Arizona offered a scholarship to KJ Simpson, a four-star class of 2021 point guard from the San Fernando Valley who plays for the same club-ball team that produced half of the Arizona playing roster.
Thatβs right, the West Coast Elite connection is in play again. Nico Mannion, Josh Green, Stone Gettings, Ira Lee and Jemarl Baker all played for the same California-based club ahead of Simpson.
Ranked No. 112 overall in the class of 2021 by 247 Sports and 115 in composite rankings, Simpson is now a junior at Chaminade College Prep High School in West Hills, Calif.
According to 247, Simpson also has offers from ASU, Georgia Tech, LMU and Pacific so far.
Speaking of Pacific, Damon Stoudamire has led the Tigers to 20 winsΒ for the first time in a decade heading into a showdown Saturday at Saint MaryβsΒ (the game will be shown on Stadium at 6 p.m. Arizona time).
The former UA star and former assistant coach is in his fourth season as the Tigers coach, taking over in 2016-17 amid an NCAA investigation and having to deal with 2017 sanctions for the actions of previous coach Ron Verlin.
UOP went 11-22 in Stoudamire's first season, 14-18 in each of the past two and is now 20-8, including a 109-77 quadruple-overtime win over Saint Maryβs in Stockton, Calif., on Jan. 4.
βNo doubt he's having a great season,β UA coach Sean Miller said, noting that former UA graduate manager Jaydee Luster is also on Stoudamireβs staff. βWe're really happy for him. They already have 20 wins and he's built the program (despite that) when he first went there they had to get through a couple things.β
Stoudamire spent the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons as an assistant at Arizona. One of his assistants, Jaydee Luster, was on the UA staff as a graduate assistant in 2012-13 and 2013-14 after being named the 2012 Mountain West defensive player of the year.
Arizona commit Bennedict Mathurin is being coached by former UA forward Lauri Markkanen and others during the Basketball Without Borders Global Camp that is being held this weekend in Chicago in conjunction with the NBA All-Star Game.
A total of 64 boys and girls players from 34 countries were invited to the camp, which is being held at the Quest Multisport complex that also hosts the NBA Combine every May.
A 6-6 wing from Montreal with Haitian roots who committed to the Wildcats on Jan. 15, Mathurin has been playing for the NBA Global Academy. He has played for the NBA Academy Latin America club and the NBA Global Academy Australia.
There arenβt any mentions of the Arizona-Stanford game in Bay area newspapers Saturday β neither Cal nor Stanford even hold weekly basketball news conferences anymore, due to a lack of interest -- but our full advance coverage has been attached.
