Brandon Ashley commits to Arizona, gives Wildcats motherload of 2012 class

Five-star forward Brandon Ashley committed to the Arizona Wildcats Monday afternoon following a weekend visit to the UA campus, according to Paul Biancardi of ESPN and Josh Gershon of Scout.com.

Ashley told Biancardi he felt comfortable with the situation in Tucson, enough to go ahead and choose the Wildcats early.

"I'm ready to commit to Arizona," Ashley said. "After all the time thinking about it and getting to know Coach Miller and having two great teammates, (fellow 2012 commits Grant Jerrettand Gabe York) I knew it was the right choice for me."    

Ashley, who visited Arizona with guard Nate Britt, is ranked as the No. 4 overall prospect by ESPN and picked the Wildcats over the Kentucky Wildcats, Oregon Ducks and UCLA Bruins. Out of the Oakland area, Ashley recently transferred to Findlay Prep, the school of freshman Wildcat Nick Johnson.

He puts head coach Sean Miller's class amongst perhaps the most elite in 2012. With power forward Grant Jerrett already verbally committed, along with 6-foot-1 combo guard Gabe York, Miller has already assembled the best in the country, ESPN analyst Dave Telep writes.

The trio of York (No. 36), Ashley (No. 4) and Jerrett (No. 9) is enough firepower to slide past Indiana and take over the top spot in the 2012 class rankings.

After analyzing Arizona's depth chart, the next position for Miller to strengthen is the point guard slot. He has Turner, Johnson and York who can double as combos but their long term future will be according to their growth and based on the new NBA collective bargaining agreement. You can bet in 2013, Miller will dispatch his assistants with the intention of getting a big-time point guard. Nate Britt (Washington, D.C./Gonzaga) was on campus Sunday afternoon.

This program is poised to make a run at the Wildcats' fifth Final Four appearance.

Now, Miller has one target left. Jeff Goodman of CBS tweeted that stealing Kaleb Tarczewski from Kansas could make the Wildcats downright scary.

 If Miller can somehow beat out Kansas for Kaleb Tarczewski, there's no reason to think Arizona can't compete for national titles again. 

So yeah, that's pretty much the theme here. Miller's success in recruiting three-star players and making them into an Elite Eight squad is only building the momentum into bigger recruits and bigger goals. Goodman just posted this potential depth chart, and I'm sure it makes fellow Pac-12 teams and the other national power -- yes, you, Duke, North Carolina and UConn -- gulp.

Via Goodman:

Point Guard - Josiah Turner, Jordin Mayes
Shooting Guard - Nick Johnson, Gabe York
Small Forward - Kevin Parrom, Solomon Hill
Power Forward - Brandon Ashley, Grant Jerrett
Center - Angelo Chol, Sidiki Johnson