With the commitments of Rod Odom and Daniel Bejarano, it's definitely been an eventful week (and especially two days) for UA basketball recruiting.
Basketball:
* In six months, Sean Miller and his staff have landed commitments from six four-star players, which doesn't include Kevin Parrom and Derrick Williams, who are consensus four-stars on other recruiting services.
But just going by Rivals.com's rankings, Arizona has six four-star commitments in six months. How impressive is that? Well, here's what the other Pac-10 schools have done over the last five years of recruiting (2006 prospects are actually signed in 2005):
Pac-10 commitments from four-star or better prospects since the 2006 class:
Arizona State - 3
California - 4
Oregon - 4
Oregon State - 2
Stanford - 4 (2 still in the program)
UCLA - 13
USC - 5 (none still in the program, all were in 2006-08)
Washington - 11
Washington State - 1
So in six months, Arizona has outdone what 7 of 9 Pac-10 schools have accomplished in five years.
UCLA is always going to get players, but the UA staff's recent recruiting efforts show that within a couple years, the Wildcats will be in the top 2-3 of the conference in terms of talent.
Even more reason to be optimistic is that while Miller is a very good talent evaluator and had some very good players at Xavier, he hasn't had teams made up of the amount of high level prospects that he soon will.
Sean Miller brought in six recruiting classes at Xavier. How many four-star prospects did he sign in that time period? Three, total. And he finished his Xavier career with back to back to back A-10 titles and making trips to the NCAA 2nd round, Elite Eight and Sweet 16, respectively.
In the last 48 hours, he's landed one less than as many four-star prospects as he signed in six recruiting classes at Xavier.
* The big news of the day is the commitment of Daniel Bejarano (read his commitment interview herehttp://arizona.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=999543).
What kind of player is Bejarano? I asked Rivals.com's Jerry Meyer, who mostly spoke about Bejarano's drop from five-star to four-star status:
"Bejarano certainly went through a tough summer off the court and that certainly could have had an adverse effect on his play. Nonetheless, he just didn’t have that athletic pop to his game and the accurate shooting that he had previously displayed. And this was true in the spring before the tragedy in his family in June. Those were the two staples of his game, and they just weren’t there.
"He has never been known as a high level ball handler and passer. He was known as a high level scorer and athlete. Hopefully, those traits will come back to him."
* There's been lots of questions about what kind of player Rod Odom is. I asked a couple of Rivals.com writers their thoughts on the four-star prospect.
"Odom is a long forward with a good skill set," said Meyer. "He doesn’t necessarily excel at any one aspect but he is a solid shooter and ball handler.
"His skill level should continue to naturally improve, but the key for him to reach is ultimate potential is to get physically stronger. He doesn’t always impact the game with his skill level because he isn’t strong enough or explosive enough. The big question is how much weight can he put on his frame and will added strength translate into him being a quicker and more explosive athlete."
Rivals.com's Brian Snow has also seen Odom several times.
"Rod Odom is a player who thrives on versatility and the ability to do many different things on the basketball floor," Snow said. "At 6-foot-8 and around 190 pounds, Odom could line up at either forward position, or potentially even slide over to the shooting guard spot for short periods of time.
"Athletically Odom is very solid, and he is capable of beating his man off the dribble and finishing around the rim while using that athleticism. Also Odom is a very capable shooter from the outside, and can make a defender pay for not getting out on him. Add that to the fact that Odom is young for his grade, and his ceiling is very high."
* Bejarano leaves campus this morning, but replacing him on an official visit will be 6-foot-10, 215-pound five-star center Adreian Payne.
Payne has already taken official visits to Kentucky and Michigan State, and after his trip to Tucson he's scheduled to visit West Virginia on 10/16 and 10/30.
It's tough to get a good feel for where his recruitment is at, but we should know a lot more by the end of his trip to Tucson.
Trivia Question: Off the top of your head, name the last five-star center to officially visit Arizona. Don't cheat. Answer at bottom of War Room.
