Wild About AZ Cats

Before I begin, did you notice that former UA player and assistant Josh Pastner has the No. 2-ranked recruiting class for the Class of 2010 at Memphis, according to Rivals.com? …

I realize this is like making a plan to win the lottery, but I thought I would put together a list of possible recruits UA coach Sean Miller and his staff will be targeting two years from now.

These players are sophomores in high school, but you can never start too early. Just ask Lute Olson, who according to Sports Illustrated offered scholarships to two different prospects before they started the eighth grade. You might recall that Nic Wise, now a senior point guard with the Wildcats, verbally committed to Olson and Pastner when he was an eighth-grader in Houston.

At least these kids are a little older, in the 10th grade, but most of them are only 15 and capable of changing their minds a zillion times. UA freshman guard Lamont “MoMo” Jones verbally committed to Louisville and Virginia Tech before signing a national letter of intent with USC. He then left the Trojans to sign with Arizona when former USC coach Tim Floyd resigned.

The Class of 2012 is extremely important to Miller and his staff as it completely transitions to his personnel. Most of the Olson holdovers will be gone after the 2011-2012 season, including Kyle Fogg, Alex Jacobson, Garland Judkins, Brendon Lavender, and D.J. Shumpert.

The Class of 2012 players are separated by region with information provided by Hoopmasters.com and Scout.com (Rivals.com does not yet list the Class of 2012 recruits and Scout.com does not have these prospects ranked as of now).

WEST
Shabazz Muhammad, SG, 6-3, 165, Las Vegas (NV). Rated the No. 1 prospect in the class by Van Coleman of Hoopmasters.com.
Xavier Johnson, SF, 6-6, 175, Temecula (CA).
Winston Shepard, PF, 6-7, 190, Henderson (NV)
Gabe York, PG, 6-0, 165, Orange (CA)

EAST
Alex Murphy, SF, 6-8, 180, Southborough (MA)
Khem Birch, PF, 6-9, 180, Winchendon (MA). His teammate and potential Class of 2011 recruit Angel Nunez is trying to bring Birch along for an unofficial visit this month.

SOUTH
Winston Sheppard, SF, 6-6, 180, Sugar Land (TX)
Isaiah Austin, C, 7-0, 215, Arlington (TX)
J-Mychal Reese, PG, 6-0, 160, Brian (TX). He’s one of the eighth graders Olson offered a scholarship to as documented in the SI article.

MIDWEST
Perry Ellis, PF, 6-8, 215, Wichita (KS)

STATE OF ARIZONA 2012 PROSPECTS
Demetrius Balark, SG, 6-1, 160, Glendale Kellis
Larry Lews, SG, 6-1, 160, Phoenix Arcadia. He visited the UA unofficially during last week’s Red-Blue game.

CLASS OF 2013 IN-STATE PROSPECTS
Torren Jones, SF, 6-7, 200, Chandler Basha. The UA has offered a scholarship along with USC and Oregon State.
Maurice Kirby, C, 6-8, 215, Flagstaff. He and Jones also visited the UA last weekend unofficially.

PLEASE VISIT WILDABOUTAZCATS.com for additional information regarding Wildcat athletics. Javier can be reached at wildaboutazcats@gmail.com.