Just one season after grabbing the 15th-best recruiting class in the nation, Oregon head coach Ernie Kent announced a trio of players Wednesday just one notch below.
Richmond, Texas’ Chamberlain Oguchi, Redmond’s Maarty Leunen and Bryce Taylor, who hails from North Hollywood, Calif., all signed National Letters of Intent Wednesday to play with the Ducks beginning next season.
Last year’s class of Aaron Brooks, Mitch Platt and Ray Schafer garnered a No. 15 ranking. This year’s group was named the 16th-best in the nation by Dave Telep of TheInsidersHoops.com and was given a No. 21 rating by the Official College Sports Network.
The three will come in next season when the Ducks lose seniors Luke Jackson, Jay Anderson, Andre Joseph and James Davis to graduation.
“Probably the common thread — even though they are from California, Texas and Oregon — is the fact that all three are tremendous students and tremendous character,” Kent said. “That is very important to us in all our recruiting efforts.
“When you combine this group with the class that came in last year, that is just an outstanding group of guys. I don’t know if anybody in the Pac-10 can say they have a class that is better than the two classes are combined together.”
Leunen was named Oregon’s 4A player of the year last season and was listed as the 28th-best forward in the nation by RivalsHoops.com.
“I felt like Maarty and I got along really well,” Jackson said in regards to his relationship with the Oregon native. “Ever since he came down, I felt like he was in the same position I was as far as what schools he wanted to go to and what kind of a player he is. I tried to just explain to him as best I could that this would be a good fit for him and he’d probably be happiest here.”
Oguchi averaged 24.3 points per game last season for George W. Bush High School. The 6-foot-5 guard was ranked as the 23rd-best shooting guard in the nation by The Insiders.
“Chamberlain gives us an opportunity to have the best shooter out of Texas,” Kent said, describing him as a cross between Davis and former Duck Fred Jones. “He is a deadly deep range three-point shooter.”
Taylor averaged 28.6 points per game last season at Harvard-Westlake High School. During his junior year, he broke the school’s single season scoring record with 1,003 points. The record was formerly held by Jason Collins, who attended Stanford.
“In our opinion, he is the best perimeter shooter on the West Coast,” Kent said. “He really will surprise a lot of people with the fact that not only is he a shooter but a big-time finisher.”