Arizona’s deep dive into the spring recruiting pool sped up a notch Saturday when its top-rated remaining target, Los Angeles wing Ziaire Williams, announced he would reveal his college choice on Easter Sunday.
The Wildcats also made the Top 10 list for Purdue grad transfer Matt Haarms, a 7-foot-3 center from Amsterdam. Another target, Santa Clara transfer Trey Wertz, chose Notre Dame over the UA, Butler and North Carolina.
Williams’ announcement will come two days after the Wildcats’ other top remaining high school target, Minnesota wing Kerwin Walton, told Stockrisers that he would announce his choice on April 25. Walton is also considering North Carolina, Georgetown, Vanderbilt and Minnesota.
Both recruitments have been held fairly close to the vest, although a flood of predictions on 247's Crystal Ball were posted Saturday evening saying Williams was heading to Stanford.
Before Saturday, no 247 analyst had entered a Crystal Ball prediction for Williams since early October, and there remain none for Walton. Several of 247's top national analysts -- including Jerry Meyer, Evan Daniels and Josh Gershon -- were among the six saying on Saturday that Williams would go to Stanford while one analyst made a late USC pick.
At times, USC, Stanford and Arizona have all appeared to have made inroads with Williams, who attended the UA’s exhibition game against Chico State last November, but it is unclear if Stanford guard Tyrell Terry’s decision to test the draft has been a factor in Williams' decision.
While Arizona is now expected to miss out on Williams, getting Walton might also be difficult now that North Carolina has resurfaced as a major contender. The Tar Heels gained an open scholarship to offer after forward Brandon Huffman entered the transfer portal last week.
It also isn't clear if Walton's decision will have anything to do with Williams. If Williams picks Stanford, does that make Walton more attracted to Arizona because of an even more open opportunity or less attractive because a five-star talent wouldn't be joining him on a more loaded team?
Or if Williams somehow picked Arizona, how would Walton view it?
“That’s the ultimate question,” says Gershon, a West Coast-based 247Sports.com recruiting analyst.
“The question is when you see other talented players coming to that school, do you see that as a positive or a negative? In a weird way, you want the kid that is going to be attracted by the other player committing.”
Williams, middle, is expected to choose between the UA, USC, Stanford and North Carolina, among others.
But a commitment from one highly regarded player can reduce the potential opportunity for successive commits — and opportunity may be the biggest advantage Arizona has in the recruitment of both high school stars.
The Wildcats have lined up Georgetown transfer James Akinjo and Seattle grad transfer Terrell Brown, both combo guards, to join Jemarl Baker and possibly Brandon Williams in the backcourt next season. Arizona’s only other certain wing players at this point are freshmen Dalen Terry and Ben Mathurin.
With Walton in particular, the Wildcats can float out a familiar example of how opportunity can work. Walton’s former high school teammate, Zeke Nnaji, was also under the five-star radar a year ago. Nnaji arrived at Arizona, soaked up playing time, blew up his stats, started appearing on mock NBA draft boards and is now projected as a first-round pick — a distinction that could earn him millions.
If that isn’t enough of a selling point, the Wildcats might instead aim to get more out of Terry and Mathurin than expected, since both bring considerable athleticism and upside to their games. The UA is also recruiting a grad transfer wing, Charles Minlend, who was a second-team all-West Coast Conference pick at San Francisco last season.
The Wildcats have nine players lined up for next season counting Brandon Williams, with four scholarship spots open. Those four could be split between wings and big men, with Arizona also pursuing Purdue’s Haarms and international post players.
Haarms averaged 9.4 points and 2.1 blocks per game while starting 15 of 29 games last season, but he played mostly off the bench in Big Ten Conference games last season. At Arizona, he would mix with Brown, Christian Koloko and Ira Lee for the Wildcats’ two post spots.
UA assistant coach Danny Peters once recruited Haarms to Ball State when he was there. Other schools on Haarms’ list include Arkansas, Boston College, BYU, Gonzaga, Kentucky, Memphis, Minnesota, Texas Tech and UNC Greensboro.
“Just going to take some time first and then think about how I’m going to handle this going forward,” Haarms told 247Sports.com. “Not going to drag it out though.”
Haarms would hardly be the first to move quickly this spring.
