Arizona basketball recruiting: Red-Blue game visitors and latest updates

It’ll be a packed house on Friday night.

Sean Miller and the Arizona Wildcats have turned the annual Red-Blue game into a must-see spectacle that rivals the likes of Kansas, Kentucky, Duke, and North Carolina.

While the game has been sold out for months, the list of visitors continues to grow, as the coaching staff has been making it a priority to get as many recruits in attendance as possible.

Official Visitors:

• Four-star forward Ira Lee
• Four-star point guard Daejon Davis
• Five-star shooting guard Lonnie Walker
• Four-star point guard Alex Barcello
• Five-star center DeAndre Ayton

Unofficial Visitors:

• Five-star point guard Brandon Williams, 2018
• Four-star shooting guard Quentin Grimes, 2018
• Five-star wing Gerald Liddell, 2018
• Four-star forward Taeshon Cherry, 2018
• Five-star forward Miles Norris, 2018
• Josh Green 2019
• Nico Mannion, 2020

The Wildcats are in great shape when it comes to Lee and he’s told me he’s looking to make a decision by the end of October, but it could come sooner than later.

Arizona also appears to be in good shape for Walker, who is from Pennsylvania. Having the ability to pull him away from the Villanova Wildcats would be a huge coup for the staff. He’s looking at a November decision. He recently talked with Eric Bossi of Rivals and he said the DeAndre Ayton commitment was big for him.

“Coach Miller is saying how well I fit his team. The fact that DeAndre Ayton committed is even a bigger thing with having him and potentially me as a guard and him as the center. He's looking at the bigger picture of how well I can fit in with them."

Walker also talked with Scout.com ahead of the visit and said of the Arizona allure:

Their history and the national championship he’s hungry for and he’s only selecting a group of people he believes in that can fit his program and get him that championship. Because, I can see it in his eyes, I can see it in the way he talks, he wants it badly. So I can honestly believe he’ll push me so much more harder, lifting and working to be a better guard, and on top of that the environment, it’s beautiful, even though it’s hot there’s no humidity. The last time I was there it was very nice.

I can’t make official predictions on 247Sports yet, but if I could, I’d have Walker and Lee to Arizona.

The Daejon Davis recruitment is interesting considering Alex Barcello is already on board and the Cats could have as many as three additional point guards slotted at the position for the 2017 season if Kobi Simmons stays. I figure he stays in the Pacific Northwest at either Washington or Oregon.

Latest Updates

• After visiting last weekend, Brandon Randolph committed to the Wildcats on Wednesday. He told Evan Daniels that Arizona checked all his boxes.
• Brandon McCoy was also a last minute visitor this last weekend. He talked with Scout about the experience but it’s beyond their paywall so I can’t quote what it says. However, he liked the visit and doesn’t see a problem playing with DeAndre Ayton.
• Trevon Duval, who reopened his commitment, told MadeHoops, “It was really just me taking a step back and reevaluating every school that wants to recruit me. I will be able to kind of start over with it all.” Duke, Louisville, and Baylor are now involved along with the prior nine. He also said Arizona plans to come watch him at his new home at IMG Academy. He’s going to start thinking about visits and likely be a late signee. I’m not sure how he’d fit into this class but I can’t imagine the staff turning down the top-ranked point guard.
• There hasn’t been a lot of talk about Quade Green to Arizona but it appears they are still in it for the time being. The five-star point guard told Scout.com that he plans on visiting Tucson. While the date isn’t set, I'm thinking it’ll be the weekend of Nov. 5 as he has visits set each week prior and he’s aiming for an early signing period decision which starts Nov 9. Again, I’m not sure how this would work numbers wise.
• PJ Washington has announced his final three and Arizona made the cut. He’ll be here on Oct. 21. He talks about his recruitment below.

• Jarred Vanderbilt is nearly set on four of his five visits and one of them should be Arizona. He’s looking at a December to January decision date.

“It’s still at my nine schools, but I will probably set my five official visits sometime this week,” said Vanderbilt. “My five officials will most likely be Texas, Arizona, Kentucky, North Carolina and it’s a tossup between Oregon and Kansas.”

“After I go on all of my visits I am going to evaluate each school and see what fits me the best. I want to see how they play up close and also have an idea of who is leaving or staying. I’m looking forward to building an even better relationship with these coaches from now on.”

He also told Scout.com that Sean Miller is the coach recruiting in the hardest right now. Also, DeAndre Ayton is a factor for him as well.

• PG Gary Trent Jr. knocked Arizona off his list. He now has Duke, Michigan State, and UCLA. I’d be shocked if he and Wendell Carter didn’t end up at Duke.
• Five-star Arizona target Hamidou Diallo was found at the ASU game last weekend with Bobby Hurley. The Sun Devils have visited him, though it seems like an unlikely marriage unless he wants to be the focal point of the team. Though you can tell by the list above, his coach told me he won’t be coming to the Red-Blue game.

Ryan will have your ultimate Red-Blue game preview tomorrow morning, so keep an eye out for that and enjoy the game!

You can follow Alec on Twitter: @UofAlec

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