Arizona basketball recruiting: Marvin Bagley III’s reclassification, pending visits, and latest offers

A mid-summer recruiting roundup

With the majority of the summer AAU season’s coming to an end, the recruitments of the nation’s top players have started to rev into high gear. Below is a quick synopsis of where the Arizona Wildcats stand with the most notable targets.

Marvin Bagley III

Let’s be honest, he’s the only person Arizona fans (and, well, everyone else) cares about at the moment. He’s looking to reclassify and will visit Tucson the first week of August. Currently, Bagley is visiting Duke and then will head west.

Stay tuned.

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Bol Bol

The MVP of the Nike EYBL season, Bol Bol is now the third-ranked recruit in the nation. His size, 7-foot-2, and ability to shoot, 49 percent from behind the arc, make him a must-have target for every high level coach in the country. With that said, he’s planning to visit Arizona along with Kentucky and Oregon. USC is also in the mix.

Shareef O’Neal’s influence might be greater than we anticipated. From Rivals:

Bol and teammate Shareef O'Neal are inseparable. Once they started playing on the same EYBL team, it became apparent that they are one of the most dynamic frontcourt duos in the league. I think this will translate over to the college level and we'll see Bol join Shareef at Arizona.

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Zion Williamson

Known around the world for his insane dunks, Williamson has always been an Arizona target, but not one people think will really come to fruition. He has said that he ‘probably’ will visit Arizona, though it could just be a ploy to get a free trip to the West Coast. But, as we’ve seen before, Sean Miller always has some magic up his sleeve.

Williamson talked with Rivals and said he plans to commit this fall “probably... in October or November before my high school season starts.” Williamson also added he plans to use most of his official visits on west coast teams so that nearly locks in Arizona’s chance at some point this fall.

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Nassir Little

Hailing from Orlando, Florida, Little was offered by Arizona on June 22 and the staff showed up, reportedly, ‘four deep,’ to watch him play this past week. Little, a 6-foot-6 small forward, has offers from across the country including Oregon, Kansas, Florida, Louisville just to name a few. He has an official visit scheduled to Georgia Tech at the end of August but nothing after that. The wing is ranked 28th and seventh at his position in the 2018 class.

“He’s just focused on finishing out this summer, us all sitting down once it’s over and really trying to identify the schools that fit him and then hopefully start locking in these official visits,” said Brad Augustine, program director for 1Family Hoops.

Little talked about how Arizona is prioritizing him to Rivals.

“They tell me I’m there No. 1 guy. (Sean Miller) said he wants it to be known he’s coming to all of my games. They see me as a Stanley Johnson-type player except I can shoot it a little better.”

With Miller’s recruiting prowess, its likely he gets him on campus for an official.

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Jahvon Quinerly

He’s currently at the Under Armor All-American camp and is planning to visit Kansas and UCLA this fall. With his Arizona visit already under his belt, this leaves him with two more official visits.

The five-star point guard told Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com that he plans to commit by the start of his high school season, which begins in December.

As for his Arizona visit, he elaborated a little more on it.

“It was just a great experience, Allonzo Trier was my host,” Quinerly said. “I got to get a feel for the campus, I basically saw everything. Coach [Sean] Miller, I just got to build a great relationship with the whole coaching staff, Coach Lorenzo [Romar].”

The Arizona staff has been on hand to watch Quinerly at the UAAA.

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Devon Dotson

Arizona’s coaching staff was on hand to see Dotson, a top-30 point guard from Charlotte, N.C. recently. With Brandon Williams already on the board, Miller is still looking for a second point guard. While many think Quinerly has a good shot to fill that role, the staff is wisely continuing to recruit other top point guards.

Dotson told 247Sports, “I want to get out to see Arizona soon,” though he added nothing has been set up. However, it’s apparent UA is in a good place for him in this recruitment. His father added:

“The week before [Williams committed to Sean Miller] actually called and let us know what was going to take place,” Dana Dotson said. “They’re committed to taking two point guards in the 2018 class. They look at what a lot of schools are doing, just in terms of running their offense, and obviously coach Miller is looking to get to the Final Four and win a championship, so he sees other schools have done it … so in his mind he wants to have two playmaking guards on the floor.”

Arizona’s biggest competition appears to Kansas, Florida, and Maryland. The guard should make his decision this fall.

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Tre Jones

It seems as if the one point guard Miller isn’t recruiting anymore is Tre Jones. At one point they were pretty involved but it seems they, like many, sense that Duke will probably be the final destination. He listed Duke, Minnesota, USC, UCLA, and Ohio State in an interview with Rivals.

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Simi Shittu

Arizona recently offered Shittu, a top-10 player in the 2018 class. He knows Emmanuel Akot, which is leverage the staff will surely use to get him on campus for a visit.

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R.J. Barrett

The Wildcats are reportedly involved for the top 2019 player but there’s a (high?) possibility he will reclassify to the 2018 class. If Bagley and Barrett both reclassify to their new respective classes, the Canadian forward will likely slide into the top spot in the 2018 class.

Barrett plans on cutting his list down in August and says that Arizona, along with Duke, Kentucky, UCLA, Texas, and Oregon have been reaching out to him.

Barrett writes in this USA Today blog, “I still haven’t made a decision on reclassifying from 2019 to 2018 just yet. I’ll probably make that decision over the next couple of weeks.”

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James Wiseman

Recently offered by Arizona, the Wildcats staff is “going all in” for the 2019 five-star power forward, as they scouted him throughout Nike Peach Jam. Standing 6-foot-10, 210 pounds, the Nashville native has offers from schools such as Kansas, Florida, and Indiana. Duke and Kentucky haven’t offered but they likely will.

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Bryan Antoine

A 6-foot-4 guard out of New Jersey, Antoine is one of the top players in the 2019 class and Arizona has recently shown an interest in him. Book Richardson, Arizona’s east coast recruiting expert, reached out to Antoine, the seventh overall prospect, last week.

Antoine told Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog, “[Arizona assistant Book Richardson] called me three days ago to introduce himself to me.”

Villanova and Louisville have also been reaching out to him lately and Duke is starting to get more involved as well.

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Gerald Liddell

Arizona is among what appears to be his final six schools. He told Rivals that a visit to Tucson is a lock. He’s also considering UCLA, SMU, Texas, Oregon, and California.

As for how Arizona and Miller is recruiting him:

Arizona: "I love what Sean Miller and his staff are doing out there. Arizona is a great program and it is always going to be a great program so that's a plus. He really knows how to put players in the NBA and he knows what to do with talented players. That's my ultimate goal so I love that about him."

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Josh Green

A four-star guard out of Phoenix, Green recently visited Tucson on an unofficial visit. Ranked 101 in his class (though 247Sports has him No. 18 and a five-star, which likely means other sites haven’t updated their rankings yet), Green is still at the early stages of his recruitment.

The visit to Tucson went well, telling 247Sports:

“It was a great experience,” said Green about his Arizona visit. “They have great facilities and a great coaching staff. I really enjoyed the visit.”

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Josh Christopher

UA recently offered the 2020 five-star prospect and he talked with AZDS about the offer and what it was like to play at Nike Peach Jam. He also had high praise for Miller and his coaching and recruiting prowess.

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