Kobe Paras receives scholarship offer from UCLA Bruins

The school that has won the most number of U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball championships wants to recruit Kobe Paras.

According to an article that appeared in latimes.com, Paras, the son of PBA legend Benjie and who is currently playing high school ball for the LA Cathedral Phantoms, has reportedly received a scholarship offer from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Paras himself confirmed the offer on his Twitter account via a retweet.

6-6 Kobe Paras #Cathdral has just picked up an offer from #UCLA. @Im_Not_Kobe super Hot 🔥 in 2016 pic.twitter.com/lgnDjKEZYp

— Compton Magic (@Compton_Magic) October 8, 2014

UCLA has produced several notable NBA products, among them the league’s all-time leading scorer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, one-time MVP Bill Walton, Cleveland Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love, and Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook.

The Bruins are part of the Pacific 12 of the U.S. NCAA Division I and are coached by Steve Alford. The school last won the NCAA title in 1995, and hold the record for most consecutive titles – seven – which they achieved during a remarkable run from 1967 to 1973. Overall they have won 11 NCAA men’s basketball championships, the most by any school.

Before Paras made waves with his current stint with the Phantoms, the rising Pinoy swingman put on a memorable summer season after coming off a remarkable campaign in off-season leagues like the DeMar DeRozan Tournament, the Pangos Stars of the Future, and the 2014 Adidas Super64 Tournament.

Last August Paras helped Batang Gilas to a fifth-place finish in the FIBA-Asia U18 Championship in Doha, Qatar.

Paras is now on his junior season with the Phantoms. He is expected to join the Bruins in 2016. He has also received scholarship offers from Division I schools University of California, Santa Barbara and Arizona State University.