* On Thursday afternoon I caught up with Calvin Lamb, the father of Oak Hill Academy five-star prospect Doron Lamb, to discuss Arizona's involvement in his son's recruitment.
GOAZCATS.com: Have you guys made any progress with scheduling the Arizona visit?
Calvin Lamb: Arizona is in the works. We're definitely coming out there, we just haven't scheduled it yet, that's all.
GOAZCATS.com: Any idea what dates you're looking at?
Calvin Lamb: I can't really say because I'm going to wait and see what my son's schedule is as far as being free from school. I really don't know right now.
GOAZCATS.com: Does the fact that Oklahoma and Kansas got visits set up before Arizona say anything about where U of A stands in the recruitment?
Calvin Lamb: Oklahoma, Kansas and Arizona, they all stand the same. It doesn't matter who he sees in what order. There's no order, there's no priority. It's not like that. Arizona is up there just like everybody else at this point. They're doing as good as anybody right now.
GOAZCATS.com: What do you like about the Arizona program?
Calvin Lamb: I like the conference, they get up and down. Arizona produces a lot of NBA players. Lute Olson was there, and now I'm pretty sure Sean Miller is going to make his mark.
GOAZCATS.com: You've gotten to know him a little bit, right?
Calvin Lamb: Yes, yes, he's a really good guy and coach. I've watched his Xavier teams and he did good things there. I'll keep that in mind.
GOAZCATS.com: What about Book Richardson, what's his relationship like with you and your son?
Calvin Lamb: We've known Book for a while, he coached my son when he was with the Gauchos. He's a good guy.
GOAZCATS.com: Having Book and some New York players on the team and committed to the Wildcats, does that help Arizona at all?
Calvin Lamb: Like Momo (Jones) and Kevin (Parrom)?
GOAZCATS.com: Right.
Calvin Lamb: Yeah, my son grew up with them, he grew up through the Gauchos with them, so it helps because you know the type of person they are. It would help make him feel at home at Arizona being around New York players; it would make you feel a little more comfortable.
As we've said before, Arizona is recruiting Lamb as a point guard.
* Arizona is fighting with Kansas to get an official visit from Terrence Jones on Oct. 23. His family seems to prefer that he takes the visit to UA, and at times it's looked like he would in fact be taking that visit, but right now it's up in the air until he comes out and confirms that he'll be taking it.
* With the commitment of Bejarano, I'm not sure where that leaves the UA's recruitment of Gary Franklin. I wouldn't be surprised to see Arizona back off him and put all of its eggs in the baskets of Lamb and Ray McCallum.
Arizona only has one or two more rides to give out in 2010, so it makes sense for the Arizona staff to be extremely picky in who those scholarships go out to.
* UA had its first practice of the week on Thursday in front of Bejarano. On Friday, the Wildcats will have another practice in front of Payne.
* When Rivals.com comes out with its Recruiters of the Year, you might have to put Momo Jones up for consideration. He spent a lot of time trying to convince Odom to join him in Tucson - especially in the day or two before he committed - and did a great job with Bejarano as well.
He's also friends with New York commit Sidiki Johnson, and has been working on Lamb and 2011 point guard Quinn Cook, as well as several others. (JG)
Football:
I'm not sure there's been any real team news of note this week so we'll get right to Jason Scheer's recruiting breakdown:
Recruits throughout the country are starting to go on official visits and with the visits, there is a bit more news this week.
* 6-foot-4, 235-pound Rancho Cucamonga (Calif.) Los Osos defensive end Tony Washington used his first official visit on Oregon this past weekend.
"I was really thinking about committing. The recruits more than anything were pushing me to commit," Washington tells Rivals.com. "They were saying, 'why don't you commit, why don't you commit' and I was no I still need to think about things, but Oregon sure had me thinking.”
With that being said, Washington has developed a strong enough relationship with Oregon State and Arizona to make both schools legitimate contenders.
"What I like about Oregon State is the way that coach Joe Seumalu, how he likes his ends go up and rush," Washington said. "I like how coach Mark Stoops down in Arizona runs his defense and they were always an early believer in me. That means a lot to me.”
