Greenville (S.C.) J.L. Mann High School guard Damien Leonard was impressed with Arizona's tradition when he unofficially visited the campus this weekend (Damien Leonard photo)

The unofficial visit by Greenville (S.C.) Class of 2011 product Damien Leonard over the weekend “was extremely impressive,” according to his traveling team coach Willis Holliday.

In fact, the trip went so well, that Leonard wants to take in the campus again officially in the fall before signing in November, Holliday told me Sunday night.

For those who care about the Rivals.com star system, it appears that UA coach Sean Miller and his staff took a significant step toward landing their first Five-Star recruit (which includes their time at Xavier). Rivals.com’s initial Class of 2011 ratings show Leonard, a 6-foot-4 shooting guard/wing from J.L. Mann High School, as the No. 14 prospect, good enough for a Five-Star rating at this point.

“The facilities and the people are what impressed us the most,” said Holliday, who coaches the Carolina Cougars AAU program. “When you walk into that arena (McKale Center) and you see what Lute (Olson) did, you just come away amazed. Damien saw first hand how committed that university is to the basketball program.

“He also got to meet some academic advisors and they did a good job presenting the academic side of the university. I don’t think the visit could have gone any better for Damien.”

Leonard’s visit went without a hitch despite the fact that school is out and most of the Wildcats have departed to their hometowns.

Next in store for Leonard is a visit to Oklahoma State on June 3. He already has unofficially visited South Carolina, which “ranks right up there with Arizona in terms of how they hosted Damien’s visit,” Holliday told me. Leonard also has Clemson and Virginia Tech high on his list.

“I wouldn’t say I have a top five,” Leonard told me Friday before he departed for Tucson. “I guess you can say all of those schools are right up there.”

Holliday indicated to me that Leonard now wants to concentrate on training and his academics. He added, “I think we’re pretty much set on the schools we want to look at. I don’t foresee any other schools entering the picture. That’s how we’ll handle it.”

Holliday also reiterated that Leonard wants to narrow his choice to three schools by the end of the summer and take official visits to those institutions in the fall. That means Arizona stands a good chance of being in his top three.

In the meantime, Leonard will be busy with summer events and tournaments, including the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions the last weekend of this month. Leonard is also slated to take part in the adidas Nations training camps and events in Las Vegas (next weekend), Portland and Chicago. He will also participate in the AAU Super Showcase in Orlando in late July.

“Damien realizes he has to start focusing on his skills,” Holliday said. “The biggest things he wants to work on are his ball-handling and passing skills. Believe it or not, despite the fact that he is almost 6-5 and still undergoing a growing spurt, he can play the point.

“He will show that he can handle that position this summer by working hard at it.”

Holliday added that Leonard, whose best attribute is his perimeter shooting stroke, can grow into being a wing player.

“I can definitely see that because he has the potential to grow to 6-6 or 6-7,” Holliday said. “You have to be able to handle the ball and distribute at the wing, so that’s his focus this summer.”

RECRUITING NOTES: Chris Hill, a 6-foot-8-inch forward from Christian Faith Center Academy in Raleigh, N.C., told me Saturday night that Arizona continues to show an interest in him. When asked how much, Hill answered: “A lot … I deal with Coach Emmanuel Richardson.” However, Hill said his completion of core classes has yet to be approved by the NCAA Clearinghouse. Hill, who transferred from Stevens Prep in Raleigh to the Christian Faith Center this school year, will also attend three summer-school classes to earn enough necessary credits. … Nevertheless, Hill said that Richardson has expressed an interest in him to take an unofficial visit to the UA campus next month. Hill is not certain of the date. “When players get back (for summer school), but I don’t know that date though,” he said. The first summer-school session starts June 7. Hill scored 30 points with 14 rebounds and six assists when Stevens Prep played Doron Lamb and Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill Academy earlier this season. … How about this for a recruiting twist involving Arizona and Kentucky? A Kentucky targeted recruit from that state has been offered a scholarship by Miller, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. Darryl Hicks, a Class of 2013 shooting guard from Shelby County High School, has been offered a scholarship by Indiana and Arizona, but he lists his top three as Indiana, Kentucky and Cincinnati. In the last two weeks, primary Arizona targets Kadeem Jack of Manhattan (N.Y.) Rice High School and former Florida forward Eloy Vargas have focused their attention on John Calipari’s program instead. Vargas committed to Kentucky over the weekend.

With UA coach Sean Miller going after elite talent, many of the young players are involved in holiday tournaments that involve top-notch teams. Here’s a quick rundown of how they are doing:

