Arizona basketball: Wildcats still have scholarships to offer after landing Chase Jeter

The Wildcats have at least one more scholarship to offer this offseason

The Arizona Wildcats landed Duke transfer Chase Jeter on Tuesday, but they still have room to add another player or two this offseason.

Jeter represents Arizona’s 12th scholarship player, meaning the Wildcats can add at least one more player before reaching the 13-player scholarship limit. They would even be able to add two players if Rawle Alkins decides to remain in the NBA Draft.

Alkins said he is “50-50” on returning to Arizona. Recently, he worked out for the Brooklyn Nets and Oklahoma City Thunder and will reportedly work out for the Toronto Raptors next.

NBA executives suggested that Alkins should return to the UA for his sophomore season. He has until May 24 to make that decision.

Arizona’s two main targets are Pittsburgh graduate transfer Cameron Johnson and five-star recruit Brian Bowen.

Johnson, a 6-foot-7 guard/forward, admitted that the NBA decisions of players like Alkins will impact which school he chooses to attend. Aside from Arizona, he is considering Kentucky, Oregon, and UCLA.

Bowen listed a top five of Arizona, Creighton, Michigan State, N.C. State, and Texas, but Oregon — which lost nearly its entire roster this offseason — has entered the sweepstakes, as well as DePaul.

In fact, the latest Crystal Ball predictions have those two schools as the favorites to land Bowen.

He took an unofficial visit to Eugene on May 8 and unofficially visited DePaul on March 11. DePaul recently hired Bowen’s high school coach, Shane Heirman, as an assistant coach.

Bowen said last month that he planned to commit by the end of the April, but obviously that did not come to fruition.

It would be surprising to see Arizona land both Bowen and Johnson — plus that would require Alkins staying in the NBA Draft — but landing one of them seems feasible.

In my opinion, Johnson appears more likely to land in Tucson than Bowen.

Either way, even after the Jeter addition, Arizona is in position to add another player or two this offseason, as Sean Miller said would be the case earlier in May.

So far, one domino has fallen and now it’s time to see what the next one will be.

Perhaps the Wildcats will add someone other than Bowen or Johnson, though it is unclear who else they are pursuing.

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