With 2009 basketball recruiting finally complete, the late additions of Forward Derrick Williams and Guard Lamont Jones have propelled Arizona into the 12th best recruiting class in the nation.
Not only is this class impressive in and of itself, but when you consider that Sean Miller was hired less than three months ago and was two years behind on recruiting, this class is amazing. Of course, it didn't hurt that USC coach Tim Floyd was embroiled in controversy and lost every single recruit, three of which signed with Arizona. But we lost all of our recruits, including the #2 rated PG Abdul Gaddy to Washington when Lute left, along with a top 100 SF Mike Moser to UCLA. So all's fair in college hoops and recruiting.
Here's the list of the recruiting classes that rank ahead of Arizona along with their top-level prospect:
1. Kentucky, 6 recruits - PG John Wall (1 overall)
2. Villanova, 4 recruits - PF Mouphtaou Yarou (10 overall)
3. Texas, 3 recruits - SG Avery Bradley (4 overall)
4. Georgia Tech, 5 recruits - C Derrick Favors (3 overall)
5. North Carolina, 5 recruits - PF John Henson (5 overall)
6. Kansas, 3 recruits - SG Xavier Henry (8 overall)
7. Oklahoma, 5 recruits - C Keith Gallon (9 overall)
8. UCLA, 5 recruits - SF Tyler Honeycutt (28 overall)
9. Connecticut, 4 recruits - C Alex Oriakhi (21 overall)
10. Indiana, 6 recruits - SF Christian Watford (41 overall)
11. Oklahoma State, 7 recruits - PG Raymond Penn (44 overall)
Here's a quick look at Arizona's 2009 class, 5 recruits
SF Solomon Hill (27 overall), PG Lamont Jones (68 overall), C Kyryl Natyazhko (81 overall), SF Kevin Parrom (122 overall), and PF Derrick Williams (NR)