• Newark (N.J.) St. Benedict’s Prep power forward Sidiki Johnson (6-8, 200) is a reserve for the talent-laden Gray Bees, who are 4-0 and ranked No. 9 in the country by USA Today. Johnson, who has verbally committed to Arizona, scored four points in Monday’s quarterfinal game of the City of Palms Classic in Fort Myers, Fla. St. Benedict’s, led by Texas recruit Myck Kabongo and Temple signee Aaron Brown, defeated Baltimore St. Frances to reach the semifinals of the elite-level tournament.
• Potential recruit Chris Hill, a 6-8 wing player at Stevens Prep Academy in Raleigh, N.C., is averaging 30 points and 13 rebounds per game. He has expressed to me personally his desire to play for Arizona but the Wildcats have yet to visit him. UA assistant coach Book Richardson told Hill recently that he wants to work a visit into his schedule. Hill recently said he is interested in Connecticut and the Huskies have shown a mutual interest. The question about Hill is his eligibility. The NCAA clearinghouse is investigating whether Hill has satisfactorily completed qualifying core courses to gain eligibility next season. He is 19 years old and would have only three years of eligibility if he is able to play next season.
• Deonte Burton, a Class of 2010 6-1 guard from Los Angeles Centennial, who recently scored 40 and 38 points in the Westchester Invitational, lists UCLA, Long Beach State, Washington and USC as his favorites. He is very athletic, with great leaping ability and dunking power despite being only 6-1. Arizona is apparently not in the picture for now. The Cats could use an athletic point guard who can break down a defense with dribble-drive penetration.
• Class of 2011 guard Nick Johnson is biding his time behind Cory Joseph at Henderson (Nev.) Findlay Prep this season, although Johnson scored 19 points and had eight assists in a game this weekend at the City of Palms tournament. Arizona’s coaching staff scouted Johnson at the tournament and fellow Class of 2011 recruit Jabari Brown, who scored 24 points on 9 of 14 shooting, including three from long distance.
• Arizona has started its recruitment in earnest of Angelo Chol, a Class of 2011 big man, last week. The Wildcats have a lot of catching up to do. Kansas’ coaching staff has shown up to as many of Chol’s games as possible. Chol watched Kansas beat UCLA recently in Los Angeles and came away impressed with how the Jayhawks utilized center Cole Aldrich. Chol is still two years away from his freshman season but he could play significant minutes for many Division I programs today. He’s that strong and mentally tough.
• Saturday night, Class of 2012 forward Perry Ellis and his Wichita Heights teammates were in Kansas City taking part in the Hy-Vee Shootout. Playing against Columbia (Mo.) Rock Bridge, Ellis scored 21 points while grabbing seven rebounds. Although he is a sophomore, opposing coachess design their defenses around him, according to Scout.com. He has seen sagging man to man, box and ones, triangle & twos with both players dedicated to him. Kansas is already recruiting Ellis heavily as well. Any school will have a difficult time beating Bill Self for him but Arizona and many other powers will get a shot.

Former Fordham point guard Jio Fontan led his team and all Atlantic 10 freshmen in scoring and assists last season

In the last couple of days we have learned of different names Arizona’s coaching staff has shown interest in lately.

The biggest among them is Josh Selby of Baltimore, Rivals.com’s No. 4 overall prospect of the Class of 2010. Selby reportedly will take an official visit of the UA campus on the weekend of Jan. 9-10. Until now, Selby’s name has not surfaced and he has never indicated Arizona was in play for his services.

That was before the UA coaches extended their interest to him, in the last couple of weeks, especially with the likelihood of Detroit Country Day School point guard Ray McCallum playing for his father Ray Sr. at Detroit next season. Selby, a 5-star prospect by Rivals.com, would be an instant starter at Arizona and the Wildcats would hardly skip a beat after losing the services of senior Nic Wise.

The Baltimore Sun recently ran an article about Selby’s athletic ability around the basket, specifically his leaping ability and physicality, not to mention his strong will to win.

Arizona might be only dreaming of landing Selby, who reportedly is torn between Kansas, Kentucky, Syracuse and Indiana. The fact he agreed to officially visit the UA campus the weekend Arizona hosts Washington is a testament to Miller’s name, recruiting ability and the Wildcats’ current state. Arizona needs take-charge players with skill.

Other names to keep track of for the spring signing period:

• New Zealand 6-11 center Rob Loe, who will visit the UA campus this week and attend the Wildcats’ game against Louisiana Tech on Wednesday.
• Dwayne Polee of Los Angeles Westchester is 6-6 guard-forward who originally verbally committed to USC in middle school. He reportedly is setting up a visit to Tucson by January as well.
• Polee’s teammate, Jordin Mayes, a point guard, has also not signed and he’s being recruited heavily by UCLA coach Ben Howland. Mayes was mentioned as a possible recruit for Arizona before the summer evaluation period but talk of him cooled when it appeared Arizona was in hot pursuit of McCallum
• JC point guard recruit Lazeric Jones of Carterville (Ill.) Logan Junior College told Scout.com that he’s heard from Arizona recently and that Nevada and UCLA have offered him a scholarship. The Cats will likely not offer a scholarship with many four-year player options still out there.
• Adam Zagoria of Zagsblog.com writes that former Fordham sophomore point guard Jio Fontan is considering a transfer to Arizona and be eligible by next December. USC coach Kevin O’Neill has already offered Fontan a scholarship. Miami, Indiana, Oklahoma State and Kansas State are also in play for Fontan’s services. Fontan, who prepped at St. Anthony’s in Paterson, N.J., knows UA assistant coach Book Richardson well and he played against Miller and Xavier twice last year in the Atlantic 10 conference.
• Chris Hill, a 6-8 forward from Stevens Prep Academy, remains a fall-back candidate and he has let it be known he wants to play at Arizona. The Wildcats look to be taking more of a wait-and-see attitude with him because he has yet to be cleared by the NCAA for fulfilling his entrance requirements.
• Doron Lamb, a 6-4 combo guard from Oak Hill Academy, is also contemplating a visit to the UA before the spring signing period. Although not much was written about Lamb before the fall period, Lamb certainly has an eye on the Cats because of his AAU affiliation with Richardson and his background with Lamont “MoMo” Jones at Oak Hill.

With the names of Selby and Fontan popping up recently it’s obvious Miller and his staff are covering their bases with McCallum being an uncertainty at the point guard position for next season. If the UA can land any of these players to be part of the UA’s plans in 2010-11, the near future bodes well for the Cats.