Floyd Out: Arizona Consequences

Tim Floyd is resigning from USC, and I for one couldn't be happier. I hated him while losing as the Bulls coach, hated him more when he was winning at USC, and was about to blow a gasket when he was hired by U of A. One problem, he was never hired by U of A, and the fact that Tim Pink Floyd thought he was too good for Arizona made it even worse. It was my lowest moment as a fan of the U. Lower than the Mackovic error of the early century. So....

What do the numbers 92, 88, 95, 89 mean?

They are the ESPN/Scouts Inc. grades of the 2009 and 2010 USC Basketball Recruits, in order, PF Derrick Williams, PG LaMont Jones (2009) and PG Gary Franklin Jr., SF Dwayne Polee (2010).

With the news that Coach Pink is out at USC, there is no doubt in my mind that at least 2 if not all 4 of these players will be back on the market. Williams and Jones have both signed Official Letters of Intent, but even before news came that Floyd was resigning both were pondering their options as Summer classes have gotten underway. Franklin and Polee are only verbal commits so I'm pretty sure that they will probably open their recruitment up as well.

What does this mean for the U of A?

Well, Jones was on Coach Sean Miller's radar from the second he stepped foot in Tucson, but it seemed too little too late as Jones had pretty much made up his mind. But now with the coaching change is there a chance that LaMont a.k.a MoMo will open his recruiting back up? We'll have to wait and see but I'm sure Coach Miller and his staff are already circling. I'm sure that playing at Point Guard U, for a Point Guard Coach, and getting to get his feet wet under, most likely, the best Point Guard in the Pac-10 might all be nice little recruiting tools to get MoMo interested in Tucson once again.

Williams on the other hand was weighing a couple of other Pac-10 schools, but was settled on the Trojans very early on. Will he land in Washington or Tempe? We'll probably have to wait and see. One only wonders just how much contact Williams and Jones have had. If those two have formed any kind of bond, there's always a chance they could defect together. Most schools have formally wrapped up their 2009 recruiting, but Coach Miller has yet to announce his official recruiting class. Some suspect he was waiting on word from Lance Stephenson and his pending court trial. We all know that With Chase and Jordan leaving, Zane transferring, and a handful of non existent recruiting classes, there are more than a few scholarships sitting on Miller's desk at the McKale Center.

If the Cats can manage to get one or both of these recruits away from USC, assuming they are let out of their Letters of Intent, then U of A is not only looking at staying afloat in the Pac-10, but will have skipped the rebuilding stage we all feared and gone straight into Reload Mode. Now don't get me wrong, we'll be lucky to get a 26th straight NCAA tourney berth this year, but with USC no doubt slipping, Cal and Washington being the only two real class programs in the Pac-10, Arizona is looking at a solid opportunity to be a top 4 team this year and have a talented crop of guys going into the following year.

Arizona's already gotten one USC defect (Soloman Hill) since Miller took over and maybe with a couple lucky bounces 2010-2011 could go from being year 2 of the Miller rebuild, to year 1 of the New Wildcat Dynasty with a young core of Sophomores Krylla K, Kevin Parrom, Hill, Jones?, Williams?, Juniors Fogg, Jacobson, and Lavendar, and Senior Jamelle Horne. And I'm sure Coach Miller is eyeing Franklin and Polee already.