Arizona got into the Rawle Alkins Sweepstakes late, but ended up landing the New York City star earlier than expected.
The 6-foot-4 Alkins ended the suspense on Monday night, choosing Arizona over St. John’s, UNLV, N.C. State and North Carolina in an announcement on ESPNU.
“Right now Coach Sean [Miller] is talking to me about Gabe York, he’s a senior guard,” Alkins said on air. “[He] scores a lot for the team, creates a lot for the team, so he’s kind of looking at me as being the next leader on that team. Impact starter, impact player.”
He added: “I feel like the Pac-12 Conference, I’ll probably try to dominate that conference.”
Miller and Arizona assistant Book Richardson recently began putting the fullcourt press on the former Christ the King and current Word of God Academy (N.C.) guard, telling him he could be similar to last year’s one-and-done Stanley Johnson, a lottery pick with a similar body type.
Alkins admits he wants to play in the NBA and said he’s ready for the attention that is coming his way.
“I’ve thought a lot about it, and I realize me being in the situation that I’m in, it’s going to happen regardless because of where I want to go,” he said. “I want to be a pro one day. So to be a pro, you got to live with stuff like that. You know the media: Some days they love you, some days that hate you. I got to live with that.”
On top of the pitch from Miller and Richardson, Alkins heard it from Arizona recruits, too. On the same day he committed to Arizona in January, Kobi Simmons reached out to Alkins to try to sway him to join him in the desert. Simmons and Alkins are friendly from the summer circuit.
“They told me they were going to get him, he told me that he was going to go there,” Alkins told SNY.tv then.
“So before he committed, he texted me, he was like, ‘Are you ready?’ So I mean he’s pretty cool. I played a lot with him over the summer, USA Basketball, adidas Nations, all of that stuff.”
Alkins added: “I won MVP of those tournaments so it’s not like he’s going to steal my shine.”
Arizona is two under the scholarship limit and will lose York to graduation and possibly freshman Allonzo Trier to the NBA Draft.
“I think [Simmons] is going to probably be the primary ball-handler, though, if I end up going there,” Alkins added. “They’re talking about getting Josh Jackson, too, so if they get [Simmons], Josh Jackson, me and imagine if Allonzo Trier stays another year, so who knows?”
The 6-foot-8 Jackson is considering Arizona, Michigan State and Kansas, and this weekend took his last official visit to Michigan State. He is projected as the No. 3 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft and is ranked as the No. 1 player in 2016 by 247Sports.com.
“Imagine that lineup,” Alkins added of a recruiting class that included himself, Simmons and Jackson.
Alkins recently took official visits to St. John’s, UNLV and Arizona, and came away raving about Arizona.
“Coach Miller told me this one quote, he told me, “With team success comes individual success,'” Alkins wrote in his USA Today blog. “That stuck with me. I think too many times we focus on the bigger picture, but to get to that bigger picture you have to go through tonight and tomorrow. That’s what I love about Arizona, they never get ahead of themselves. That’s what they’re about.”
Alkins ended up spurning St. John’s, which had hoped to make him the crown jewel of Coach Chris Mullin’s second recruiting class.
The Johnnies already have a three-man recruiting class of Shamorie Ponds, Bashir Ahmed and Richard Freudenberg and remain in the mix for Thon Maker, who took an official to Kansas over the weekend and is planning several other visits before planning to decide in April.
Assistant coach Barry “Slice” Rohrssen recruited Alkins, but in recent days has already turned his attention to another wing, former Alabama commit Terrance Ferguson of Advanced Prep International.
As for UNLV, sources said the uncertainty related to the coaching staff played a major factor in the decision.
“I know the life that I want to choose, I’m going to be away from home regardless,” Alkins recently told SNY.tv. “College, I’m going to travel everywhere. I’m not even going to be home if I go to a local school. I’m not even going to be home, so location is not a factor.”
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