With the signing of a new coach finally accomplished and the severe turnover of coaches all over the NCAA BB landscape we here at TheBearDown thought you, the loyal reader would like to know just what possibilities exist for the still barren 2009 recruiting class....
First things first, we should dispel the notion that we don't have anyone committed in this class. Unbeknown to many Reggie Geary has been hard at work recruiting uncommitted kids to come play for the Cats despite the lack of a permanent coaching staff. Coach Geary was successful in securing the commitment of relative unknown Tremayne Johnson a 6'7" PF for Southwest Community College in Los Angeles. it remains to be seen whether or not Sean Miller will honor the scholarship offers of the previous staff.
With Coach Miller potentially comes some of his recruits, here is our breakdown on who could be coming with him;
Xavier's only 2009 commitment is Kevin Parrom, a 6-6, 200-pound small forward from South Kent (Conn.), who is ranked 84th in the country by Rivals.com. Parrom still needs to receive a release from his LOI from Xavier but it is rare that this doesn't happen.
Coach Miller is currently recruiting 2009 center Kyryl Natyazhko, who is ranked 75th in the country by Rivals.com. Natyazhko is listed as having narrowed his choices down to Pitt, Xavier and Arizona State but that was prior to Coach Miller accepting the position at Arizona so it would seem logical that he would probably consider Arizona seriously.
Xavier also had two 2010 commitments - power forward's Jordan Latham and J.D. Weatherspoon. After Coach Miller made his desicion known this morning Weatherspoon contacted Rivals.com via text message and informed them that he was in fact re-opening his recruitment and would consider Arizona seriously. Latham is ranked 44th in 2010, Weatherspoon is 135th.
It should be noted that Coach Miller will be bringing his main recruiter Book Richardson as an Assistant Coach. Richardson used to run the premier East Coast AAU program the New York Gauchos, and has tons of connections back East. This of course means the U of A will most likely increase recruiting on that side of the country and do it more effectively than before.
One name that Cat fans should be familiar with is the #3 rated SF in the nation and previous Wildcat commit Solomon Hill. Hill de-committed from Arizona after Coach O retired and there was no permanent coach in place. According to an interview in today's paper Hill is more than open to re-committing to the Cats.
Also still unsigned and available is Victor Rudd of Henderson Findlay Prep in Las Vegas, NV. Rudd is the 107th overall ranked player in the 2009 class according to Rivals.com and has serious interest in Arizona.
The big question mark in play is PG Lance Stephenson who plays AAU ball for the NYC Gauchos. He is unsigned and the idea that he would consider following his old coach to PG-U is not out of the question. It should be noted that Stephenson(and Rudd for that matter) have not yet achieved the minimum qualifying test scores to get through the NCAA clearing house. On top of that Stephenson is a for sure one and done player and Coach Miller has not encountered this situation thus far in his coaching career.
One last note on his potential coaching staff. Coach Miller's brother is Archie Miller the #1 recruiter for Ohio State's program. Archie Miller has landed three 5 star recruits in the last two years for the Buckeyes. Archie was an assistant with with Sean on Thad Matta's staff before Matta left to take the Ohio St job. Xavier has a policy against nepotism and prevented Sean from keeping his brother on staff. One would assume that the family dinner conversation in the Miller household would include the potential for the brothers to reunite at Arizona. Who Coach Miller does or doesn't keep on his staff remains to be seen but I hope he saves room for Coach Geary as his West Coast recruiter, Book Richardson as his East Coast recruiter and his brother in as his Consiglierie.
This is just an initial list of the obvious possibilities at the moment. It remains to be seen how many players will be released from LOI's in the coming weeks with all the chaos of the off season coaching changes. Check back in with TheBearDown for more info in the weeks to come.
Randle El - Feeling the recruiting flow once again
Monday, April 6, 2009
It is "Miller Time" for the '09 Basket-Cats recruiting class and beyond
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5 comments:
The Terrell Stoglin issue is a big one. I don't know the kid or if his head is bigger than his ability, which would be huge. He apparently signed with Maryland, with negative rhetoric about Arizona did not come after him enough. He teammate from Santa Rita is on the UofA roster and that should have helped. Stoglin is a rare talent UofA should get, if can keep his head on. Miller should work on this right now.
Stoglin has not been deemed good enough on several occasion by several recruiters...he has gotten far more looks from the cats then any other player would because he is a Tucson kid. Word on the street is he will struggle to qualify and is a head case(which you alluded to). The U of A has had a number of these types the last few years and it never ends up being worth the hassle. Not to mention that if there is one area we may have some depth at right now it is guard...an undersized, over hyped, local kid with bad grades and a bad attitude to match seems like a bad investment....for his sake I hope I am wrong and he gets some of that high quality coaching Gary Williams has to offer at Maryland...FWIW he committed yo the Terrapins with out ever having been to the Maryland campus and only having been to the DC Metro area once. His sole reason (as stated in several interviews) for pulling the trigger was the fact that most of Maryland's guards will graduate the year before he arrives so he believes he will get a ton of playing time as a freshman...in fact he said in an interview with rivals.com that immediate playing time was his prime concern, does that really sound like the kind of kid we need right now? PAGING MARCUS WILLIAMS...MARCUS WHERE ARE YOU....Oh Yea the D League, that sucks, oh well...at least is matches your GPA...Randle El
Good comments on the Stoglin issue. Sorry if the head is a problem. My kid played against Santa Rita, and Stoglin was awesome. He is small but extremely difficult to guard with his pull up threes, and his drive and dish ability. He appears to be one of the top ten Arizona high school players.
there is no doubt he is talented, but if three different staff's have looked at him for Arizona and all three have said no thanks to him despite how bad recruiting has been that tells me all I need to know about this kid.
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