Shareef O’Neal decommits from Arizona

Arizona has lost one of its two 2018 signees

Shortly after it was reported that Sean Miller won’t coach the Arizona Wildcats on Saturday, UA signee Shareef O’Neal announced he is reopening his recruitment.

“At this time I’m am opening up my recruitment due to the current events with the UofA Bball team,” tweeted O’Neal, the son of NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal. “I would like to thank all the coaches for recruiting me. At the time my family and I think it’s in my best interest to look at other options to assure my play in the NCAA next year.

“I wanted to send a personal thank you to Coach Miller, Coach Romar, Coach Phelps , and all the Arizona staff and fans for all the support they’ve shown my family and I.”

A four-star forward, O’Neal is the No. 33 player in the 2018 class, per 247Sports.

Before decommitting he was one of two players Arizona had signed in its 2018 class, the other being four-star point guard Brandon Williams.

Both O’Neal and Williams signed non-binding financial aid paperwork with Arizona in November, giving them an out if anything happened to the UA or its coaching staff following the FBI investigation.

On Friday, ESPN reported that FBI wiretaps have Miller discussing an $100,000 payment to secure the signing of star freshman Deandre Ayton.

While the UA has not officially released a statement about the report, Miller has reportedly told players that he will not be coaching the team Saturday at Oregon.

So Miller’s future at Arizona is in serious doubt, and now O’Neal is out the door because of it.

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Follow Ryan Kelapire on Twitter at @RKelapire

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