Arizona basketball recruiting: Lonnie Walker likely to commit, Wildcats cut ties with P.J. Washington, and other updates

The 2017 class is still set to expand

The news of the week arrived Thursday when four-star prospect Ira Lee made his much-anticipated commitment to Sean Miller and the Arizona Wildcats. Lee’s pledge —the fourth of Arizona’s 2017 class — puts the Wildcats atop the college basketball rankings, setting the UA up for a much less hectic spring compared to last year.

With Lee now on board, all eyes go toward Lonnie Walker, the stud two-guard out of Reading, Pennsylvania, who visited Tucson on Oct. 7-9 (the weekend before the Red-Blue game).

Walker canceled his Kentucky visit which was sort of surprising, but it wouldn't have mattered in the end. He still has a couple of visits left (Villanova and Syracuse) but all signs point toward him being the fifth commitment for Arizona by the early National Signing Day in November.

Arizona, P.J. Washington cut ties

One player the Wildcats will not be getting is P.J. Washington, who had Arizona in his final three for about 72 hours it seemed like.

After taking trips to Kentucky and North Carolina, the wing canceled his planned trip to Arizona (which would have been this past weekend), and instead added UNLV to his list.

It seems like this as a mutual decision by both sides — it might have had something to do with Ira lee committing — and I think it’s UK leading, with UNC hoping to make up ground. The UNLV addition is interesting as it’s close to Findlay Prep, Washington’s high school, but it still seems unlikely that Washington stays in the area.

Nick Richards visit date up in the air

The second overall center was slated to visit Tucson a few weeks ago, but he bumped it back because he wanted his AAU coach to be there with him. Richards initially said he was hoping to get take the visit by the end of October, but he told ZagsBlog that he “needs more time” and doesn’t know when it’ll happen.

However, Arizona is in his final three with Kentucky and Syracuse. UK seems to be firmly in the lead.

Quade Green cuts Arizona

In my last recruiting update I noted that I was surprised Quade Green had included Arizona on his “still in it” list and was even considering visiting Tucson. Well, he’s no longer considering Arizona, narrowing down to Temple, Kentucky, Duke, Syracuse, and Villanova. I always had a feeling he was going to stay on the East Coast and this reinforces it.

http://pic.twitter.com/XfV44e08rq

— LiL AI (@Q_Green1) October 17, 2016

Jarred Vanderbilt update

Vanderbilt is fresh off a visit to Kentucky and was at North Carolina the weekend before. He said of the UNC visit, “they set the bar really high.” However, Sean Miller has been the coach that has been recruiting him the hardest, according to Vanderbilt.

There’s no official visit date set for Arizona yet, but it should happen sooner than later with an expected commitment date in “December/early January.”

Brandon McCoy

Ranked eighth nationally, McCoy’s recruitment is as tight-lipped as any throughout the county. I know he’s planning on taking more visits, but I can’t find a site that has them listed (probably because they haven't been scheduled yet). I’m not confident enough to say Arizona leads at this point, but they’ve positioned themselves nicely.

DeAndre Ayton

He’s coming, guys. Don’t worry.

I Can't wait Arizona ⬇️ #blessedbeyondmeasure #WildcatNation http://pic.twitter.com/0uhH3nrDki

— Deandre Ayton (@RealDeandreAy) October 23, 2016

Still In The Running

Trevon Duval, PG

Hamidou Diallo, SG

Brian Bowen, SF

Troy Brown, PG/SF

Jordan Tucker, SF

I don't see the bottom two as likely commitments, but because there have been no updates, we’ll continue as if ‘there’s a chance.’

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You can follow Alec on Twitter: @UofAlec

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