Four schools recruiting McLaughlin hardest
Four-star point guard Jordan McLaughlin is still down to eight schools -- San Diego State, UCLA, USC, Gonzaga, UNLV, UConn, Indiana and Kansas -- and doesn't plan to cut his list down anytime soon.
"It's all level right now until I take my visits back east," McLaughlin said. "From there I'll narrow it down. I'll take them probably come football season to go see some football games or something, see the schools, and we'll see how that goes."
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But in the meantime, the No. 33-ranked player in the 2014 Rivals150 says four west coast schools are currently coming after him the hardest: SDSU, UCLA, USC and Gonzaga.
McLaughlin plans to take an unofficial visit to USC on July 1 to meet with the new Trojans staff, but as far as the other two Southern California schools are concerned, nothing new has changed there.
"I'm just talking with (Aztecs head coach) Fisher and Coach Dutcher all the time, every now and then," the Etiwanda (Calif.) point guard said. "We'll just have general conversations like about how I've been doing and all the camps and stuff and just staying healthy.
"(The UCLA coaches and I) just talk every now and then, they'll text me and I'll text back and we'll have a little conversation."
McLaughlin is in no rush to make a college decision and may have all eight schools on an even level right now, but did admit that if one of those schools takes another point guard, it's a likely deal-breaker for him.
"Yeah, I think it is. If a school takes another point guard then I might just kind of shy them off a little bit and look at my other options."
The Bruins have been high on McLaughlin's list ever since they offered last summer, and he's well aware of UCLA's pursuit of fellow four-star 2014 point guard Josh Perkins.
"My mom told me about an article that said they'll take whoever commits first, so it's whoever commits first, I guess," McLaughlin said.
Hearing that, does it make him want to speed up his recruiting process?
"No, not really. In a way it kind of does, but I just want to make sure I pick the right school and be at the right place."