It isn’t often that a college program tells a Top 10 recruit not to visit, but that’s exactly what happened late Tuesday.
Arizona coaches called Tony Johnson, the travel team coach of highly touted Dallas small forward LeBryan Nash, and asked him not to take his scheduled official visit this weekend.
“They cancelled the visit,” Johnson said Wednesday by phone. “I told [Nash] late last night. LeBryan was kind of upset about it.
“It’s got something to do with some scholarships.”
The Arizona Daily Star reported that Arizona is already two over its 2011-12 allotment of just 12 scholarships. The Wildcats lost one scholarship because of violations from the Lute Olson era.
Arizona has 11 players on scholarship for next season and has accepted commitments from Josiah Turner, Nick Johnson and New Yorker Sidiki Johnson.
“It’s bad on their part because he was very interested in them,” Johnson said of Nash.
Indeed, the 6-7 Nash told me earlier this week that Arizona could pull even with Oklahoma State in his recruitment if the visit went well.
“Arizona might be matched up with Oklahoma State,” he said. “They might be if everything goes well on the visit.”
Now Nash is down to Oklahoma State, Baylor and Kansas, which he is slated to visit Oct. 15.
This latest development appears to leave Oklahoma State in good position since Nash told me they were the leader.
“Oklahoma State might have a slight lead over everybody and they might be the school to beat,” he said.
“They’ve been recruiting me since the 7th grade and just me going, I think I’ll be the face of the school,” he added. “It’s a good basketball school. It’s a tremendous place to play. They are on TV a lot. Last year they beat Kansas. It’s a tough place to play.
“Me going there might give the fans more to come. We might even get a chance to win a national championship.”
Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter
JessieWildcat / September 22, 2010
AZ,
Good Stuff on Nash.
Any news on Tony.
Why is he so fixed on the commit announcement DATE.
If NASH can wait a few more weeks, he could be apart of Top 3 recruiting class.
Delay his choice a few weeks and the RESCHEDULE is ON with BOOK.
Note–
Kansas Gangster U is still not even in the TOP 2 for Nash.
LOL.
/
mikemiller13 / September 22, 2010
hey jessie, any word on nash’s in home with ku?
/
norcal1911 / September 22, 2010
@ Mike – Rivals.com and TheShiver.com both have stories about the in-home. I don’t pay the Rivals subscription fee, but this from TheShiver.com:
‘“It went really well,” Johnson said about the in-home visit. “Kansas looked pretty good today. They talked about some things that no other coaches have talked about. It was different,” said Johnson. “I think he liked it,” he added.’
Clearly Nash wants to remain THE man and keep the spotlight. Can’t really fault him for that. Not nearly as easy to do that at Kansas as Okie State or Baylor.
/
Jaminrawk / September 22, 2010
@Jessie – Yeah, I’m pretty sure that AZ telling him NOT to visit isn’t going to create a situation where he would consider them again. Arizona telling a Top-10 recruit to NOT visit is laughable to me.
Chances are that he chooses OSU because they’ve been recruiting him forever, but if he’s smart he’ll choose Kansas and the opportunity to play with lots of other talented guys and get coaching from one of the greatest college big men ever in Danny Manning. To each his own though.
/
UAWildcat / September 22, 2010
Jaminrawk- UA is two over it’s scholarship limit for 2011-2012. Miller is doing the smart thing in telling Nash he cannot promise him a scholarship at this time. If Nash were willing to postpone his commitment date to the spring Miller and staff would be hosting him this weekend. It is expected that 2-3 scholarships will open up before next year due to transfer or early departures.
/
norcal1911 / September 22, 2010
@ UAWildcat – I agree that it’s the right thing to do to tell the kid and his family not to come if he can’t offer a scholly. But why wouldn’t Coach Miller want him to make the trip anyway if he believes he might get at least one scholarship back? In other words, why not say to him: “We’d love to have you come to UA, but I have to be honest and tell you that I don’t yet have a scholarship for you. Still, I think you should come check out the campus, get a feel for our fans, etc.”
