Bejarano’s signing shows UA should expect unexpected
by Javier Morales on Nov. 19, 2009, under SportsHere we are, the fall signing period over, and the lone Class of 2010 recruit inked is Phoenix North High School shooting guard Daniel Bejarano. I thought I would never write this line but — Who woulda thunk it?
At the turn of October, the UA coaches had not even talked to the one-time 5-star recruit (as rated by Rivals.com). In about a week, Bejarano de-committed from Texas, had a scholarship offer from ASU taken away, visited Arizona and committed to the Wildcats. UA coach Sean Miller was fortunate to quickly land a player of Bejarano’s caliber after recruiting top-notch Class of 2010 talent for almost six months, including the July evaluation period.
Arizona theoretically has one scholarship remaining to fill for next year’s class (that’s if Dondre Wise’s scholarship is only a one-year deal). So the recruiting for the Class of 2010 is not over, although only a handful of players remain, including Detroit Country Day School point guard Ray McCallum Jr.
A quick analysis of the Class of 2010 recruiting developments for Miller and Co.:
THE DISAPPOINTMENTS
- For whatever reason, the relationship between Portland Jefferson (Ore.) standout forward Terrence Jones and Arizona became non-existent after Jones did not immediately agree to an official visit to Tucson.
- I placed Jones as the primary disappointment although the UA had a player commit (Concord, Mass., Middlesex School forward Rod Odom) then de-commit and then sign with Vanderbilt. Jones, in my opinion, was too good to let get away, but it appears to be a case in which the UA coaches believed they were fighting a losing battle. Look for Jones to play close to home at Oregon or Washington.
- Odom’s about-face in a matter of a couple of weeks was peculiar in that he and his father said academics were not an issue when he committed to Arizona. When Odom opted for Vanderbilt, he claimed that academics and distance from home were factors in de-committing from Arizona. I contend it was only a case of distance from his East coast home in New York City. The mind of a 17-year-old has a funny way of working when the distance to friends, especially one of the opposite sex, comes into play.
- Losing McCallum to another school will be a disappointment unless the young playmaker chooses in the spring to play for his father at Detroit Mercy.
- San Diego-area product James Johnson decided to attend Virginia after taking an official visit there. A visit to Arizona was forthcoming but he canceled that. It appeared that Miller and his staff made Johnson a priority after the July evaluation period — they were the first to schedule an in-home visit with the redheaded star.
- Indianapolis product Dominique Ferguson, who talked about his respect for former UA guard Jason Gardner — who hailed from Indy — early in the recruiting process, abruptly committed to Isiah Thomas at Florida International shortly after the July evaluation tournaments. He and McCallum talked about joining Trey Zeigler in Tucson as a trifecta when they played together in a Las Vegas tourament. It appears that not one of them will be with the Wildcats next season.
NO SURPRISES
- The fact that Arizona was unable to be a major player for standouts such as Cory Joseph of Henderson (NV) Findlay Prep, Zeigler of Mount Pleasant (Mich.) and Keala King of Santa Ana (CA) Mater Dei, to name a few, is disappointing but not surprising. These three and others were recruited by Arizona but they never really had the Cats in their plans because of the unknown of Miller at Arizona and the lack of available scholarships. Once Miller establishes an identity this season in Tucson things will be different.
PLEASANT SURPRISES
- Class of 2011 power forward Sidiki Johnson of New Your committed early to Arizona. Will he honor that commitment over almost two years? No reason to believe he won’t, but don’t take anything for granted in recruiting
- For the die-hard UA fan, you have to admire what former player and assistant Josh Pastner has achieved in a short time at Memphis. Pastner, unjustly criticized for his recruiting efforts at Arizona, has inked three of the 12 best Class of 2010 recruits — all 5-star prospects accordig to Rivals.com: Jelan Kendrick of Marietta (GA), Will Barton of Wolfboro (NH) and Joe Jackson of Memphis.
- Bejarano’s signing not only maintains the UA’s dominance over ASU for the top in-state talent but he can potentially be an answer for the UA’s questionable shooting ability from the perimeter exhibited thus far this season.
- Out of the six players Miller has signed for the Class of 2009 and 2010, three are from the West coast: Derrick Williams, Solomon Hill and Bejarano. That’s a good start to build a base in the region against the likes of UCLA, USC, Washington, Cal, Gonzaga, etc. The schools I listed and plenty of others would love to have any of these guys. Miller is to be commended. He may have struck out against other West coast talent like Terrence Jones, Anthony Brown (Stanford) and Gary Franklin and Richard Solomon (Cal), but there is plenty of hope ahead. No need to worry about how Miller will fare in the West although he is not widely known in the area.
- Lute Olson’s first recruiting haul included primarily players from California — Steve Kerr (Pacific Palisades), Michael Tait (Bellflower), and JC transfer Pete Williams (Walnut) — and one from Washington (Van Beard from Seattle). Eddie Smith was the other recruit, a JC player from Wichita. Olson’s immediate success recruiting the West coast was a result of his earlier days as a high school coach in California and his time at Long Beach. He had already developed relationships. Miller will do the same in the West but he will also continue to make Arizona a national program. The disappointments I’ve listed will someday be overshadowed by success stories, most likely starting with the Class of 2012.
November 19th, 2009 on 3:52 pm
Maybe I’m missing something here, but I don’t understand all the recent negativity with regards to recruiting. The only blatant disappointment I see so far is the Rod Odom decommitment, if for no other reason than he was actually committed to Arizona and then reneged. I agree that potentially missing the boat on Terrence Jones because of what seem like trivial reasons is not the best thing that could have happened, but I’d hardly call that a huge disappointment. Besides, he hasn’t committed yet. And who is to say – especially after seeing the way Miller allows Solo to play that point forward role – Jones doesn’t end up visiting Arizona in the end anyways?
