UCLA Men's Basketball Offers Cedric Lath, Carter Bryant After Section 7
The Bruins made their presence felt at the recent Section 7 Team Camp, sending a few parting gifts to some of the week's biggest standouts.
UCLA men's basketball's staff was at the showcase tournament in Glendale, Arizona, over the weekend, and a handful of prospects appear to have caught their eye. After sending an offer to class of 2025 small forward Chris Nwuli on Sunday, the Bruins sent two more Monday afternoon alone.
Class of 2023 big man Cedric Lath and class of 2024 small forward Carter Bryant both earned offers from UCLA on Monday, with each prospect announcing their respective offers on Twitter. Lath came down from Liberty (NV), while Bryant made the trip from Fountain Valley (CA) in Orange County.
Lath is a relative unknown, not having star ratings from any of the major recruiting outlets. The 6-foot-10 post player from the Ivory Coast picked up his first offer from TCU on Saturday.
Coming to the United States after a year in Canada, Lath has already proven to be a force around the basket. Lath plays his AAU ball for Dream Visions – the same program that produced rising redshirt freshman guard Will McClendon.
The Bruins are just over a week into the tenure of new assistant coach Ivo Simovic, a Serbian native and former international coach and scout. Most of Simovic's work over the past few days has seemingly been in offering and hosting prospects of European decent on visits, but his international experience could extend to Lath's recruitment as well.
Bryant, a year behind Lath, has already built up more of a reputation in recruiting circles. The 6-foot-7 wing is a four-star prospect, according to 247Sports, and he ranks as the No. 4 player in California and No. 24 recruit in the country.
USC gave Bryant his first offer last August, and Long Beach State became second to hop on board back in January. UNLV offered once he started to break out in the evaluation periods in April, and Arizona, San Diego State and Xavier earlier in June. LSU and Florida also sent Bryant offers at Section 7 as well.
Bryant recently told Tucson.com that he is planning to visit UCLA later this month, signifying that the staff had already been courting him for a considerable amount of time prior to Monday. The staff ramped things up this week, though, calling him right at the start of the unlimited contact period and offering him a few days later.
UCLA sent another offer Monday, but to a prospect who was not in Glendale. Class of 2023 wing Jaime Kaiser Jr. was showing out at DMV Live in Maryland over the weekend, and the staff gave him an offer Monday afternoon.
The 6-foot-6 sharpshooter out of Bishop Ireton (NV) had previously cut his list down to nine on June 5, but coach Mick Cronin and his staff are apparently attempting to make a late push regardless.
Virginia, Indiana, Miami (FL), Boston College, Iowa, Wake Forest, West Virginia, Maryland and Wisconsin are the nine schools who were leading the charge for Kaiser prior to his performance at Section 7. Nearly two dozen other schools sent Kaiser offers, plus a few more who offered him scholarships to play football.
UCLA does not have any 2023 or 2024 commits, but it will need to start building those classes given how many rotational players are set to leave this coming offseason and next.
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