Recruiting Bites: Alumni Game showcases NBA talent to UW recruits

Lots of news and notes after Sunday's alumni basketball game...

• Evan Fitzner (Forward, 2014) was among the handful of attendees at the alumni game. He joined Zylan Cheatham (Forward, 2014) and Donaven Dorsey (Forward, 2014) behind one of the teams' benches. Fitzner is a 6-foot-10 forward from San Diego, Calif. The SoCal forward remarked on his unofficial visit, "It's awesome, I love it out here [in Seattle]." The three recruits had the opportunity to work out and play together this past weekend. Washington, Cal, Colorado, Oregon St., Morgan State and New Mexico have all offered Fitzner.
• Zylan Cheatham (Forward, 2014) is a 6-foot-8 small forward from Phoenix, Arizona. Cheatham has over 20 scholarship offers: Cal, Colorado, Georgetown, Oregon and Oregon St along with Washington. Cheatham said, "Washington is a great program. It was great to get a first-hand experience to see what it is all about."
• Donaven Dorsey (Forward, 2014) is a 6-foot-7 small forward from Timberline, Wash. Dorsey is one of the most highly-recruited players out of the Northwest. Dorsey said the following about his unofficial visit, "The visit was real good. Watching the [alumni] game was the best part. Seeing all the history was inspiring." Dorsey has offers from Washington, Gonzaga, Oregon St., Washington St. and Portland St.
• The UW coaching staff is also showing interest in Tristan Etienne (Forward 2014) from British Columbia, Canada. Etienne stars for Canada's AAU Drive basketball program. Etienne said he had a "good time" and said the environment was "amazing."
• Along with the trio of 2014 recruit, a handful of 2015 recruits were also in attendance on Sunday. Allonzo Trier, a six-foot guard playing in Oklahoma City, Okla. has offers from several mid-west and southern schools. However, the Trier is a Federal Way-native and has a connection to the region. Out of Seattle's metro league, Rainier Beach's Dejounte Murray is a 6-foot-3 guard who holds an offer from UW. Finally, 2016 Lakeside guard Isiah Brown was in attendance and took in Sunday's events.
  
• One of the best benefits of Sunday's alumni event was its opportunity to showcase the amount of NBA talent that has come through the Washington basketball program. I could not imagine as a recruit to not see this game as a positive for UW. One selling point UW needs to sell to its recruit is its ability to produce NBA talent. The evidence is startling, 12 of the 19 players that participated in the game wore an NBA uniform at some point in their career.

Email basketball recruiting tips to kcacabelos@gmail.com.