Arizona basketball recruiting: Brandon Randolph to officially visit, Nick Richards re-schedules trip, and more

The Wildcats will have several high-profile recruits on campus in October

We’ve made it!

The Arizona Wildcats have started practice, and the Red-Blue game is a week away. Basketball is back and the recruiting train continues to chug along. Here’s the latest on the trail:

If you missed last week’s update, you can view it here.

Brandon Randolph, a sharpshooter from New York will officially visit Arizona this weekend (Oct. 7-Oct. 10), according to a report from Evan Daniels of Scout.com and Fox Sports. Ranked No. 38 overall per 247 Sports, the 6-foot-6 wing narrowed his list to four schools (Arizona, Oregon, Syracuse, and Wake Forest) on Sept. 12.

He has already visited Oregon and Syracuse, but has not visited Wake Forest yet – and doesn’t have a date scheduled at this time. However, Wake Forest is seen as the heavy favorite by 247 Sports.

Known for his floor-stretching capability, Randolph would be a huge asset to Arizona, which, after losing Gabe York and Terrance Ferguson, does not have a shooter that strikes fear in opponents’ eyes.

Randolph will have the campus to himself with a re-scheduling from another top prospect.

Nick Richards has moved his official visit from Oct. 7 to the end of the month. He said he wanted his AAU coach to visit as well. "I pushed it back because I want my AAU coach to take the visit with me and he couldn't.”

While he doesn’t have the exact date set yet, "Arizona and Syracuse will be in October, that's a guarantee," Richards said.

Using deductive reasoning, that leaves Oct. 21 and Oct. 28 as the potential dates. Kentucky target P.J. Washington will be on campus Oct. 21, which could make that a convenient time to show two UK-favored recruits what it’d be like in a red and blue Wildcats uniform.

Richards also talked about his in-home visit with Arizona to Adam Zagoria, and Arizona head coach Sean Miller and assistant coach Book Richardson have made their pitch:

"They basically said the same thing," he said. "We were talking about who came, how many players that went to the NBA and what they could do for me. I asked questions about what they could do for me. He gave me a lot of information about the school."

Overall, it would seem that Arizona, Syracuse, and Kentucky have risen to the top of Richards’ recruitment, though Kentucky is still sweeping all 11 crystal ball predictions. Richards had an “unbelievable time” on his official visit to Lexington, according to his coach.

Richards’ coach also said he is aiming for a November decision date. Might I suggest Nov. 8?

Other Updates

• Gary Trent Jr. canceled his Red-Blue game visit and doesn’t appear to be making it up at the moment. All signs point to him going to Duke.
• Top-20 prospect Brian Bowen has Arizona in his top six I expect him to visit Tucson on an official at some point.

• 2017’s top point guard Trevon Duval reopened his commitment on Oct. 4. He had a top nine, though I’d venture a guess that those schools will continue to be in there, while Duke and Kentucky will jump in now that he’s at a more academically sound high school. Other than that, his recruitment has been quiet.
• 2018 guard Quinten Grimes will unofficially visit Arizona for the Red-Blue game. We’ll have a formal list of attendees before the game next week.
• 2018 wing prospect Emmanuel Akot named Arizona in his final four. He’s appeared to slip beneath the radar of other top programs. We’ll see if Miller can get him on campus for Red-Blue or at least a game this season.
• Keep your eye on Tucson native Majok Deng. The 2019 wing is expected to be included in Scout’s early rankings which infers he’ll be a top prospect. He’s said Arizona is his dream school.
• Five-star guard Troy Brown is officially visiting Georgetown this weekend. While Arizona is still in the running, ESPN writes “He hasn’t eliminated any of the eight schools from his summer list, although Arizona seems to be a school prioritizing other prospects at his position.” Even though many sites list him as a small forward/wing type, he wants to play point guard. That could be the issue at Arizona with Alex Barcello committed and transfer Dylan Smith already in the fold at PG. It wouldn't surprise me to see him playing him playing games in McKale next season - the only question is will it be for Arizona or a Pac-12 rival?
• Daejon Davis is on an official to Gonzaga this weekend. Even though he’ll be here next weekend, the likelihood he leaves the PNW for college is slim.
• Ira Lee is also on an official visit, this time to Oregon.
• Arizona is showing interest to 2019 five-star prospect Isaiah Stewart
• Fox Sports had a nice recruiting article with Arizona tidbits.

For the latest in Arizona recruiting, follow Alec on Twitter: @UofAlec

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