The Arizona Wildcats are having another very good season under head coach Sean Miller as they finished the regular season 24-7 and ranked 15th in the AP poll. Arizona is a lock to make the NCAA tournament and will head into the Pac-12 tournament as the three seed.
Aside from all of the success they have been having on the court this season, Arizona has been getting great news off it recently too. It wasn't too long ago that the Wildcats' 2016 recruiting class was lacking, but recently they got a commitment from five-star guard Kobi Simmons, and on Monday night they added another five-star guard.
Rawle Alkins, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard, announced his decision to play his college basketball at Arizona on Monday night, and Miller is now on a roll in recruiting. Alkins, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., chose Arizona over UNLV and St. John's among others. Chris Mullin and St. John's were hoping to keep Alkins in New York and build on their already strong recruiting class, but instead Alkins decided to go cross country.
Alkins is now the third commit Miller has gotten for 2016 along with four-star forward Lauri Markkanen and five-star guard Simmons. Alkins is ranked as the 17th best player in the 2016 class and the fifth best shooting guard. His commitment moves Arizona to the ninth best class in the nation.
Part of the reason Alkins chose Arizona over his hometown school St. John's was because of his official visit to Arizona. Alkins was at the game where Arizona had its home winning streak snapped by Oregon, but he was impressed by "the fact that one loss is like the world ended." Alkins was also being heavily recruited by Simmons to join him as a Wildcat.
The scouting report on Alkins is that he has improved his offensive game by being able to get to the rim and finish while also being able to knock down jumpers at a good clip. The Brooklyn native will likely make his biggest impact on the defensive end where he is quick, strong and a great rebounder for a guard.
While Alkins' commitment moved Arizona into the top 10 recruiting classes for 2016, Miller is far from done. He has previously said that he would like to add four or five guys for next year, and they are one of the finalists for consensus top three recruit Josh Jackson. Kansas is the favorite to get Jackson, but based on the roll Miller is on right now Arizona cannot be ruled out.
