Arizona Basketball: Program will benefit from investing in devoted players
By CJ O'Neill
Arizona Basketball could benefit from changing its strategy of recruiting “One and Done” players.
Now that the Arizona Basketball and now college basketball season has come to a close and the focus now shifts over to off-season recruiting.
March may be where the madness truly lies, but the month of April has the madness of its own. It is the time where players mull over looming draft decisions, or if they need a change of scenery. What really creates the drama is seeing where the dominoes will fall for the last remaining unsigned high school players.
The month of March was not kind to Arizona Basketball fans. We saw the team suffer another disappointing outing in the first round of the NCAA tournament. What was gearing up to be one of the best recruiting classes and possible championship dreams in school history has vanished. We move forward with a large cloud of uncertainty surrounding Arizona Basketball with and most think due to the pending FBI probe.
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Adding insult to injury, Arizona Basketball lost six players to graduation or NBA declarations. Among those are star players like DeAndre Ayton, Rawle Alkins, and Allonzo Trier. Arizona lost out on Shareef O’Neal, and possibly Brandon Williams who is deciding between Gonzaga, Oregon, and Arizona.
Things are looking up though, we just got our first incoming freshmen commits for 2018 in SoCal four-star guard Devonaire Doutrive and Omar Thielemans. Note, the players Miller and his coaching staff are looking to replace represented more than 90% of the scoring production from last season. Head Coach Sean Miller and his staff certainly have their work cut out for themselves.
Doutrive’s pledge opened the door for second positive roster addition for Arizona Basketball. Recently, Arizona landed some much-needed size in Omar Thielemans and Ryan Luther. Thielemans is a six-foot-seven wing from Belgium who rates as a Four star prospect according to 247 Sports. Luther is a grad-transfer from Pitt, and gives the Wildcats much-needed post depth.
Arizona Basketball is still in the mix to land some quality prospects and transfers. Brandon Williams, the former Wildcat pledge, sticks out as the most coveted target. The point guard could thrive if he sticks with Arizona, but there are other options such as Samford transfer Justin Coleman.
Other players on the program’s radar are bigs Jordan Brown, Lukas Kisunas, and Parker Braun. Wildcat fans should not expect any Five-star headliners like Aaron Gordon nor any “One-and-Done” players to come into Tucson next season. The incoming class won’t be ranked in the top three, or even top ten. But honestly, that is probably for the best.
Arizona Wildcats Basketball
Coach Miller had a ton of success early in his tenure recruiting and developing players. He valued players like Momo Jones, Nic Wise, Derrick Williams, and Kyle Fogg. Look what happened in only his second season, he won the Pac-10 title and took the team to an Elite 8 dominating Duke. None of those players were highly ranked, nor had many high-major offers. These athletes were hungry, motivated, and willing to do what it takes to win.
It is in the best interest of Arizona Basketball long term to invest in players devoted to the team and the school. Miller will still find ways to bring in a few highly talented players. But his focus should be on balanced, coachable players who are committed to the process. Villanova is now the oft-cited example. Their recruiting classes have been average. They haven’t put as many players into the NBA as Arizona and most of their players have been in the program for three or four years. That is why they have now won two National Titles in the last three years.
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If Arizona Basketball wants to fully return to past glory, they would be wise to get back to their recruiting roots. Following the recruiting developments of the Wildcats, the next few months will be quite entertaining. Stay tuned and Bear Down!