Arizona Basketball: 5 star recruit, Rawle Alkins, commits to the Wildcats

The highly recruited 5 star Senior recruit from Brooklyn, NY committed to Arizona Basketball Monday night live on ESPNU.  

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Rawle Alkins wore a light blueish grey suit, sat in a chair with his suit jacket buttoned, it was a little odd. But finally we found out why. Wildcats fans had to wait until an game that went into overtime finished, then they had to wait through commercials and commentary, and even more commercials and more commentary. Finally Alkins revealed where he was going to commit. He did it by standing up and unbuttoning his jacked to reveal an enviable UofA tie underneath. Quite a unique and classy move.

Alkins, a 6’4 SG from Word of God Christian Academy, ranks No. 20 among high school recruits and classified as the third best shooting guard in the 2016 class. He had a plethora of options other than Arizona that included Indiana and Kentucky.

“I don’t want to be one of those freshmen on the bench cheering,” Alkins said. “I want to be one of those impact freshmen you guys [the media] talk about.”

On his unofficial recruiting day he witnessed Arizona’s first at home loss in over three years at McKale Center. What Alkins took away from the visit was that Coach Sean Miller stressed winning as the only option at Arizona. That spoke volumes to Alkins. Instead of the loss pushing him away from being a Wildcat, it pulled him towards Sean Miller.

Alkins will join highly recruited Arizona commits Kobi Simmons and Lauri Markkanan in Tucson.

Related Story: Arizona Wildcats Basketball: Kobi Simmons Commits to Arizona!

Alkins lead his high school class to three straight city titles and led the New York Rens AAU team to a title at the Adidas Gauntlet summer championship, averaging 23.8 points. He then transferred out-of-state to Florida for a year before heading to Word of God Christian Academy for his Senior year in North Carolina.

Alkins final five schools came down to NC State, North Carolina, St. John’s and UNLV.  North Carolina and NC State were close to his high school, North Carolina is doing so well this season, and St. Johns was a school near his home town. So when Wildcats fans heard Rawle say ‘The University of Arizona’ they went wild on social media!

Miller mentioned in January that he envisions the program adding “four or five” prospects when this recruiting year is all said and done. “I have said it, and I’ll say it again… we’re just getting started,” said Miller, “I believe that this class is going to be a good one, but we’re going to point towards the spring, when all of the chips will fall.”

The big question is, will Allonzo Trier declare for the 2016 NBA Draft? We asked fans what they thought, more to come on that subject.

With both Kobi Simmons and Rawle Alkins at the helm, it is only time before the No. 2 overall recruit 6’7 small forward Josh Jackson and/or No. 13 6’5 shooting guard Terrance Ferguson (cross your fingers Wildcats fans). If both or just one join the Wildcats to make the class of 2016 for Arizona one to remember. Jason Scheer doesn’t think Arizona will land both.

Related Story: Arizona Wildcats Basketball Receives First 2016 Commitment: Lauri Markkanen

Beardown Rawle! You can follow Rawle at @Iam_RawleAlkins.