May 18, 2009

(San Francisco) - Dominique O'Connor, a 5-11 point guard from Los Angeles has signed a National Letter of Intent (NLI) to play basketball at the University of San Francisco, as announced today by head coach Rex Walters. A heavily decorated prep point guard at one of the state's premier programs, O'Connor captured Los Angeles City Player of the Year honors after propelling Westchester Senior High School to the 2009 California State Division I Championship.

"We're really excited about Dominique O'Connor joining us here on the Hilltop," Walters said. "Dominique is a true point guard. I love the way he pushes the ball up the floor. He's a really good passer, ball handler and will be able to create a lot of offense for us out of our sets and secondary break. He's a winner, played on a state championship team and understands what it takes to play at a very high level. This is something we've been working on for a long time and thank goodness he is joining us here in the City."

O'Connor averaged 15.3 points, 6.7 assists and 3.0 steals per game as a senior for the Comets and ranked among Western League leaders in multiple categories including scoring (eighth) and assists (first). In addition to serving as the floor general in Westchester's fifth state championship, O'Connor directed the Comets to a 35-2 record in 2008-09 and a No. 4 national ranking in the ESPN Fab-50 High School Boys final poll.

After his standout senior season, O'Connor captured the John Wooden High School Player of the Year award and was named State Player of the Year from Wave Newspaper. In addition, O'Connor earned first team all-state and all-city accolades.

2009-10 USF Men's Basketball Recruiting Class

Name			Ht.	Wt.	Pos.	Hometown/Previous School
*Perris Blackwell	6-8	240	F/C	Etiwanda, CA/Etiwanda HS
Tomas Bruha		7-0	225	C	Prague, Czech Republic/Canarias Academy
Moustapha Diarra	6-10	235	C	Marseille, France/Sheridan JC (Wyoming)
**Rashad Green		6-4	195	G	Babylon, NY/Manhattan
Dominique O'Connor	5-11	165	PG	Los Angeles, CA/Westchester Senior HS
Nikola Stojiljkovic	6-8	210	F	Paris, France/INSEP Academy
Michael Williams	6-0	170	G	Van Nuys, CA/Taft HS
	*Signed in early period
        **Sat out 2008-09 season under NCAA transfer rules