Follow the bouncing ball and connect ex-UA basketball players Dennis Latimore and Chance Comanche.
Latimore was one of Lute Olson’s top recruits in the Arizona Class of 2001. But he averaged just 2.4 points and made one start for the Wildcats before leaving the team late in the 2003 season. Latimore transferred to Notre Dame and played one season, averaging 7.1 points. He then jumped to the pros, but was not drafted.
Last week, Latimore agreed to become head coach at Chino Hills High School in California. That’s the team of LaVar Ball’s sons: Lonzo, LiAngelo and LaMelo. Only LaMelo, who will be a junior at Chino Hills, has high school eligibility remaining.
Can that be a good thing, given LaVar’s history of meddling?
Latimore was the coach at View Park High School in Los Angeles, which in 2013-14 featured center Comanche, before he transferred to Beverly Hills High.
Comanche, who will not return to Arizona in 2017-18, was probably wise to leave Arizona. He likely wouldn’t have increased his playing time, 19 minutes per game, with De’Andre Ayton and Dusan Ristic expected to occupy the inside starting positions.
But I think Comanche would’ve served his future better had he chosen to transfer to a program like Gonzaga or UNLV, sit out a season, and then play as a junior in 2018-19. By then, given two more years to develop, Comanche might’ve been a first-round NBA draft pick.
But patience and college basketball are not often words used in the same sentence.