To be completely honest, the majority of the 2010 recruits who were on Arizona’s radar and already have eliminated the ‘Cats weren’t very likely to choose Arizona anyways. That list includes – as you mentioned – Cory Joseph and Keala King, and I would add Ferguson and Payne to that list as well. Sean Miller was behind the 8-ball from the jump, and although he had connections with most of these kids from recruiting them while at Xavier, I don’t think he had any illusions of luring them to Arizona after being on the job for only a few months.
I also don’t understand why most Arizona dedicated blogs/sites are writing off a Ray McCallum commitment. If I’m not mistaken, he didn’t commit during the early signing period. How is that a bad thing? Was it written in stone that Miller would only get him if it was an early commitment?
The way I see it, Miller – with multiple assists from Book and the rest of the staff - has done an almost perfect job of recruiting so far. He was able to land five (FIVE!) “Arizona good” recruits for this season almost immediately upon taking the job. That’s almost unprecedented (I consider the Kentucky situation different because Arizona was staring directly at an Indiana-like rebuilding season, whereas Kentucky still had some material returning). Despite what people may say about his good fortune, he was also able to reel in one of the best shooting guards in the country for 2010, and he still has one scholarship remaining with plenty of 2010 late signees to potentially recruit. I have a feeling he’ll be able to pull off a late coup with one of Lamb, Jones, McCallum, or maybe even CJ Leslie – especially with the ability to show recruits actual game film of the ‘Cats new system.
Things are looking very bright in Wildcat land, and missing out on a few 2010 and 2011 recruits is not going to dampen anything, in my opinion.
When should we worry, you ask? In 2012, if Miller’s class isn’t number 1 in the nation. Shabazz Muhammad, anyone??? Yes, please.
November 20th, 2009 on 4:44 am
George: All I can say about your post is: Right on. Many of the points you mention I have discussed before, including the possibility of a major signing in the spring. My blog basically pointed out the hits and misses a coach/program usually endures in a recruiting season. Isn’t it ironic that Miller and his staff scouted many Class of 2010 recruits this summer and not one of them was Bejarano? All of a sudden, he shows up at the UA’s door? And I’m not writing off a McCallum signing in the spring, but it was peculiar that he didn’t return my text messages after he was prompt the previous weeks. Overall, yes, I agree that Miller and Co. are doing a fine job in recruiting. This post was not meant in any way to criticize them for their efforts. Thanks for the post, one of the best I’ve read in a while.
November 20th, 2009 on 4:52 am
I didn’t add Payne to the list in the blog because I got the feeling he never was seriously interested in Arizona.
November 19th, 2009 on 6:07 pm
I was just curious as to what you were referring to when you wrote that Pastner was “unjustly criticized for his recruiting efforts at Arizona.” I realize Fendi never developed the way everyone had hoped, but I’ve never heard any criticism of his recuiting efforts. All I have ever heard about is what a great recruiter he was. I understand you were defending him, but I had just never of any significant criticism myself.
November 20th, 2009 on 4:50 am
Luke: Being around the basketball program and those who cover it, I heard the criticism of Pastner recruits such as Fendi Onobun and Mohamed Tangara never developing. That was my contention. I apologize if it seemed like a blanket statement, but Pastner was criticized for some of the UA’s recent recruiting shortcomings. That’s a fact. If you read other message boards, especially about the time when Pastner started lobbying for the UA job, some fans were not complimentary of Pastner and his overall recruiting track record at Arizona (this includes the signing of Mustafa Shakur). The thing is, when Onobun, Tangara and Shakur were seniors in high school a lot of top Division I schools wanted them.
November 19th, 2009 on 9:17 pm
The criticism of Josh might be because the Onobuns came, the McClellans came and the Wises came. And that’s a good thing. I’d hate to think where we’d be with out those Texans. However, the Arthurs (Kansas) never came, the Johnsons (Texas) never came and the Ebis (NBA) never came. That hurt. And it showed.
In Pastner’s tenure as UA Texas HS expert, big man coach and resident insomniac, Walters proved to not be nearly as up for the task as his aunt’s fondue, Tangara came in as a **** and left for Chaminade as a never used big and Hill didn’t see real development until he had worked his way through Olson, O’Neill and Pennell, with Pastner long gone by the time the NBA came calling.
But look at the Boy Wonder now:
“For the die-hard UA fan, you have to admire what former player and assistant Josh Pastner has achieved in a short time at Memphis. Pastner, unjustly criticized for his recruiting efforts at Arizona, has inked three of the 12 best Class of 2010 recruits — all 5-star prospects accordig to Rivals.com: Jelan Kendrick of Marietta (GA), Will Barton of Wolfboro (NH) and Joe Jackson of Memphis.” — Jay M. as told to the masses in WILDABOUTAZCATS.COM Thursday, November 19, 2009
So, is it easier to recruit as the Head Coach? Or, is it easier to recruit to Memphis? Could Pastner, following O’Neill and Pennell as opposed to Calipari, have done in a few short weeks what Miller did?
One man’s answers: Yes, No, No.
But we’ll never know, will we?
November 20th, 2009 on 8:58 am
Thanks for the information, Javier. Sorry if it sounded that way, but I wasn’t trying to sound critical of your blog – it was more of a general statement about the feeling I got from all of the Arizona dedicated blogs/websites (Pascoe also seemed to think it was less likely that the ‘Cats would secure a McCallum commitment). Mostly, I was just curious as to why the feeling regarding McCallum turned south so quickly.
By the way, how good would this team look with DB, McCallum and Jones on it next year. Jeeez. One can only imagine. The better question may be…who do you sit?!?