Washington may decide after those three official visits and it will be interesting to see if he truly likes Oregon that much or if it was a matter of being excited about his first major official visit.
* 6-foot-3, 270-pound Anaheim (Calif.) Servite defensive tackle Kirifi Taula is not paying much attention to recruiting until the season is over.
"I'll be taking an official visit to Oregon St. because they offered me first and chose me to be a priority defensive tackle recruit for them,” he tells Rivals.com "I'll also definitely take one to Arizona and Washington. I don't know about the last two, but I am going to take all five before deciding."
Arizona has been recruiting Taula for a while now and the general consensus is that he will stay in the Pac-10, unless Nebraska can make a major push. Arizona’s biggest competition could be UCLA and considering that Taula is only going to start paying attention to the process after the season, his official visits could tell a lot about his recruitment.
* 6-foot-3, 230-pound Redlands (Calif.) East Valley defensive end Andrew Hudson is starting to hit the road. Hudson definitely seems intent on staying in the Pac-10 and may be visiting Arizona soon.
"All of the schools that I am visiting have been early and I want to visit them to learn more about them," Hudson tells Rivals.com. "My original intention was to take all five visits before making my decision, but I'm not sure about that right now."
As of now, there is a possibility that Hudson visits Arizona next weekend. If that happens, the Wildcats are in good shape. This looks to be an Oregon State, Washington, and Arizona battle with Hudson not being completely sold yet on any school. There is some word UW could be the school to beat, but the Wildcats have definitely made an impact and Hudson holds them in high regard.
* 6-foot-2, 182-pound Corona (Calif.) Eleanor Roosevelt wide receiver Tyler Slavin is definitely one of Arizona’s highest priorities right now and he knows it.
"Overall I like Washington and then I like Arizona because they want me a lot and are recruiting me the hardest," Slavin said. "I am going to visit Arizona when they play UCLA and Washington after the season."
There seems to be little chance that Slavin does not visit both schools and, at this point, it is hard to imagine him not being a Husky or Wildcat. Arizona is doing very well with him and the UCLA game could be huge towards his recruitment.
Slavin is the type of receiver that can play early and Arizona is certainly letting him know that.
"The biggest thing I am looking for is to play early," he said. "Arizona runs the spread and likes to throw a lot, so I think I would fit in well and have that opportunity."
Expect the Wildcats to be right there in the end for Slavin.
* For a while now, we have heard that Cal is not much of a player in the Jordon James' recruitment and there is nothing that we have heard to change that belief. His visit this past weekend did not blow him away by any means and we still believe that it comes down to UCLA and Arizona.
Something of note is the recent UCLA commitment of Westlake Village (Calif.) back Malcolm Jones. Like we have said before, James is the only back the Wildcats want in this class right now, while the Bruins have landed one of the top backs in the country.
* Victor Burnett will be in town for the Stanford game. The linebacker is definitely hard to get a feel for in terms of where he is leaning, but he will be visiting Oklahoma later this month and has already visited Washington.
The UA has been recruiting Burnett for a while and definitely has a shot at him, but considering he has no problems playing away from home, Oklahoma is also going to be right there. Basically, Arizona is going to have to fight hard in order to land Burnett.
* Arizona offered 2011 6-foot-6, 260-pound Aztec (NM) offensive lineman Matt Hegarty this past week. You may not have heard his name, but there are some that feel he is on the level of Chandler (Ariz.) Hamilton offensive lineman Christian Westerman.
Hegarty plans to decide by the end of this season, but is still evaluating all of his options. Stanford is going to be a major player, with Hegarty saying that education and possible early playing time being the two biggest factors.
* Elisha Olabode is going to visit Texas A&M this weekend and the recruitment will likely end there. He has yet to get an offer, but is expected to receive one this weekend and basically commit on the spot.
Trivia Question Answer: 7-foot-1, 230-pound Montverde Academy center Solomon Alabi. He visited Arizona on 9/15/06 but committed to Florida State two weeks later. If you got the answer right, congratulations, because his lead recruiter at UA got the trivia question wrong.
