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Incoming freshman power forward James Keefe goes up for a layup during a game with the Sinclair B

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The muggy heat is circling a gymnasium at West Los Angeles College, where James Keefe is trudging his 6-foot-8, 220-pound frame up and down the floor in the Say No/Procity Summer League. He isn’t at Pauley Pavilion, with the banners hanging above the players’ head as the crowd builds, yet this is the start of Keefe’s tenure as a Bruin.

Every summer, UCLA men’s basketball players can be found practicing their game against other players throughout Southern California. Keefe, a power forward, will be playing alongside guard Russell Westbrook, who combines with Keefe to make up the entire 2006 recruiting class for the men’s basketball team.

Following the tradition of years of Bruin basketball and the leadership of assistant coach Kerry Keating, the freshmen will be honing their play while college basketball is dormant. But the Bruins’ run in the NCAA Tournament in March is enough motivation for the players to run up and down the court in the summertime.

“Obviously, their success is great, it means I just have to work that much harder,” Keefe said. “I saw what Alfred (Aboya) and Luc (Richard Mbah a Moute) did the summer before their freshman year, and I want to do the same.”

Keefe and Westbrook are just two out of many freshman student-athletes who will finally begin their college careers after years of recruiting. At this point it may seem like a formality, but this is when it actually starts to matter.

“I definitely want to get bigger before school starts,” Keefe said. “And work on my inside game. The speed at the college level is completely different.”

Keefe, out of nearby Santa Margarita Catholic High School, has played on all-star teams with sophomore Mike Roll since fifth grade. He kept in touch with players during last season, and spoke to the coaches just before UCLA left for the Final Four in Indianapolis.

After being courted by a slew of programs during the recruiting process and getting familiar with UCLA once he made his choice, Keefe is now about to head off to college. Now the speculation of his potential ends and the work begins.

“Its been a long time coming,” Keefe said. “Ever since I heard the announcement, I have worked really hard to get prepared for this.”

The fall quarter seems to put a little more pressure on athletes for fall sports, who must juggle academics and sports right away.

UCLA football coach Karl Dorrell will be welcoming his highest-rated recruiting class when training camp begins in July. It is an eclectic mix of talent – the class is headlined by a pair of linemen, a wide receiver and a place kicker.

Offensive lineman Jake Dean of Paraclete High School in Lancaster and defensive linemen Darius Savage of Morse High School in San Diego bring depth to a depleted corps. The top-rated Bruin recruit is wide receiver Terrence Austin, out of Long Beach Poly High School, who was rated as the ninth best player at his position.

Kai Forbath was recruited out of Sherman Oaks’ Notre Dame High School as the No. 1 kicker in the nation, but is expecting to redshirt the upcoming season while senior Justin Medlock puts the finishing touches on a prolific collegiate career.

Although he won’t officially begin his tenure at UCLA until late September, the schedule for incoming football players makes it seem like he became a Bruin several months ago. Forbath and several other football recruits are taking a pair of summer school classes and will begin their first training camp in July.

“I feel like the (recruiting) process ended a long time ago,” Forbath said. “I’m glad to get the summer school classes out of the way so I can balance everything a little easier when the school year begins.”

One of the determining factors in Dean’s decision was his relationship with former Offensive Coordinator Tom Cable, who left the program to assume offensive line coaching duties with the Minnesota Vikings soon after National Signing Day.

“I was impressed by Tom Cable,” said Dean the day before National Signing Day. “He made me feel like the Bruins were committed to winning for years to come.”

Cable is one of five assistant coaches from last year’s football staff who are no longer with the program. When the incoming freshmen join the team next month, they will still be getting acquainted with their team, as many of the coaches who enticed them to come to UCLA will no longer be here.

Perhaps more than anything else, a new recruiting class reveals the constant flux of a college athletic program. Just ask women’s basketball coach Kathy Olivier, who lost First Team All-Pac-10 guards Nikki Blue and Lisa Willis to graduation and will use her freshmen to rebuild the team. Moniquee Alexander, out of the Pendelton School at IMG Academy, figures to see significant playing time as a 6-foot-6 center who brings size and strength to a finesse team.

“There are going to be more position battles, wide open,” Olivier said. “Every few years you have that. The players you bond with leave the program, and go out into the real world, and you bring in new players to build from scratch.”

With reports from Sagar Parikh, Bruin Sports senior staff.