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KJ Lewis 4🌟 2023 6'4 SG has committed to Arizona!!!
Since he was a little kid, Chapin's basketball phenom KJ Lewis has dreamed of playing for the Arizona Wildcats. That dream came true on Wednesday night.
In front of his family, friends, and thousands of fans watching around the country exclusively on KTSM, Lewis verbally committed to the University of Arizona. Rated by some publications as a Top-25 prospect in the Class of 2023, Lewis chose the Wildcats over Arkansas, Baylor, Texas Tech, and UCLA.
The decision will take Lewis back to a place where he spent a portion of his childhood. His father still lives in Arizona, as does much of his family. That weighed heavily into his decision.
"I chose Arizona because of the spirit inside of me; it just felt like home," Lewis told KTSM in the hours before his official commitment. "The coaching staff welcomed me like family from the beginning."
Read full story below
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ktsm.com/sports/local-sports/chapin-top-25-junior-basketball-star-kj-lewis-commits-to-arizona/amp/
KJ Highlights
Watch KJ's commitment video. Beardown!
https://twitter.com/ColinDeaverTV/status/1501736814356299776
KJ seems like a great kid. I'm excited he chose to come here!
Huge recruiting win for the staff. KJ will be able to contribute immediately for a team that will obviously make a deep postseason run.
Fantastic!
Welcome aboard, K.J. You made a truly wise decision. I look forward to your playing days in a packed and rowdy McKale.
And here's a shout-out to the knuckleheads in the sandbox who look more and more foolish with each passing day. May the hand wringing begin on another topic that hopefully will help prevent the coaching experts from enjoying Tommy Lloyds off-the-charts success. Nitpick away!
Welcome to the Wildcat family! BTFD!
New Highlights Of KJ. He's going to be a beast
Far be it for me to ruffle anyone's sensitive feathers around here, but I think this actually begs the question:
Did Tommy Lloyd recruit properly? Is this by design in anyone's opinion? Or did Tommy simply get destroyed by USC, UCLA, Colorado, Stanford, and Oregon this recruiting period?
I am in between my opinion on this situation. Can Tommy survive being this bad at recruiting overall? No, he can't.
However, is this Tommy's fault? The teams that have been getting the top 30 type players look like they have money behind them. Is this really the lack of our inner circle anteing up for the prospects? I have been apprised to some murmurs that the "well is drying up" a bit and this season's success or failures will be pivotal to those check books reopening/closing. A lot of these people still view the success based on the players that Miller left behind and are hesitant until they see what Tommy can do without Tubelis mainly at this point. Only time can tell there, but I do know for sure that Money Matters and even historically midlevel schools that have elite football programs are going to land more and more elite talent over the better "historical programs".
Or is this just a fundamental issue with Lloyd where he believes he can continue to go International or find 3 stars and act like this is the weaker Gonzaga conference where he thinks he has time to develop players and still contend (which he doesn't)
The team "seems" to be pretty full. That is one of the lazier arguments I can come up with to defend Lloyd's failure at getting a Cody or Kwame type of player to commit. It's very rough to see Tommy getting schooled by veterans on the American pipeline circuit.
Where does Tommy stand against these other programs when he can't even land Arizona HS players?
I am concerned. Someone make it make sense?
We KNOW that Henderson, Ramey and Tubelis are gone next season. There's a good chance that Ballo also tests the water but I'm not convinced that he won't return for a Senior campaign.
How many players do you think Tommy Lloyd needs to bring in for this class to be a success? Would you prefer that he recruits over Adama Bal so your favorite bench player can remain on the bench for years to come?
KJ is an amazing recruit...and he will backfill Henderson nicely. He has better scoring potential and similar to Cedric, he can guard multiple positions.
With Veesaar, Anderson and Borovicanin likely staying on the roster, our frontcourt will likely only need one more big man (likely a PF) to replace Tubelis.
Larsson and Kriisa will be Senior backcourt leaders and the team has a nice roster. I'm not worried about missing out on 5* ballhog recruits that will only stick around for 1 year. Lloyd is building a "program", which is the best way to make a Final Four (something we haven't seen in 22 years).
I think to answer if CTL is a good recruiter is still up in the air... the timeline for a recruit is about 3+ years (some as many as 5 years are hitting the college coaches radar). We are still coming out of a very uncertain time at UofA. The allegations and potential hammer coming down on us really made recruits nervous, and provided fodder for our rivals to use against us. Give him some time to "clean up" the program, and develop his own strategy before declaring him a bad recruiter.
Henderson is a Jr .
sorry ,he is a senior
Quote from: KansasCityCats on January 25, 2023, 09:17:40 AM
We KNOW that Henderson, Ramey and Tubelis are gone next season. There's a good chance that Ballo also tests the water but I'm not convinced that he won't return for a Senior campaign.
How many players do you think Tommy Lloyd needs to bring in for this class to be a success? Would you prefer that he recruits over Adama Bal so your favorite bench player can remain on the bench for years to come?
KJ is an amazing recruit...and he will backfill Henderson nicely. He has better scoring potential and similar to Cedric, he can guard multiple positions.
With Veesaar, Anderson and Borovicanin likely staying on the roster, our frontcourt will likely only need one more big man (likely a PF) to replace Tubelis.
Larsson and Kriisa will be Senior backcourt leaders and the team has a nice roster. I'm not worried about missing out on 5* ballhog recruits that will only stick around for 1 year. Lloyd is building a "program", which is the best way to make a Final Four (something we haven't seen in 22 years).
Yes to this post. The transfer portal will come into play again. A power forward looking to land on a national contender, should Tube not stick around, might easily find the U of A attractive. Recruiting has changed -- I think Tommy is ahead of the curve when it comes to establishing a program, developing what he has, and filling needs with experienced players. It will only take one or two more seasons to prove how successful his strategy is. So far so good. 50-7 and back to back NCAA appearances (unless the roof caves in). Not too shabby.
I should have written, A quality forward . . .
Quote from: KansasCityCats on January 25, 2023, 09:17:40 AM
We KNOW that Henderson, Ramey and Tubelis are gone next season. There's a good chance that Ballo also tests the water but I'm not convinced that he won't return for a Senior campaign.
How many players do you think Tommy Lloyd needs to bring in for this class to be a success? Would you prefer that he recruits over Adama Bal so your favorite bench player can remain on the bench for years to come?
KJ is an amazing recruit...and he will backfill Henderson nicely. He has better scoring potential and similar to Cedric, he can guard multiple positions.
With Veesaar, Anderson and Borovicanin likely staying on the roster, our frontcourt will likely only need one more big man (likely a PF) to replace Tubelis.
Larsson and Kriisa will be Senior backcourt leaders and the team has a nice roster. I'm not worried about missing out on 5* ballhog recruits that will only stick around for 1 year. Lloyd is building a "program", which is the best way to make a Final Four (something we haven't seen in 22 years).
All I have taken away from this is Tommy intends to use the Transfer Portal to fill the gaps. I think it's fine for now, but none of it makes a case for Tommy as a recruiter going forward. This isn't Gonzaga. You can't expect to keep up automatically.
KJ's athleticism is much needed, and will be very much so welcomed next year!!
Yes. We should lose 3 players and we already have one recruit. Two transfers (one backup combo guard and one power forward) will be recruited...but aren't essential in our success...unless Ballo leaves (and Lloyd will NEED to find a quality big man to help the other 3).