The fall signing period has taken on a lesser importance under second-year Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd.
The Wildcats are expected to formally sign four-star commit KJ Lewis on Thursday evening, and have already added a former Class of 2023 player in five-star guard Kylan Boswell, who reclassified to become a UA freshman this season.
But Arizona lost out Wednesday on five-star Gilbert Perry forward Cody Williams, who announced he would sign with Colorado over Arizona and six other schools during the first day of the fall signing period.
Arizona is expected to follow the same pattern it did last year, doing most of its heavier recruiting in the spring by adding international prospects and mining the transfer portal to fill in holes. The Wildcats should also know by the spring period if they will face any scholarship restrictions as a result of its still-pending NCAA infractions case that is now in the hands of the Independent Accountability Resolution Process.
Even if the IARP decision does not take away any scholarships, the Wildcats will have only two scholarships to offer in the spring, as their roster stands today.
Currently, the Wildcats have 12 players on scholarship, one short of the maximum, and only grad transfers Courtney Ramey and Cedric Henderson will run out of eligibility after this season, while the UA will be adding Lewis.
During Lloydβs first season at Arizona, the Wildcats signed only one player β Gilbert Perry High School big man Dylan Anderson β in the fall.
Lloyd then added five players in the spring. Four of the spring additions are expected to play major roles this season: Ramey, Henderson, Boswell and Estonian freshman big man Henri Veesaar.
Another spring signee, Serbian freshman wing Filip Borovicanin, is believed to have significant long-term potential. So does Anderson, who played with Williams at Perry through 2021-22.
The Wildcats had approached the recruitment of Williams separately to that of Anderson, who had been heavily recruited to Gonzaga when Lloyd was an assistant coach for the Zags.
But it wasn’t until Williams put on a dominating performance at the Section 7 event in Glendale last June that Arizona offered him a scholarship. By August, Williams elevated himself into ESPN’s No. 14 national ranking among class of 2023 players; 247Sports.com has Williams at No. 23 and Rivals.com has him in four-star range at No. 42.
Williams kept his recruitment largely close to the vest but announced in August that Colorado, Arizona, Loyola Marymount, USC, LSU, Georgia Tech, Santa Clara and UCLA were his finalists. Williamsβ older brother, Jalen, played for Santa Clara before becoming the No. 12 pick in the June NBA Draft.
While Jalen Williams worked his way up to all-West Coast Conference honors over three seasons at Santa Clara, Cody Williams could play a big role at Colorado right away.
At UA, Williams would have joined a group that could includ Pelle Larsson, Adama Bal, Borovicanin and Lewis already on the wings, with Kerr Kriisa and Boswell potentially returning at point guard.
βEvery school in my top eight I considered heavily,β Williams said Wednesday during a school signing event at Perry, according to The Arizona Republic. βI love the coaches (at Colorado), the team building. Itβs a great fit for me, great academically.β
Perry coach Sam Duane told the Republic that college coaches continued chasing Williams even up to Wednesday morning.
βThis speaks to Codyβs character and his family,β Duane told the Republic. βThey sifted through everything. They put away all the other things, and they did what was best for Cody. Heβs going to be a tremendous Pac-12 player.β
Rim shot
Former UA forward Ira Lee has signed with ALM Evreau, a second-division club in France. Lee spent four years with the Wildcats, then transferred to George Washington, where he missed last season with a knee injury. In April, Lee announced that he planned to play the 2022-23 season at College of Charleston.
