Still just 17 years old for six more months, Kylan Boswell was all set up for the kind of high school senior season elite basketball players aim for.
The five-star combo guard from Illinois via California and Phoenix had committed to Arizona last spring with plans to begin college in during the 2023-24 season. He was expected to lead Team Why Not deep into the Nike Peach Jam in July and, maybe, AZ Compass Prep to a national title at the end of the 2022-23 high school season.
Invitations to play in the McDonald’s All-American and/or Jordan Brand games appeared likely, too. And, by extension, some early buzz for the 2023 or 2024 NBA Drafts.
But then, after the first EYBL session last spring, Boswell broke his right foot and everything changed.
Instead of hobbling around metro Phoenix trying to mend his foot and prepare for his senior season, Boswell decided instead to reclassify and enroll at Arizona this fall. It was a win for the Wildcats, who will get a much-needed backup point guard behind Kerr Kriisa and Texas transfer Courtney Ramey — and also for Boswell, who received near-immediate access to UA facilities and the direction of athletic trainer Justin Kokoskie and conditioning coach Chris Rounds.
“I felt like I made the smartest move for sure,” Boswell said Wednesday during a media appearance at McKale Center. “Justin and Chris Rounds definitely have helped me come back to where I am now.”
Boswell said he’s worked with both of them every day since he arrived this summer, and, in some ways, that was the easy part. Because for all the times the word “reclassify” is thrown around in college basketball recruiting, it still involves a player usually skipping the senior season of high school — and having to somehow make up the academic courseload over a short period of time in the summer in order to get admitted into college.
Boswell said his family and UA coaches helped him find a program that allowed him to cram in enough classwork to graduate from high school and qualify for admission to Arizona.
“I had four or five classes online and a month timeframe to be eligible to be allowed to come here,” Boswell said. “It was long and hard but we got it done.”
As a bonus, as he was finishing up all that work, Boswell found his stress fracture improving at a faster rate than expected. Boswell said he didn’t want to specify his timeline but said Wednesday he had just been cleared to begin jumping on his foot.
That’s good news for the Wildcats, who will begin full practices Monday — the earliest possible date for a team that will open the season on Nov. 7. Boswell could be available fully by the start of the season, although UA coach Tommy Lloyd has said he wasn’t counting on Boswell to make significant contributions until midseason.
“I don’t want to put any pressure on him,” Lloyd said in an interview with the Star and Blue Ribbon Yearbook last month. “It’s gonna be hard. I mean, you’re coming off an injury, you haven’t played in a few months, it’s gonna be the highest level you ever played at before, he doesn’t know the system … there’s just a lot of things. I want to give him a nice little buffer, time to develop comfortably with it.”
The Wildcats have experience with this sort of timetable. A year ago, then-sophomore guard Pelle Larsson broke his foot during summertime play with his Swedish national team and, although he was cleared to begin the season, did not excel consistently until after New Year’s Day.
But while Boswell continues to progress early this season, the Wildcats return Kriisa as their starting point guard, and appear likely to install Larsson and Ramey as starting wings. As did the now-departed Justin Kier last season, both Ramey and Boswell are expected to be able to play both guard spots.
Because of his injury, Boswell said he hasn’t been able to work out with Ramey and Kriisa yet. But the freshman said he has learned plenty just by taking in practices and spending time with them.
Point guard Kylan Boswell reclassified earlier this summer, allowing him to enroll right away at the UA.
“I get to watch them so I can see what their tendencies are and know what to apply in my game and help them out, too,” Boswell said. “They’ve been in the weight room. Great friends, great guys. They’re good leaders for me that I can look up to and mold certain stuff from them to my game. Overall, Kerr and Courtney are just good people.”
In the long term, Boswell said he plans to bring the Wildcats a winning mentality he’s had “forever,” while for now working his way into the fabric of the team.
“I feel like I’d hopefully be a good playmaker with Courtney and Kerr,” Boswell said. I have “the ability to score and of course just being overall a team player. This year is just mainly being with the team and involved with the team — that’s my main goal this year, to figure stuff out.”
So if that process results in a reserve role for the Wildcats this season, instead of a McDonalds All-American Game or prep championship, Boswell will take it.
“It took me a minute to get over the fact that all those days of working in the gym for those senior year high school stuff – McDonalds, Jordan Brand, stuff like that,” Boswell said. “But I’m here now. My mentality has to switch for my situation.
“It was just sacrifice for something bigger in the future.”