If they could only give 12, have 11 out right now and picked up commitments from 3 incoming players, 2 of that incoming group of Turner, N. Johnson and S. Johnson are in the same boat Nash would be in, right? What makes Nash’s case different than, say, Turner? Did Nash insist that he’d HAVE to be promised a scholly on his official? And is it the case that Turner or the Johnsons weren’t so inflexible? Any info out there?
/
ZonaWildcat / September 22, 2010
@norcal1911 – I have no inside track why Miller wouldn’t allow him to come visit but there are a couple things that may have led to Arizona turning Nash down.
Aside from the obvious over the scholarship limit situation we are in, maybe there are some underlining issues that Miller doesn’t like with Nash.
Miller wants players who don’t need all the hype and their own show broadcasting where they are going to school on ESPN, like Nash will be doing. Miller mentioned not wanting players like that last year when Selby and a few others were waiting to announce on national television.
He would rather have players who are team first players and not out for themselves. Nash is a great player and as you mentioned before, he wants to be THE man. Well Miller wants team players, so maybe he didn’t see that in Nash.
I also think that Miller is a class act and he’s not going to push out players just to accommodate another recruit, although I wish he would cause we have some players who shouldn’t even been offered in the first place during the Lute debacle and when we had interim head coaches.
Those are just a couple things that come to mind, but again, I don’t have any inside info just what I’ve observed from what Miller has said and done in the past.
I also think that Miller was looking for a 3 man class and was going to take the first to commit. Well we have a very good 3 man class and just no more room, so another possible reason he turned him down.
/
UAWildcat / September 22, 2010
My best guess is that Miller made up his mind to take the first three to commit and then see what plays out between now and the late signing period. I do not doubt that part of the conversation with Nash’s coach was if Nash would be willing to wait on announcing his college choice and if Nash said yeah I will consider it then he would be in Tucson this weekend.
/
norcal1911 / September 22, 2010
@ ZonaWildcat and UAWildcat – Yeah, it seems that there might be that extra bit of information that won’t necessarily come out to the public. I’m sure Miller being able to pick-up a banner recruit in Turner impacted the situation as well.
As I stated above, if he’s looking to be THE man and it’s clear that either he won’t necessarily be that from the jump or if the coach makes it clear that his program doesn’t work like that, I suppose this might be the result. My hat’s off to Miller if he stood on principal in that way. That’s how you build/re-build enduring programs.
I’m a Kansas fan and doubt that he ends up in Lawrence, particularly if his first priority is to be the “face of the program”. I wouldn’t mind seeing him end up at OSU, though. It’s good for the conference to have talent like his stay close to home.
/
norcal1911 / September 22, 2010
@ ZonaWildcat – I hadn’t heard that Miller made those statements about recruits needing the hype. I don’t begrudge top players like Selby the choice of announcing their pick during halftime of an All Star game or even a news conference at their high school. I think they’ve earned as much with the work they’ve put in to become one of the very best players in the nation. It gets disappointing to see all of the over-the-top sort of drama that leads observers to believe that any one player is more important than the program.
And is anyone else tired of the shell game with the various schools’ hats on announcement day? Just announce your pick, kid. No need for all of the high drama.
/
CaliUAfan / September 23, 2010
@UAWildcat and @norcal1991, when UA got the sanctions against them, they not only were limited to 12 scholarships for next year, but they also got a limited amount of official visit recruits can make. Therefore Miller has decided to save those visits for recruits which will be signing in the spring, when he would know the scholarship situation for next year better. One name that comes up is Amir Williams, but I am sure there are more. If Miller thought there was any chance Nash would decide in the spring, Nash would be in Tuscon this weekend, but he is saving the last official visits for recruits in the spring. Hopes this helps.
/
norcal1911 / September 23, 2010
Ah, thanks for that missing detail, Cali.
/