During his local preseason interview Monday, Arizona coach Sean Miller spoke of playing three guards together “not only this year but beyond.”
Maybe he knew something was about to happen.
On Thursday, Miller received another piece to what could be an elite three-guard set in 2019-20 when five-star Aussie guard Josh Green committed to the Wildcats, choosing UA over North Carolina and four other finalists.
The 6-foot-6-inch, 190-pound Green is scheduled to join good friend and fellow five-star point guard Nico Mannion in Arizona’s backcourt next season. Mannion committed to the Wildcats on Sept. 14. The UA could also return freshman Brandon Williams, a four-star recruit who was a five-star prospect until a since-corrected knee issue sidelined him for a year in high school.
“The best thing about both Brandon and Josh is how versatile both of those guys are,” said California-based 247Sports analyst Josh Gershon, who has watched all three players closely for years. “Brandon is the definition of a combo guard; he’s just as good with the ball as off it. As for Josh, he’s 6-6 with a 6-10 wingspan, and he’s an elite-level athlete. All three of those guys I would expect could play together.”
COMMITTED‼️ pic.twitter.com/Iwk7B8uJk2
— Josh Green (@josh_green6) October 4, 2018
Green and Mannion have already been a dynamic duo for three years with the West Coast Elite travel club. The club’s director, Ryan Silver, said Green and Mannion played together on teams that won the 15U Under Armour championship in 2016, lost only twice on the 16U circuit in 2017 and never lost at the 17U level this year when both players were healthy (WCE was 35-4 overall this year).
“I’ve been doing this for 15 years and they’re one of the most successful two players I’ve ever seen,” Silver said. “I just think the thing that distinguishes them is they’re high-character kids, from great families and great people. They’re such positive people in a world of entitlement and non-gratitude. They’re wonderful.”
Green did not return a message seeking comment Thursday, but he told Rivals.com that he and Mannion were making separate college decisions, even though they have a strong bond on and off the court.
“With me and Nico, we have always been close, but I wanted to make sure that we did what was best for each other,” Green said. “It just ended up being that we picked the same school and that was what was best for us as players and with our development. It is going to help each of us out, though — being the one- and two-guards is very beneficial with coming in as freshmen and being ready to go.”
Phoenix mega-recruit Nico Mannion announced on Sept. 14 that he will play for the Wildcats in 2019-20.
It may have helped Arizona that Green also spent the 2016-17 high school season playing with former UA star Deandre Ayton at Phoenix Hillcrest Prep, while Green’s parents still live in Phoenix even as he now plays for Florida’s IMG Academy.
In a video he posted to announce his commitment Thursday, Green spoke proudly of his Australian roots and thanked his family for moving from Australia to help his basketball career. Green also said he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his brother, Jay, a sophomore wing at UNLV, and set an example for his younger brother and sister to follow.
Having listed a final six in August that included UA, North Carolina, UNLV, Villanova, Kansas and USC, Green opened a jacket to reveal a blue Arizona T-shirt at the end of the video.
“This is probably the biggest decision I’ve ever made,” Green said. “I want to look back on it and make sure I made the right choice. I choose to be a Wildcat.”
Green told 247Sports that his longstanding relationship with Arizona and the interest he received from the Wildcats prompted him to pick them even though North Carolina offered him a scholarship in July.
“I really trust in what they have going on at U of A,” Green told 247Sports. “Arizona’s style of game really complements mine. I’ll be able to play in the open court a lot and be able to play and defend multiple positions, which is great as I feel one of my stronger parts of my game.”
Green’s commitment moved Arizona up to the No. 4 spot in 247Sports’ 2019 class rankings, with Mannion and four-star forward Christian Koloko already on board. Koloko committed to UA on Sept. 23.
The Wildcats’ hot recruiting streak continued just as the father of former UA target Brian Bowen testified in a federal court Thursday that an agent told him the UA offered his son $50,000 to play for the Wildcats in 2017-18. The first of three scheduled trials involving college basketball is also addressing a federal complaint in which an Adidas rep said Arizona had offered another top 2017 recruit, Nassir Little, $150,000 to play for the Wildcats. Little now plays for North Carolina.
Arizona currently has filled all four available scholarships for 2019-20, counting Cornell grad transfer Stone Gettings, who is scheduled to join the Wildcats in December and can practice the rest of the season. But the Wildcats are likely to get others via spring roster changes.
Miller said Monday that he hoped to add five or six total players for the class of 2019, and agreed that he might add three or four of them during the November signing period.
Rim shot
Arizona announced it has given grad transfer forward Ryan Luther its first “10th Warrior Belt” after he set a Miller-era record by bench-pressing 185 pounds 25 times. The award’s name is a reference to the game-ending minutes after the final media timeout; Miller refers to segments between media timeouts as “wars.”
