Arizona Basketball: Chase Jeter ESPN Top 15 Impact Transfer in 2018-19

The Arizona basketball roster for the 2018-19 season will have a whole new look, including Duke Blue Devils transfer Chase Jeter, who will have a big impact next season.

Next season, Arizona Basketball team is going to have some huge gaps on both offensive and defense on the inside, but with Chase Jeter eligible to play he will have a major role and be an immediate impact player. According to ESPN, he is one of the top 15 impact transfers to look out for during the 2018-19 season.

The skill level of Deandre Ayton, Dusan Ristic and Rawle Alkins can certainly not be replaced, but the Wildcats will have a lot of potential on the inside this next season. Besides Jeter, they will also have sophomore Ira Lee returning, Pittsburg transfer Ryan Luther and freshman commit Omar Thielemans making up the Wildcat big man.

Jeter hardly got any playing time at Duke due to a combination of issue such as being injured and having to play alongside other five-star big men. Over the course of two seasons at Duke, he averaged 10.3 minutes per game, 2.1 points per game and 2.2 rebounds per game. In his freshman season he played in 32 games, didn’t start in any of them. His sophomore season he only played in 16 games due to herniated disc and started in six of those. Safe to say he will be playing a lot more this year at Arizona!

Arizona Wildcats Basketball

Jeter is currently the Wildcat’s biggest inside player at 6 foot 10 and 230lbs. Next biggest would be Lee at 6 foot 7, 200lbs and Luther at 6 foot 9 and 225lbs. Besides his size, Jeter has the natural ability around the basket to score the ball. For those that don’t know, he was an McDonald’s All-American and one of the top recruits for the class of 2015.

Prior to the start of this past season, I watched Jeter play live in person at the Red and Blue Game and was beyond impressed. I hadn’t known much of him before, but after the game was over I was like “this guy can play!” As a big man, his positioning and movement on both ends of the floor was exciting to watch. He was also able to play in Spain and impressed.

Jeter understands Millers system as did Ryan Anderson, Kadeem Allen and TJ McConnell who Both transferred and sat out a year while practicing with the team.

This next season he will have a MAJOR impact on the Wildcat’s inside game. Size, strength, and experience are three things Jeter will be bringing to the inside. Yes, he didn’t get a lot of playing at Duke, but does have some experience playing against highly talented players in game and in practice.

Enjoy his freshman highlights at Duke:

Even though Jeter didn’t play this past season because of the transfer rules, he was able to learn a lot from watching one of the greatest big men and players in college basketball, Ayton. Not too shabby of a player to be watching. I am sure there is at least a thing or two he learned from watching him play as well as the other big man that played.

Today’s game of college basketball requires having a solid backcourt to making a deep run in March, but also having a frontcourt is key too. The Wildcats will have both during the 2018-19 season, putting themselves in a great position to make another deep run during the post season.

Personally, having a player of Jeter’s skill level from Duke transfer and come play at Arizona is a godsend for Miller. Also, Wildcat fans have this hatred toward the Arizona State Sun Devils, but they have that same feeling towards the Blue Devils.

Getting a Dukie who was highly recruited but received little playing time now has the opportunity to show his former school they are missing out. He may even get that chance to play them during the 2018 Maui Invitational. That would be a game not to be missed!

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At Zona Zealots, we can not wait to see what Jeter has in store for Wildcat fans. He has had a whole year to experience what it’s like to be a Wildcat on the sideline, now it’s time for him to show what Duke is missing out on this next year. Bear Down Chase!