TUCSON, Ariz.-- For the last four years, Arizona's Sean Miller has been able to pull off a top-five recruiting classes, returning UA to a must-consider place for high school basketball's top talents.
The rankings for the last four years have been 5, 4, 3, 4.
The next few months will be important if Miller wants to add a fifth single-digit to the string. The summer recruiting season is always hot and fluid -- and with Miller being an assistant coach on the USA U18 national team, it's anyone's guess.
Arizona went into the summer with two commitments and now is down to one -- Justin Simon, a 6-foot-5 shoot guard out of California. Last weekend, California guard Tyler Dorsey backed out of his commitment,
"I think he handled it well, coming out and telling everyone he committed too early," said Adam Zagoria, who runs Zagsblog.com and is an expert on high school recruiting. "He wants to re-evaluate his options. He sees himself as a point guard, and if he's going to have a chance to play at the next level he feels he's better off as a point guard. Some people see him more as a shooting guard. It'll be interesting to see how that develops."
It won't happen at Arizona. Still, the bet is Miller will pull off a highly regarded class even without Dorsey.
"He's obviously one of the best coaches in the country," said Zagoria. "He's a phenonanal recruiter and he always has one of the top recruiting classes.
"Now that he's with the under 18 teams, I'm sure that will help him personally. They're around these great players like Isaiah Briscoe (Union N.J.) and Chase Jeter (Las Vegas) and those guys making their college decisions."
Each has made the USA's under 18 team, as did Allonzo Trier, a 6-5 shooter from Las Vegas Findlay Prep who could be a better fit at the shooting guard position than Dorsey does.
"It's not the end of the world," Zagoria said, speaking of both sides on the decommitment.
Zagoria said he wouldn't be surprised if Arizona "ramps it up" for Briscoe, a 6-3 guard from New Jersey while continuing to court big man Jeter, who has said he'll make a decision in the coming weeks. Duke has long been perceived to be the leader.
"Arizona is one of the schools recruiting him hard," Zagoria said. "He's a West Coast guy, so they are always in the mix for those guys."
By signing period in November, Arizona expects to land four players.
Miller likely saw Dorsey's change of heart coming and decided Trier was another option. Players change their minds all the time -- even at programs like Arizona. Just last year Eric Cooper decommitted after friend Grant Jerrett decided to leave for the NBA. Cooper ended up at Nevada.
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