Basketball:
* In six months, Sean Miller and his staff have landed commitments from six four-star players, which doesn't include Kevin Parrom and Derrick Williams, who are consensus four-stars on other recruiting services.
But just going by Rivals.com's rankings, Arizona has six four-star commitments in six months. How impressive is that? Well, here's what the other Pac-10 schools have done over the last five years of recruiting (2006 prospects are actually signed in 2005):
Pac-10 commitments from four-star or better prospects since the 2006 class:
Arizona State - 3
California - 4
Oregon - 4
Oregon State - 2
Stanford - 4 (2 still in the program)
UCLA - 13
USC - 5 (none still in the program, all were in 2006-08)
Washington - 11
Washington State - 1
So in six months, Arizona has outdone what 7 of 9 Pac-10 schools have accomplished in five years.
UCLA is always going to get players, but the UA staff's recent recruiting efforts show that within a couple years, the Wildcats will be in the top 2-3 of the conference in terms of talent.
Even more reason to be optimistic is that while Miller is a very good talent evaluator and had some very good players at Xavier, he hasn't had teams made up of the amount of high level prospects that he soon will.
Sean Miller brought in six recruiting classes at Xavier. How many four-star prospects did he sign in that time period? Three, total. And he finished his Xavier career with back to back to back A-10 titles and making trips to the NCAA 2nd round, Elite Eight and Sweet 16, respectively.
In the last 48 hours, he's landed one less than as many four-star prospects as he signed in six recruiting classes at Xavier.
* The big news of the day is the commitment of Daniel Bejarano (read his commitment interview herehttp://arizona.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=999543).
What kind of player is Bejarano? I asked Rivals.com's Jerry Meyer, who mostly spoke about Bejarano's drop from five-star to four-star status:
"Bejarano certainly went through a tough summer off the court and that certainly could have had an adverse effect on his play. Nonetheless, he just didn’t have that athletic pop to his game and the accurate shooting that he had previously displayed. And this was true in the spring before the tragedy in his family in June. Those were the two staples of his game, and they just weren’t there.
"He has never been known as a high level ball handler and passer. He was known as a high level scorer and athlete. Hopefully, those traits will come back to him."
* There's been lots of questions about what kind of player Rod Odom is. I asked a couple of Rivals.com writers their thoughts on the four-star prospect.
"Odom is a long forward with a good skill set," said Meyer. "He doesn’t necessarily excel at any one aspect but he is a solid shooter and ball handler.
"His skill level should continue to naturally improve, but the key for him to reach is ultimate potential is to get physically stronger. He doesn’t always impact the game with his skill level because he isn’t strong enough or explosive enough. The big question is how much weight can he put on his frame and will added strength translate into him being a quicker and more explosive athlete."
Rivals.com's Brian Snow has also seen Odom several times.
"Rod Odom is a player who thrives on versatility and the ability to do many different things on the basketball floor," Snow said. "At 6-foot-8 and around 190 pounds, Odom could line up at either forward position, or potentially even slide over to the shooting guard spot for short periods of time.
"Athletically Odom is very solid, and he is capable of beating his man off the dribble and finishing around the rim while using that athleticism. Also Odom is a very capable shooter from the outside, and can make a defender pay for not getting out on him. Add that to the fact that Odom is young for his grade, and his ceiling is very high."
* Bejarano leaves campus this morning, but replacing him on an official visit will be 6-foot-10, 215-pound five-star center Adreian Payne.
Payne has already taken official visits to Kentucky and Michigan State, and after his trip to Tucson he's scheduled to visit West Virginia on 10/16 and 10/30.
It's tough to get a good feel for where his recruitment is at, but we should know a lot more by the end of his trip to Tucson.
Trivia Question: Off the top of your head, name the last five-star center to officially visit Arizona. Don't cheat. Answer at bottom of War Room.
* On Thursday afternoon I caught up with Calvin Lamb, the father of Oak Hill Academy five-star prospect Doron Lamb, to discuss Arizona's involvement in his son's recruitment.
