2014-15 Season

[The Derski]

Up next: Rabb

 

[crush7k]

The Trier commit is awesome; he could be the most prolific scorer in all of the 2015 class. Now Sean Miller and co. can go all out for two quality big men. Trier hinted that the 2015 recruiting class could be very special. Zona has offers to at least 7 quality beg men in the ESPN top-100. I, like everyone else, am hoping for Rabb, but Zimmerman and Comanche would be pretty sweet as well.

What an advantage it is to get these early commits to then focus on other positions.

 

[Arizona_Sting]

Rabb plz.

 

[CatsTopPac]

2015:

[X] Justice Simon
[X] Allonzo Trier
[X] Ray Smith
[ ] Ivan Rabb
[ ] Chance Comanche
[X] Ryan Anderson

PJC, York, Allen, Pitts, Victor, Ristic already on board (assuming no transfers)

Sean Miller, I love you

Don't forget Anderson!!!

 

[CatsTopPac]

Oh and by the way, I'm back in TUCSON motha fuckas!!!!!!!!

 

[520GGATO]

Oh and by the way, I'm back in TUCSON motha fuckas!!!!!!!!

Welcome back!

 

[The Derski]

Oh and by the way, I'm back in TUCSON motha fuckas!!!!!!!!

Swag

 

[The Derski]

Can someone with insider post the rest of this article?
Sean Miller all-in on top prospect Ivan Rabb - ESPN

 

[rover]

Sean Miller all-in on top prospect Rabb
August, 5, 2014

By Adam Finkelstein | ESPN.com


Recruiting is a little bit like playing cards. You have to consider both your hand and your competition's before deciding how much you want to wager.

For high-profile college coaches, a scholarship offer is sometimes no more than a minimum wager to test the waters. Sean Miller is one head coach who tends to use his offers liberally, having extended 21 of them in the current 2015 class.

What’s undeniable is that once he decides he wants to go all-in, there aren’t many coaches who win more big hands. In fact, with Allonzo Trier becoming the latest ESPN 100 prospect to make an early commitment to Miller, you could argue that he has yet to miss on one of his top 2015 targets.

If the Wildcats get a commitment from Ivan Rabb, they might end up with the best class in the country. The Arizona Wildcats hold additional verbal commitments from two other five-star prospects in Justin Simon and Ray Smith. They also held a commitment from Tyler Dorsey up until last June, and while the origin of that split is debatable, the bottom line for Arizona was that they thought they could get better, and they did. They never stopped recruiting Trier and Isaiah Briscoe, even after Dorsey committed, and so ultimately they had a good hand but chose to double down and ended up winning big.

Now, that’s not to say that Arizona has their pick of all the best prospects in the country. Not at all. Only that Miller plays his hands especially well, analyzing not only the talent of the player but also his ties to the situation and those of his competition before deciding how much time and resources he wants to invest.

Chase Jeter is the perfect example. The five-star big man from Las Vegas committed to Duke on Monday night. Sure, Arizona would have loved to have him. They offered, actively recruited him, and even made his final six. But make no mistake about it, they were never all-in. They knew they weren’t getting him long before he went on national TV and had prioritized another big man much earlier in the process -- namely Ivan Rabb.

Rabb was not only the top-ranked prospect in the ESPN 100 heading into the July evaluation period, he was also a product of the same AAU program, the Oakland Soldiers, that has supplied Arizona with arguably the biggest recent pipeline in all of college basketball recruiting in recent years with Nick Johnson, Brandon Ashley, Aaron Gordon, and Stanley Johnson among others.

Now, Rabb is the last remaining target left on Arizona’s big board and the exclamation point that could punctuate what could ultimately be the nation’s No. 1 ranked recruiting class.

Oakland Soldiers program director Mark Olivier doesn’t know where Rabb will ultimately decide to go to college. Rabb is currently in Dubai with Team USA's U17 team and hasn’t given indication of any favorites or time frames. In fact, Rabb’s high school coach at Bishop O’Dowd, Lou Richie, is far more involved in his recruitment. One thing Olivier does expect though is that Rabb will make his own decision.

