Barcello joins Arizona's 2017 class as first prospect to commit
When Sean Miller sets the wheels in motion for a plan he has a way of making it come to fruition. Mission accomplished Friday as the Wildcats added their first commit of the 2017 class when in-state guard Alex Barcello gave the program his pledge while on an official visit. The three-star prospect played well with the Oakland Soldiers during the travel ball season and Arizona was present at his games .. a lot.
In Las Vegas he became the top priority for Miller and his staff and from that point on the Wildcats had the upper hand in his recruitment.
The Wildcats offered the Tempe (Ariz.) Corona del Sol standout much earlier in the process, but his recruitment went through some ebbs and flows when it came to the in-state school. However, once Arizona made him one of its prime targets this summer things moved quickly and despite having a top five and taking two other official visits already he made his decision to end the process.
On the court Barcello has refined his game to become more of a complete player and he mentioned this summer that Miller likens him to a mix of two former UA standouts, TJ McConnell and Nick Johnson.
A big-time scorer Barcello has improved his ability to play the point guard position become a complete player at the position with the ability to dish the ball as well as make baskets from all over the floor.
"They say that I remind them a lot of kind of a mixture of TJ McConnell and Nick Johnson," Barcello said previously. "A lot of people don't think I'm that athletic but I kind of surprise them. ... But, also, I'm a general on the floor I feel like and I'll make the right play coming up and down the court whether that's on defense or on offense. I'm just trying to pull out wins for my team."
Currently rated a three-star prospect Rivals.com national analyst Eric Bossi said this week that Barcello will be moved to a four-star recruit in the upcoming update to the 2017 rankings.
Attention will now turn to the other members of Arizona's 2017 class with Ira Lee being the next big target who is expected to decide early. The Wildcats will have the four-star power forward on campus for Red-Blue weekend on his official visit.