GOAZCATS.com: Have you guys made any progress with scheduling the Arizona visit?
Calvin Lamb: Arizona is in the works. We're definitely coming out there, we just haven't scheduled it yet, that's all.
GOAZCATS.com: Any idea what dates you're looking at?
Calvin Lamb: I can't really say because I'm going to wait and see what my son's schedule is as far as being free from school. I really don't know right now.
GOAZCATS.com: Does the fact that Oklahoma and Kansas got visits set up before Arizona say anything about where U of A stands in the recruitment?
Calvin Lamb: Oklahoma, Kansas and Arizona, they all stand the same. It doesn't matter who he sees in what order. There's no order, there's no priority. It's not like that. Arizona is up there just like everybody else at this point. They're doing as good as anybody right now.
GOAZCATS.com: What do you like about the Arizona program?
Calvin Lamb: I like the conference, they get up and down. Arizona produces a lot of NBA players. Lute Olson was there, and now I'm pretty sure Sean Miller is going to make his mark.
GOAZCATS.com: You've gotten to know him a little bit, right?
Calvin Lamb: Yes, yes, he's a really good guy and coach. I've watched his Xavier teams and he did good things there. I'll keep that in mind.
GOAZCATS.com: What about Book Richardson, what's his relationship like with you and your son?
Calvin Lamb: We've known Book for a while, he coached my son when he was with the Gauchos. He's a good guy.
GOAZCATS.com: Having Book and some New York players on the team and committed to the Wildcats, does that help Arizona at all?
Calvin Lamb: Like Momo (Jones) and Kevin (Parrom)?
GOAZCATS.com: Right.
Calvin Lamb: Yeah, my son grew up with them, he grew up through the Gauchos with them, so it helps because you know the type of person they are. It would help make him feel at home at Arizona being around New York players; it would make you feel a little more comfortable.
As we've said before, Arizona is recruiting Lamb as a point guard.
* Arizona is fighting with Kansas to get an official visit from Terrence Jones on Oct. 23. His family seems to prefer that he takes the visit to UA, and at times it's looked like he would in fact be taking that visit, but right now it's up in the air until he comes out and confirms that he'll be taking it.
* With the commitment of Bejarano, I'm not sure where that leaves the UA's recruitment of Gary Franklin. I wouldn't be surprised to see Arizona back off him and put all of its eggs in the baskets of Lamb and Ray McCallum.
Arizona only has one or two more rides to give out in 2010, so it makes sense for the Arizona staff to be extremely picky in who those scholarships go out to.
* UA had its first practice of the week on Thursday in front of Bejarano. On Friday, the Wildcats will have another practice in front of Payne.
* When Rivals.com comes out with its Recruiters of the Year, you might have to put Momo Jones up for consideration. He spent a lot of time trying to convince Odom to join him in Tucson - especially in the day or two before he committed - and did a great job with Bejarano as well.
He's also friends with New York commit Sidiki Johnson, and has been working on Lamb and 2011 point guard Quinn Cook, as well as several others. (JG)
Football:
I'm not sure there's been any real team news of note this week so we'll get right to Jason Scheer's recruiting breakdown:
Recruits throughout the country are starting to go on official visits and with the visits, there is a bit more news this week.
* 6-foot-4, 235-pound Rancho Cucamonga (Calif.) Los Osos defensive end Tony Washington used his first official visit on Oregon this past weekend.
"I was really thinking about committing. The recruits more than anything were pushing me to commit," Washington tells Rivals.com. "They were saying, 'why don't you commit, why don't you commit' and I was no I still need to think about things, but Oregon sure had me thinking.”
With that being said, Washington has developed a strong enough relationship with Oregon State and Arizona to make both schools legitimate contenders.
"What I like about Oregon State is the way that coach Joe Seumalu, how he likes his ends go up and rush," Washington said. "I like how coach Mark Stoops down in Arizona runs his defense and they were always an early believer in me. That means a lot to me.”
