Five-star guard Allonzo Trier committed to the Arizona Wildcats on Sunday, according to Evan Daniels of Scout.com, and that means Sean Miller has plugged another expected hole should the team see a mass exodus to the NBA following the 2014-15 season.
The third commitment to the 2015 class joins combo guard Justin Simon (ranked 23rd in his class by ESPN) and forward Ray Smith (26th per ESPN).
Trier, from Rockville, Maryland, is a 6'4 shooting guard who is an aggressive slasher, but he's also capable of scoring in the mid-range or taking it out to the three-point line. Though he's a score-first player, he does have the ability to create for others and especially thrived playing for USA Basketball's Under-18 squad this summer. Starting alongside Stanley Johnson, who is actually fourth months younger than Trier, the Findlay Prep product averaged 12.6 points on 62 percent shooting as Team USA rolled through the FIBA Americas tournament.
Most recently, Trier led the Peach Jam AAU event by averaging 31 points per game.
At a wider angle, Miller impressively has three of the six total committed players in the top-26 of the 2015 class. The early pledges can only mean good things should the Wildcats need the bodies in the 2015-16 season. Priority-wise, Miller is doing this the right way, because Arizona is most likely to lose its perimeter players. Point guard T.J. McConnell will be gone after this coming year, while Stanley Johnson and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson are already considered lottery picks in the 2015 draft; DraftExpress' mock has those two going 10th and 15th respectively.
What Brandon Ashley and Kaleb Tarczewski decide to do after this coming year is less certain. They could work their way into first-round picks but could still declare early if they have solid spots in the second round.
As far as the 2015 class is concerned, Arizona was also heavily involved in guard Isaiah Briscoe, but this move seemingly signals they might have other priorities. The Wildcats can now focus on chasing after center Stephen Zimmerman or the ESPN top-ranked recruit, power forward Ivan Rabb.
As a 13-year-old, Trier was the focal point of a New York Times article detailed the complexities of the AAU circuit.