RELATED LINK: NCAA recruiting calendar for 2010-11 school year

Angelo Chol

Five names from the Class of 2011 appear certain to be visited by Arizona coaches after the contact period starts tomorrow: Nick Johnson and Sidiki Johnson (both of whom have already verbally committed), and Josiah Turner, Quinn Cook and Angelo Chol.

Turner, a point guard from Sacramento, is scheduled to have an in-home visit tomorrow with UA coach Sean Miller in what will be a crucial development in Turner’s recruiting process. Nick Johnson, Turner’s summer AAU teammate with the Drew Gooden Soldiers, will also be visited in Henderson, Nev., where he plays for Findlay Prep.

Cook and Sidiki Johnson, teammates with Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill Academy, should receive a visit from UA coaches, including assistant Book Richardson, by Friday.

Chol, a San Diego Hoover High School forward, will be viewed in workout session next week by Miller, his coach Ollie Goulston told me Wednesday. Goulson added that an in-home visit has not yet been scheduled with Arizona, which is a late-comer in his recruiting process.

“Arizona had not recruited him, but this summer, Sean started talking to Angelo and Angelo decided to open things up with them,” Goulston said. “He has some longer standing relationships with other coaches (specifically from Kansas, Alabama and Washington), but he wants to learn more about Arizona.”

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Who says strategy only occurs on the court when it comes to college basketball?

Arizona coach Sean Miller and his staff just implemented what amounts to a full-court press in their attempt to recruit Rivals.com 5-star Class of 2011 point guard Josiah Turner of Sacramento.

Turner, a 6-foot-3 playmaker who is also a solid defender, was originally slated to visit Arizona on the weekend of Oct. 22-23 at the same time the Cats play their Red-Blue Scrimmage at McKale Center. That was to come a week after Turner visited Kansas at its Midnight Madness event, “Late Night in the Phog,” in Lawrence.

Turner told me Thursday night the switch with the Arizona trip occurred in part because his good friend and former AAU teammate Nick Johnson is also officially visiting the UA campus the weekend of Sept. 17-18. Johnson verbally committed to Arizona last week.

Arizona’s coaches also welcome the move likely with the hope that Turner will be so overwhelmed by the visit that he will want to commit almost a full month before he is supposed to visit Kansas. What will Turner experience that weekend in Tucson (a veritable full-court press to sway the high-profile point guard)?
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Josiah Turner

Arizona has its prize recruit for the Class of 2011 — Nick Johnson of Henderson (Nev.) Findlay Prep — with a non-binding verbal commitment last week.

If Johnson is true to his word, and there is no reason to believe he won’t sign with UA in November, what will happen if Sean Miller and his staff do not land either of their Class of 2011 point guard targets Josiah Turner of Sacramento or Quinn Cook of Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill Academy?

Quinn Cook

That means the UA will rely on Lamont “MoMo” Jones and Jordin Mayes to carry most of the playmaking load in the next two seasons. Jones and Mayes are capable, especially as distributors and leaders, but Miller and his staff want a scoring point guard to provide more balance to their lineup. They also need more depth at the point guard position.

Daniel Bejarano, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard, can chip in at the point in 2011-12 if necessary. The UA coaches encouraged Bejarano to concentrate on his ball-handling skills, mostly going to his left as much as his right, during his senior season at Phoenix North. They liked how he wanted to get his teammates involved, but they also wanted him to be more aggressive finding his own shot.

Johnson, as a freshman, will also gain plenty of playing time at both guard positions, but mostly at the off-guard spot. He is such a threat without the ball — cutting to the basket, leaping for alley-oop passes or getting to an open perimeter spot –that he will not be inhibited as being the primary ball-handler.

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