Jabari Bird Sets Visits; Could Land With Gordon at UW

Jabari Bird has set dates for four official visits and he could end up playing at Washington alongside high-flying Oakland Soldiers teammate Aaron Gordon.

The 6-foot-6 small forward from Richmond (Calif.) Salesian told SNY.tv Wednesday that he has set four visits, with Cal coming up first.

“My first visit is Cal and then Colorado and Oregon and UW in that order,” Bird said.

Bird will visit Cal the weekend of Sept. 1, Colorado the weekend of Sept. 8, Oregon the weekend of Sept. 22 and Washington the weekend of Sept. 29.

“That’s my final four,” he said.

Still, Bird has long said that Cal and Washington are essentially his favorites.

Gordon told SNY.tv at the Peach Jam — won by the Soldiers over CIA Bounce — that Washington was his leader, ahead of Arizona and Kentucky.

So, could Gordon and Bird end up together playing for head coach Lorenzo Romar?

“Yeah, we definitely mentioned it to each other all the time,” Bird said. “We hopefully plan on going to the same school on the college level, which is one of the reasons why Washington is one of my favorites.”

At the Peach Jam, the 6-9 Gordon told SNY.tv:

“Washington’s a really good school. I love Romar. I also like [Kentucky coach John] Calipari a lot. I like [Arizona coach] Sean Miller. I like all those guys. There’s no really No. 1. Those are very close to my top three.”

Washington also features Desmond Simmons, a sophomore forward who is  from Salesian, and Bird mentioned that was an appealing factor.

Still, Bird is also friendly with players at Cal and with incoming Oregon point guard Dominic Artis, who played at Salesian.

“I played high school ball with him,” Bird said.

Bird said he will wait until the spring period — just like Gordon — to make his final decision.

“‘I’m going to commit sometime in the spring after high school basketball,” he said. “I want to see who’s going to be on their rosters, what situation is the best, and it will give me more time to do an evaluation.”