2016 five-star recruit T.J. Leaf announced his decision to play his college basketball at Arizona last November. Since then, his stock has risen after playing for Israel in the FIBA U18 European Championships and being one of the standout players in the tournament. Now Leaf has decided that he would like to re-open up his recruitment, as he decommitted from Arizona, according to Raphielle Johnson of NBCSports.com.
Leaf took to Twitter to post a statement explaining his decision to decommit from Arizona.
"Thank you to Arizona for the opportunity to play for an outstanding program but I've decided to reopen my recruitment, the school and staff of Arizona have been great to me and I have nothing but respect for Coach Miller and the entire staff and wish them nothing but the best. But at this point in my life I know it's best to explore my options and pursue other basketball opportunities," wrote Leaf.
Leaf was Arizona's first and only commitment so far in the 2016 class and was expected to be a big part of their future, as they have three frontcourt players entering their final year of eligibility. It is still relatively early in the recruitment of 2016 players though, and Arizona is still in on a few of the top ranked recruits, so they should be just fine in the long run.
When Leaf originally announced his decision to attend Arizona, he chose the Wildcats over UCLA, Duke, Michigan and Florida. After the announcement of his decommitment, the majority of experts have predicted that Leaf will choose UCLA, according to 247 Sports.
Leaf is a 6-foot-9 power forward from El Cajon, Calif. and is rated as the third best power forward and the ninth best overall player in the 2016 recruiting class, according to ESPN. Leaf has great length and a growing perimeter game to go along with very good ball handling skills for a big man. Leaf will likely be a typical stretch four in college similar to Kyle Wiltjer of Gonzaga and formerly of Kentucky. Leaf still needs to put on some muscle and fine tune his skills, but he is a top ten recruit for a reason and whichever team lands him will be getting a nice foundational player for their 2016 recruiting class.
