Arizona decided to offer a 2021 recruit on Wednesday amid all the recent 2022 offers that the program made as the Wildcats joined the race for four-star center prospect Ryan Mutombo from Atlanta, Georgia.
Other notable offers
Georgetown, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Stanford, Georgia, Florida State, Tennessee, Florida, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M
Rundown
The 7-footer from The Lovett School in Atlanta is the son of former NBA star Dikembe Mutombo, so there is naturally going to be intrigue because of his bloodlines. Mutombo has continued to improve as a player over the last year and that has him in position to play for a number of programs across the country.
His rapid development in the second half of his high school career has now brought a number of high major programs into the mix with Arizona now giving him another option in the Pac-12.
The Wildcats will likely have a limited number of spots in the 2021 class and with Sean Miller's program focusing on a number of guards and wing players for 2020 it makes sense for UA to zero in on a big man like Mutombo.
Georgetown, his father's alma mater, has certainly gained plenty of momentum early in the process but he has remained open to the other programs in pursuit as well. North Carolina is one school that piqued his interest, and Mutombo has gone so far as to call it his dream school.
Now that UA has offered it can turn up the intensity in his recruitment and make a run at trying to pull him to the other side of the country for his college career.
What he said
“During this process, my dad is really just there to support me no matter decision I make. He’s just there to support me and cheer me on. It’s always going to be love, even if I decide to go to like Syracuse. Mostly the questions I’ve asked him so far are about how to take care of my body at the next level and what to expect with the physicality. My dad was a four-year player at Georgetown, so he obviously has a lot of experience in balancing school and basketball playing on one of the best teams in the country.” – Ryan Mutombo on the role his father, Dikembe, plays in his recruiting process.
What the expert says
"His development over the past six to eight months has been remarkable. He’s put on 20-25 pounds in that time and he’s become a much more efficient and confident offensive player. Defensively, it shouldn’t come as a surprise given his size and length combined with who his father is that he’s dominant interior defender." – Rivals.com national writer Dan McDonald on Mutombo's development.
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