Bears Net PG Franklin

With offers from Arizona, Arizona State, Cal and USC, Franklin had plenty of opportunities to stay on the west coast, which was always his preference. 

"I felt that Cal really gave me the best opporunity to play my game within their system," said Franklin.  "I also felt that since I grew up watching the Pac 10, it's always been a dream of mine to play in the Pac 10."

Having family nearby to root him on was one of the primary reasons Franklin originally committed to local favorite USC before decommitting and choosing the Bears. 

"I wanted my family to have a chance to see me play and the fact that Cal was close enough to make the majority of my Pac 10 games was big to me," said Franklin. "Obviously USC was closer but Cal's still not too far away for my family."

Besides the opportunity to play for a Pac 10 contender relatively close to home, the relationship Franklin has developed with Cal Head Coach Mike Montgomery played a big role in Franklin's decision, as well.

"I have a good relationship with Coach Montgomery and his coaching staff," said Franklin.  "I trust them to develop me to get to the next level. 

"It's no secret that anyone who plays D1 basketball has dreams and aspirations to play in the NBA. That's pretty much my main goal and I think Coach Montgomery can help me increase my strength and help me to work on my weaknesses.  Plus, I think the Pac 10 puts the most guards in the NBA of any league."

Franklin brings a well-rounded game to Berkeley, with the ability to score and distribute at a high level.  Franklin led his Mater Dei squad to a top ten national rating in 2008 in their impressive 31-2 season before falling to a talented Fairfax squad in SoCal regionals, averaging 14.2 points, 4.5 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game on the year while sharing the floor with UCLA-bound shooting guard Tyler Lamb and Arizona State-bound small forward/wing Keala King. 

"I've seen Gary play a lot the past 5-6 years," said AAU hoops guru Dinos Trigonis.  "He's got one of the best three point shots on the west coast.  He's a great competitor and a terrific defender and he's a good distributor.  But he's a great shooter.  He's had multiple games where he's had 8, 9, 10 three pointers in a game.

"I wouldn't be surprised to see him eventually become the top three point shooter in the Pac 10."

"I feel like I'm a point guard that needs to be closely guarded," said Franklin, "because a lot of times, point guards want to get others involved in the game but it's hard to do that if you're not a legit threat to score and be able to hit the outside shot.  The fact that I can keep the defense honest helps me distribute the ball better, too.

"I'm kind of known as a point guard that looks to score first but I feel like winning first is my main priority," said Franklin.  "So the fact that I can shoot, people think that's all I want to do but Coach Montgomery and (former USC Head) Coach (Tim) Floyd before him could see past that."

Floyd garnered an early commitment from Franklin, but the wheels came off for USC's talented recruiting class not long afterwards when Floyd was dismissed in a swirl of recruiting improprieties rumors, causing a decommitment from Franklin and others. 

"When I committed to SC, it was mainly Coach Floyd that recruited me so I had a real good sense that I was really wanted there," said Franklin.  "I'd also gotten other players to commit there, so I felt like I'd have good enough players around me to compete for a national championships.

"I decommitted because Coach Floyd wasn't going to be there and the thing with O.J. Mayo left questions about whether or not they'd be eligible to play in the NCAA tournament.  With Cal, that's not a question."

Franklin will be joining highly-rated shooting guards Allen Crabbe (Price HS, Los Angeles, CA) and Alex Rossi (New Trier HS, Winnetka, IL) and power forward Richard Solomon (Price HS, Los Angeles, CA) in Cal's impressive 2010 class.