“I look at Ivan and I don’t think he’s that type of kid in that he’s going to go there because somebody else went there,” Olivier said.

Nevertheless, it would be only natural for the player who first began wearing a Soldiers uniform when he was in the 7th grade to want to follow so many of the players that he grew up admiring, especially Johnson, who took Rabb under his wing during last year’s EYBL season.

“It could be,” Olivier conceded, “but Stanley will also tell him to do what he thinks is right because that’s the way he was. He didn’t go there because Aaron was there. He went there because that’s what was best for him.”

Rabb will have no shortage of options in the coming months. He’s being pursued by a variety of programs including California, USC, UCLA, Georgetown, Kansas, North Carolina, and Kentucky -- which is making a hard push to get him on campus in October for their Big Blue Madness.

For Sean Miller, the bottom line is this: He’s won every hand he's played so far this year. He has the scoring guard, athletic combo-forward, and big point guard he wanted -- but they’ve all led up to this.

The stakes are high, he's all-in, going for broke, and across the table from the best recruiters the nation has to offer. The prize isn't just one celebrated prospect but perhaps the nation's best recruiting class ... or maybe even a new contender for the nation's top recruiter.

 

[The Derski]

Thanks boss

 

[CatsTopPac]

You guys peep game on the new unis yet? I like the blue with red trim, and the white with blue trim and red lettering. Other than that, the rest are aight.

BTFD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hrccX5NpEo

 

[520GGATO]

Arizona forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson refines his jump shot - College Basketball - SI.com
Rondae working hard to become great.

 

[520GGATO]

Fun read.


www.straighthoops.com/whos_your_five.html

 

[Monte Carlo Wildcat]

Has anyone seen nick Johnson's ice water challenege on Instagram? He said that Ivan rabb is a future wildcat. Just made my day.

 

[The Derski]

Has anyone seen nick Johnson's ice water challenege on Instagram? He said that Ivan rabb is a future wildcat. Just made my day.

Just looked it up. How can Rabb commit anywhere else now?!

 

[Monte Carlo Wildcat]

Just looked it up. How can Rabb commit anywhere else now?!

Hahaha if nick johnson says so, then Rabb has no choice. I mean from everything I've read, it seems as though he's definately favoring us but I'm not an insider so I don't know for sure. Can't wait to find out for sure.

 

[BearDownUA]

Obviously it's no lock but I just don't see a reason to go any where but AZ with his most discussed options left.

- UK is loaded as is (and will continue to be), despite their media exposure, is this really the best place to showcase your skills if you're clearly striving to be a OAD?

- Cal is his hometown school but a S16 run is their most realistic selling point, and the new coach is obviously late to the game as far as recruiting goes seems how he just got the job this year

- UNC is about to be raped by sanctions (or should be) and I've heard his parents quoted as saying academics does make a difference in his decision so thats nixed

-UCLA... well... fuck them and fuck Steve Alford. I don't see them as a big player for Rabb anyways

Again, I can see why these schools have case, but none of these offers are as beneficial to Ivan as AZ, who has been recruiting Ivan since before any other major programs.

Keep that soilder pipeline going Ivan!!!!

 

[The Derski]

Stanley Johnson "Work" | An Inspiring Journey of Hard Work & Dedication - YouTube
Great vid about Stanley if you have the time. Miller not only recruits great players but great kids.

 

[Arizona_Sting]

Just watched the Detroit Pistons "Bad Boys" documentary on Netflix. Got me pumped for this upcoming season... with our size and strength we're like the modern day Bad Boys... and by modern day I mean we play as physical as we're allowed to with all these new rules and allow NO EASY BUCKETS!

Zeus, Ashley, RHJ, SJ and TJ... that's an intimidating lineup. Can't wait to see this group come together.

 

[Monte Carlo Wildcat]

Decent article on desert swarm that puts into perspective just how bad our shooting was last year despite our success. I sure hope Rondae can consistently hit the jumper this year because that can translate into more spacing for Kaleb and TJ and make us difficult to defend.

Arizona basketball: Rondae Hollis-Jefferson is not the only offensive upgrade - Arizona Desert Swarm