Five-star forward Brandon McCoy commits to UNLV over Arizona, Oregon, and Michigan State

A somewhat surprising result on the recruiting front.

Well, that was surprising.

Brandon McCoy, one of the top players in the 2017 class and one of the few remaining unsigned players, committed to UNLV Tuesday evening.

Blessd and truly thankful to say I've committed to UNLV !!! http://pic.twitter.com/w4aw8gFidU

— Brandon McCoy (@flyguyfreddyy) April 26, 2017

The five-star power forward, ranked 13th overall per 247Sports, was choosing between Arizona, Michigan State, Oregon, and San Diego State. Many in the industry felt Oregon had the edge for most of his recruitment but the loss of nearly its entire team could have affected things.

Arizona fans will see McCoy when the Wildcats play the Rebs in Vegas on December 2nd.

As it stands now, this is the Runnin Rebels’ second commitment and one that will give them a huge boost in the Mountain West Conference — though they still only have the third-best recruiting class.

Not sure anyone noticed but UNLV JC commit Anthony Smith played for Ground-Up AAU club run by Shaun Manning, who is Brandon McCoy's guardian

— Mark Zeigler (@sdutzeigler) January 20, 2017

This is UNLV’s highest-ranked recruit since Stephen Zimmerman, who ironically, also spurned Arizona and other bigger programs to play in the lights of Las Vegas.

Arizona is still in contention for five-star forward Brian Bowen and five-star point guard Trevon Duval. At one point it looked like Arizona was in the driver’s seat for Bowen, but Allonzo Trier's return has thrown a wrench into that thinking; possibly giving Creighton an opportunity to swoop in.

Duval has never looked like a high likelihood, with Duke being the apparent favorite but you never know (as we just saw with McCoy going to UNLV).

Both Bowen and Duval have said they intend to commit by the end of April/early May so we should have some news coming in the next week or two.

Stay tuned.

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