Kobi Simmons verbally commits to Arizona Wildcats

A huge get for Sean Miller

Many people have taken the Arizona Wildcats and Sean Miller to task about their 2016 recruiting class, but Saturday changes that as five-star combo guard Kobi Simmons has announced he will be heading to Arizona.

Simmons is the second five-star prospect of this class, joining international player Lauri Markkanen, who has already signed his letter of intent.

The Simmons addition comes as a bit of a surprise. As recently as a week ago, Arizona wasn't even in the highly-regarded prospects' top three schools. Those were Ohio State, Kentucky, and UNLV. But thanks to UNLV firing Dave Rice midseason, Arizona made its way into the final three.

It still looked like Ohio State was the leader for Simmons' services, but on Thursday night, it was reported by CBS Sports that Thad Matta and the Buckeyes had stopped recruiting Simmons.

From there, it was going to be Arizona's race to lose.

Next year's lineup will surely come as a debate topic already, but a lot of what happens will hinge on what Allonzo Trier decides to do about his NBA future, as well as possibly Ray Smith, who some NBA scouts thought would be a first-round talent after one year of college before he tore his ACL in preseason practices.

But if you're not excited about Simmons yet, watch this from today's Hoophall Action by Annie Maroon:

And this:

Keep It Simple & Smooth http://pic.twitter.com/1Vvrwsa07q

— Shoogs (@JordanKobi) January 15, 2016

And this:

There are still two primary targets for the Arizona staff in this class. They are Josh Jackson and Harry Froling. Jackson is the No. 1 player in the country, while Froling was on campus this week, visiting from Australia. Rawle Alkins is also still in the picture.

For now, welcome Simmons as the second player of a 2016 class that is probably going to turn out a lot better than most people thought a week ago.

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