To tip off a week when he’s likely to wrap up a Pac-12 title in his first season as Arizona’s head coach, Tommy Lloyd also received an ideal foundation for the future.
In five-star player Kylan Boswell, who picked Arizona over Illinois and UNLV in an announcement Monday, the Wildcats will receive a team-oriented point guard who excels at a fast pace on both ends of the floor.
Boswell announced his decision Monday, the day before Arizona has a chance to clinch the Pac-12 title. The Wildcats can do so if they win Tuesday at USC, or if they don’t, by sweeping Stanford and California at home later this week (or by winning just one of those games if USC loses at UCLA on Saturday).
A 6-foot-1, 180-pound point guard originally from Illinois and now playing for AZ Compass Prep, Boswell wrapped up his decision after watching the Wildcats take a big step toward winning the conference by beating Oregon 84-81 on Feb. 19 at McKale Center.
Two days after returning from what was his official recruiting visit, Boswell scheduled an announcement for Monday, then revealed an Arizona shirt during his announcement Monday on the CBS HQ website.
“I’m feeling very, very excited,” Boswell said during his announcement. “I feel like I made the right decision. Since Day 1, I feel I’ve like I’ve been a family member.”
Boswell said he was impressed with UA’s sports performance program, mentioning athletic trainer Justin Kokoskie and strength coach Chris Rounds, and that he saw a good fit in Lloyd’s offense. Boswell not only visited UA for its Feb. 19 win over Oregon but also took unofficial visits to watch UA’s Red-Blue Game along with home games against UCLA and Colorado.
“Coach Tommy Lloyd’s pitch to me was he feels I can fit in his system and he believes in me,” Boswell said Monday. “It’s a fast-paced transition offense with a lot of open space off ball screens. He feels that’s something I can thrive in and I agree.”
Boswell is the first player from the class of 2023 to commit to the Wildcats, who are known to have offered scholarships only to six 2023 players so far: Boswell, Australian point guard Tyrese Proctor, forward Mookie Cook of Oregon, forward Matas Buzelis of the Chicago area, Southern California shooting guard Dusty Stromer and El Paso guard KJ Lewis.
Boswell said last week that he and his family haven’t decided if he would reclassify to 2022 but it is possible. If so, he would join the Wildcats next season along with UA signee Dylan Anderson, a four-star 2022 center from Gilbert Perry High School.
Rivals ranks point guard Kylan Boswell No. 25 in the class of 2023, while 247 has him at No. 13. He may reclassify to join the Wildcats for the 2022-23 season.
Travis Branham, a 247 analyst, said Boswell is an “ideal fit” for Arizona because he can play well with ball screens and make good decisions. If Kerr Kriisa is still around when Boswell arrives, the two could both play in the backcourt together and further space the floor, Branham said.
“He’s going to make an immediate impact” either way, Branham said after the announcement. “He’s just an incredibly high IQ player who’s really competitive, is an elite defender and great decision-maker. He plays well through contact and can score when playing with confidence.”
Although class of 2023 players could not be heavily scouted during calendar 2020 because of COVID-19 restrictions, Boswell blew up last spring and summer. He led Corona (Calif.) Centennial to the Section 7 championship in Phoenix last June, then went on to lead Team Why Not to the 16U title at the Nike EYBL Peach Jam in July.
Rivals analyst Rob Cassidy told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Boswell’s abilities on both offense and defense made him a top recruit. Rivals ranks Boswell No. 25 in the class of 2023, while 247 has him at No. 13.
“He’s one of the better defensive guards in the country,” Cassidy said. “He’s pretty polished with that, his length — just the motor. I’ve seen him lock up kids who are top-50 kids pretty regularly.”
A native of the Champaign-Urbana area in Illinois, Boswell took official visits to Illinois, Arizona and UNLV, whose coach, Kevin Kruger, lived in Champaign when his father coached the Illini. The other schools pursuing Boswell included Kansas, Michigan, Oregon, Texas Tech, UCLA and USC.
But Boswell watched closely at how Lloyd’s first Arizona team was operating, taking unofficial visits to sit in on the Red-Blue Game as well as UA’s home wins over UCLA and Oregon.
“I’m definitely getting to watch Tommy throughout the year, to see how he is with his point guards because that’s my position, and see how the entire team plays,” Boswell told the Star last week. “I love the transition offense. It’s really hard to guard. And Coach (Jack) Murphy, Coach ‘Rob’ (Steve Robinson), Coach Ricky (Fois) and all them are great assistants. So seeing seen this program just grow throughout the years has been an incredible thing.”
The morning of the UA-Oregon game, Boswell sat with Lloyd to watch the “College GameDay” broadcast from McKale Center, saying he also had a chance to meet ESPN analyst Jay Bilas, who played for Duke in the 1980s. Then Boswell returned that evening to watch Arizona pull out its win over the Ducks before a charged sellout crowd.
“U of A’s atmosphere is crazy,” Boswell told the Star. “To have a packed gym for a game like that is pretty wild. That’s something I really like.”
After visiting that weekend, Boswell said he had seen everything he needed to know about Arizona, having received a good feel for the Wildcats’ style of play and how he’d fit into it.
From there, it didn’t take long for him to make a decision.
“I know what coach Tommy would want me to do if I came here,” Boswell said last week. “I like how he lets his point guards really play and make decisions. He lets them be players, basically, and I really like that.”
