Phoenix's TyTy Washington was widely viewed as one of the top recruits still available in the 2021 recruiting cycle. He chose Kentucky on Wednesday night over a handful of other schools, including Arizona.

 Meg Potter, The Arizona Republic

Five-star point guard TyTy Washington of Phoenix announced Wednesday he will play next season for Kentucky.

A former commit to Creighton, the AZ Compass Prep guard had also been considering Arizona, Kentucky, Kansas and LSU.

The news was not a big surprise, with seven out of eight analysts on 247Sports.com's Crystal Ball predicting that Washington would choose Kentucky. Washington had been scheduled to announce on Wednesday's 6 p.m. edition of "SportsCenter"; ESPN instead tweeted out the news at 6 p.m.

If he had committed to Arizona, Washington would presumably would have had a chance to take over the starting point guard position following the departures of James Akinjo, Terrell Brown and Jemarl Baker.

Without Washington, the Wildcats may keep recruiting another ballhandler. They could also turn the position over to combo guards Kerr Kriisa and Pelle Larsson. Sophomore wing Dalen Terry and new UA commit Adama Bal also have ballhandling experience.

On April 17, three days after UA introduced Tommy Lloyd as its new head coach, Washington listed Arizona among his top six finalists. Washington attended UA's April 25 spring football game, where he was photographed sitting in the stands with UA wing Benn Mathurin and since-transferred forward Tibet Gorener.

The Wildcats have 10 players lined up as of now for 2021-22, with up to three spots open to fill.

Here's their roster as of now:

Position/Name/Year/Height/Weight/Hometown

G/Adama Bal/Fr./6-6/180/Paris

C/Oumar Ballo/So./7-0/260/Koulikoro, Mali

C/Christian Koloko/Jr./7-0/220/Douala, Cameroon

G/Kerr Kriisa/So./6-2/165/Tartu, Estonia

G/Pelle Larsson/Fr./6-5/216/Nacka, Sweden

F/Bennedict Mathurin/So./6-6/195/Montreal

G/Shane Nowell/Fr./6-5/190/Bellevue, Washington

F/Dalen Terry/So./6-7/190/Phoenix

F/Azoulas Tubelis/So./6-10/240/Vilnius, Lithuania

F/Tautvilas Tubelis/So./6-7/210/Vilnius, Lithuania

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Contact sports reporter Bruce Pascoe at 573-4146 or bpascoe@tucson.com. On Twitter @brucepascoe