Washington may decide after those three official visits and it will be interesting to see if he truly likes Oregon that much or if it was a matter of being excited about his first major official visit.
* 6-foot-3, 270-pound Anaheim (Calif.) Servite defensive tackle Kirifi Taula is not paying much attention to recruiting until the season is over.
"I'll be taking an official visit to Oregon St. because they offered me first and chose me to be a priority defensive tackle recruit for them,” he tells Rivals.com "I'll also definitely take one to Arizona and Washington. I don't know about the last two, but I am going to take all five before deciding."
Arizona has been recruiting Taula for a while now and the general consensus is that he will stay in the Pac-10, unless Nebraska can make a major push. Arizona’s biggest competition could be UCLA and considering that Taula is only going to start paying attention to the process after the season, his official visits could tell a lot about his recruitment.
* 6-foot-3, 230-pound Redlands (Calif.) East Valley defensive end Andrew Hudson is starting to hit the road. Hudson definitely seems intent on staying in the Pac-10 and may be visiting Arizona soon.
"All of the schools that I am visiting have been early and I want to visit them to learn more about them," Hudson tells Rivals.com. "My original intention was to take all five visits before making my decision, but I'm not sure about that right now."
As of now, there is a possibility that Hudson visits Arizona next weekend. If that happens, the Wildcats are in good shape. This looks to be an Oregon State, Washington, and Arizona battle with Hudson not being completely sold yet on any school. There is some word UW could be the school to beat, but the Wildcats have definitely made an impact and Hudson holds them in high regard.
* 6-foot-2, 182-pound Corona (Calif.) Eleanor Roosevelt wide receiver Tyler Slavin is definitely one of Arizona’s highest priorities right now and he knows it.
"Overall I like Washington and then I like Arizona because they want me a lot and are recruiting me the hardest," Slavin said. "I am going to visit Arizona when they play UCLA and Washington after the season."
There seems to be little chance that Slavin does not visit both schools and, at this point, it is hard to imagine him not being a Husky or Wildcat. Arizona is doing very well with him and the UCLA game could be huge towards his recruitment.
Slavin is the type of receiver that can play early and Arizona is certainly letting him know that.
"The biggest thing I am looking for is to play early," he said. "Arizona runs the spread and likes to throw a lot, so I think I would fit in well and have that opportunity."
Expect the Wildcats to be right there in the end for Slavin.
* For a while now, we have heard that Cal is not much of a player in the Jordon James' recruitment and there is nothing that we have heard to change that belief. His visit this past weekend did not blow him away by any means and we still believe that it comes down to UCLA and Arizona.
Something of note is the recent UCLA commitment of Westlake Village (Calif.) back Malcolm Jones. Like we have said before, James is the only back the Wildcats want in this class right now, while the Bruins have landed one of the top backs in the country.
* Victor Burnett will be in town for the Stanford game. The linebacker is definitely hard to get a feel for in terms of where he is leaning, but he will be visiting Oklahoma later this month and has already visited Washington.
The UA has been recruiting Burnett for a while and definitely has a shot at him, but considering he has no problems playing away from home, Oklahoma is also going to be right there. Basically, Arizona is going to have to fight hard in order to land Burnett.
* Arizona offered 2011 6-foot-6, 260-pound Aztec (NM) offensive lineman Matt Hegarty this past week. You may not have heard his name, but there are some that feel he is on the level of Chandler (Ariz.) Hamilton offensive lineman Christian Westerman.
Hegarty plans to decide by the end of this season, but is still evaluating all of his options. Stanford is going to be a major player, with Hegarty saying that education and possible early playing time being the two biggest factors.
* Elisha Olabode is going to visit Texas A&M this weekend and the recruitment will likely end there. He has yet to get an offer, but is expected to receive one this weekend and basically commit on the spot.
Trivia Question Answer: 7-foot-1, 230-pound Montverde Academy center Solomon Alabi. He visited Arizona on 9/15/06 but committed to Florida State two weeks later. If you got the answer right, congratulations, because his lead recruiter at UA got the trivia question wrong.
