New Zealand center Rob Loe is unofficially visiting the UA but is officially visiting Colorado, St. Louis and Pitt in his current U.S. tour

It appears the UA’s most difficult challenge in landing New Zealand center Rob Loe is Colorado and its world-traveling coach Jeff Bzdelik and St. Louis because of his friendship with a couple of Australian players on its roster.

Colorado’s roster also has two players from Australia, a neighboring country of New Zealand, in sophomore point guard Nate Tomlinson and freshman center Shane Harris-Tunks. Bzdelik has reportedly recruited Loe, a 6-11 post player who was part of New Zealand’s 2009 FIBA U19 World Championships team, for the last two to three years.

UA assistant coach Book Richardson started the process for the Wildcats only a couple of weeks ago when he saw Loe play in New Zealand. Loe is visiting the UA unofficially as he is spending much of his time in Tucson with his parents and his brother, who attends Arizona. He attended Arizona’s game Wednesday night against Louisiana Tech with his brother.

Loe has already officially visited St. Louis, whose coach Rick Majerus also recruits beyond the U.S. borders, and he will soon visit Pittsburgh, whose coach Jamie Dixon coached against him in the FIBA World Championships last summer in Auckland, New Zealand. Loe averaged 18.8 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game in four games at that tournament.

Bzdelik, who once coached the Denver Nuggets in the NBA and was a longtime assistant under Pat Riley at Miami, has traveled the world to partake in USO (United Service Organization) events. Majerus has two Australia players on his roster as well, both of whom are familiar with Loe. They are both freshmen: Christian Salecich, a guard from Gold Coast, and Cody Ellis, a forward from Perth.

Former UA coach Lute Olson kept a presence in that region by having the Cats tour Australia regularly. Former Australian players to attend Arizona include Marty Bartmentloo and Daniel Dillon. Olson attempted to recruit a few more during his tenure.

Loe, 18, an honor student who was born in England, is also attempting to gain eligibility next school year through the NCAA clearinghouse. Foreign students are closely screened to insure proper courses cross over to the appropriate core curriculum offered in the U.S.

Loe will return to New Zealand after his visit to Pitt. He let reporters know during his visit to St. Louis that he will possibly make another visit to the U.S. before making a decision.

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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.

New Zealand 6-11 center Rob Loe lists his goal ambition as playing in the NBA and he idolizes Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant (New Zealand Basketball photo)

Arizona is not pursuing Class of 2011 center Mark Overdevest, a New Zealander at high-profile Montverde Prep (Fla.) as was reported recently, but is instead targeting fellow countryman Rob Loe, a 6-11 center, according to Josh Gershon of GOAZCATS.com.

UA assistant coach Book Richardson traveled to New Zealand after the Maui Invitational to watch Loe play. Gershon reports that Loe is tentatively scheduled to visit the UA campus within the next two weeks. Loe’s brother is a foreign exchange student at the UA.

Loe is also being recruited by Colorado, Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech, Cal and Notre Dame, among others. Kentucky and Washington State are also reportedly interested. He will enroll in the IMG Academy in Bradenton (Fla.) in the spring. That’s where UA freshman Kyryl Natyazhko attended school for a school year and a summer session after transferring from Ukraine.

Natyazhko, 6-10, is also a center, as is sophomore Alex Jacobson, a 7-footer. Jacobson has seen very limited playing time (only 2.8 minutes a game) while Natyazhko has started once and is averaging 15.4 minutes.

Arizona has one scholarship to spare for the Class of 2010 with senior point guard Nic Wise exhausting his eligibility. Phoenix North guard Daniel Bejarano, who has signed a national letter of intent, occupies the other known available scholarship.

Loe averaged 18.8 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game in four games at the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championships last summer. Pitt coach Jamie Dixon, who is hot on Loe’s trail, was the head coach for the USA’s U19 team that went 9-0 in the World Championships, which was played in Auckland, New Zealand.

Links pertaining to Loe, who is 18 years old and was born in England:

>>Loe hits new heights (named New Zealand’s top young sportsman)

>>College Sport: Big names pick up the major honours

>>Interview with IMG coach Dan Barto, who compares Loe to a “Brad Miller in his prime”