LAS VEGAS — Arizona’s top shot-blocker last season stood only 6-foot-9 and averaged just 12.0 minutes a game.
But Keanu Pinder will get plenty of help from 7-foot super-freshman DeAndre Ayton next season and, even after both of them leave in the spring, the Wildcats still might be able to scare opposing folks out of driving to the basket.
That is, if they can land the 7-foot-2 Bol Bol, and/or the 7-foot Bryan Penn-Johnson, two of the top big men in the class of 2018 on display last week. (Another big man with shot-blocking potential that UA is pursuing, Canada’s Simi Shittu, did not play in any of the three Las Vegas events).
Bol, the five-star son of Manute Bol, now playing for Southern California’s Mater Dei High School, showed skills on both sides of the ball during his limited play in the Las Vegas Fab 48 while Penn-Johnson blocked four shots in each of his first two games in the Adidas Summer Championships.
Bol’s only real limitation during the week, as it turned out, came not on the court but in a science lab.
He was chained to a summer class at Mater Dei while his high school team — known as “Big Red” during summer play — managed without him for three games.
Finally, on Friday, Bol finished up his work, then crammed his 7-foot-2 frame onto an airplane and flew to Las Vegas. He competed Friday night when Big Red lost to C2K Elite.
It was a transition, not only because he was out all week but also because Bol was rejoining his high school teammates after playing earlier this month with the California Supreme, where he was a teammate of UA commit Shareef O’Neal.
But Bol said he felt no trouble coming back.
“Actually,” he said, “it felt pretty good.”
Bol played a second game on Saturday afternoon, but it was a bracket-round game that Big Red lost, so Bol’s weekend came to a quick end.
That meant a return home, where Bol said he expects to begin planning his recruiting visits shortly.
Arizona has a pretty good chance to get one of them. Bol is considering the UA along with all the usual hotspots for West Coast recruits such as UCLA, USC, Oregon, Kansas and Kentucky and is fully aware of Arizona’s interest.
“I hear from them a lot,” Bol said. “Of course, Shareef is going there so I hear from him also.”
In fact, Bol said, O’Neal has probably been recruiting him even harder than the UA coaches have to this point.
“He’s just like, we did good this summer for Cal Supreme so he’s saying it would be the same thing” at Arizona, Bol said.
Like Bol, Penn-Johnson doesn’t just have to hear about Arizona from the coaches. He says he’s a good friend of UA walk-on Jake DesJardins, who played at Henderson (Nev.) Coronado High School just before Penn-Johnson arrived.
And next season, Penn-Johnson is transferring from Coronado to Utah’s Wasatch Academy, where incoming UA freshman Emmanuel Akot played last season.
Penn-Johnson said Arizona is “most definitely” among his top schools. He has visited the UA twice already and said the staff has been talking to him about a return, while two other schools are also at the top of his list so far.
“Washington I really like and Kansas, but that’s about it,” Penn-Johnson said. “That’s all I’ve figured out so far. The list isn’t final yet but I’m still trying to figure things out.”
Until now, Penn-Johnson says he’s been focusing on his stamina and his game, continuing to adjust to a frame he says “officially” became 7-feet tall during last season at Coronado.
“I’m just running a lot and trying to get my offensive game down a little bit,” Penn-Johnson said. “The way I move has gotten more fluid. I think I have a better feel for the game.”
Playing for Dream Vision, Penn-Johnson wound up averaging 3.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.8 blocks over five games in the Adidas Summer Championships.
