal for years growing up and fell in love with their program."
Allen, who's 6-2, 190lbs and plays something of a combo guard for University High School, will likely settle for being the floor general in college.
"I've told him he probably needs to make the transition to more of a point guard," remarked Cass.
That doesn't, however, mean you should expect Allen to forgo attacking opposing defenses.
"He likes contact," notes Cass. "He has good strength and can post people up. He likes to get to the foul line."
Adds Allen, "I feel like my biggest strengths right now are scoring and passing. I'm a solid three-point shooter but my mid-range game is really good, I think."
Of course, offensively inclined point guards are nothing new to California. In 2010, the Golden Bears rode all-time leading scorer and Pac-10 Player of the Year, Jerome Randle, to their first conference title in forty years.
And though there's no telling if the ceiling's as high for Allen, it won't be for lack of effort if he doesn't enjoy similar success.
"He's a gym rat," says Cass. "He get in his early morning workout and an afternoon workout: first one in the gym, last one to leave type guy. He has a real mature game."
Now that sounds like a kid worth recruiting.