Still looking for help up front with Christian Koloko headed for the NBA, Arizona landed a visit from five-star Canadian forward Leonard Miller on Sunday while also makingย the top 12 listย for WSU transfer Efe Abogidi.
The 6-foot-9 Miller has been also considering the G League, and he's eligible to be taken in the June 2022 NBA Draft, but he opted to take recent visits to Kentucky and Arizona. He's listed as the No. 31 pick overall on this mock NBA Draft.
The 6-10 Abogidi is taking the increasingly popular NBA-testing-and-transfer-portal route, and the Wildcats have been in contact with him.ย
Both players could be a long shot for the Wildcats, though UA is also believed to be recruiting highly regarded Estonian big man Henri Veesaar of Real Madrid.
In interviews with Rivals andย On3 last week, Miller did not mention Arizona among the schools he was considering but he decided to visit Tucson on Sunday after visiting Kentucky two days earlier.
Meanwhile,ย Abogidi posted a video on April 15 in which he said he had decided to "start a new chapter in my life," without specifying where he might head next.
An honorable mention pick for the Pac-12's all-defensive team as a sophomore last season, Abogidi averaged 8.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks despite suffering a knee injury while training with the Nigerian national team last summer. According to Coug Center, Abogidi missed workouts from July-September and was limited well into last season.
Arizona did not host WSU last season but held Abogidi to 3-for-13 shooting during the Wildcats' 72-60 win in Pullman on Feb. 10. Abogidi finished that game with nine points, six rebounds and two blocks.
Kerr Kriisa is impressed with the T-shirt Arizona Assist is selling with his head-banded likeness, while Azuolas Tubelis posted pictures of their "ZU" shirts in an Instagram story.
While international players still face student visa rules that severely limit their NIL activity, many UA international athletes have been set up to benefit from passive activities that they don't "work" for.
It's a gray area that Kentucky's Oscar Tshiebwe is fully jumping into. Jeff Goodman reported that he will make $2 million in NIL money next season and if so, that could raise ICE's eyebrows. Agent Tay Hawker, a New Zealand native who played college sports and attended ASU, said of Tshiebwe that he was "really, really nervous for him."
Sean Miller thanked Brandon Williams for sending his Trail Blazers jersey, after playing 24 games for Portland in 2021-22 and signing a two-way deal.
Thanks @TheeBWill for your @trailblazers jersey! I will hang it on my wall with great pride. They said you couldnโt make it, and they kept saying it AND you proved them ALL wrong! pic.twitter.com/fdMSNYNulQ
— Sean Miller (@CoachMillerXU) April 21, 2022
Williams' talent was never in doubt but his knee was. Once a five-star prospect whose UA career and draft stock were hobbled by a congenital knee injury, Williams was the only one of Miller's initial class of 2018 commits to stick with the Wildcats after the FBI investigation became public in September 2017.
Williams played for the Wildcats in 2018-19 but missed a month of the season when his knee flared up again, nearly two years after a first surgery knocked out nearly a year of high school ball. Williams had a second surgery after the 2018-19 season, then rehabilitated and trained for for nearly two years before breaking through in 2021-22.
Looks like Bennedict Mathurin has headed to Santa Barbara for some predraft work.
@Zona_Briggs A Few Good Men pic.twitter.com/iYXJnhSo4s
— Charlie Max Torres (@bucketsworth) April 21, 2022
With Jaime Jaquez back but not Johnny Juzang, here's how UCLA's depth chart might lookย next season, when the Bruins could be Pac-12 favorites.