Elite Phoenix post Kennedy Basham has Arizona in her top 6

Adia Barnes has gone far and wide to land some talented recruits, but she has also added some quality in-state talent, too. And Kennedy Basham could be next, as the 6-foot-7 post listed the Arizona Wildcats in her top 6 on Monday.

Basham attends PHH Prep in Phoenix after beginning her high school career at Pinnacle, the same school former UA point guard Nico Mannion attended. In her last season at Pinnacle, she averaged 17.6 points, 9.9 rebounds, and 4.6 blocks per game.

She is the No. 28 player and No. 6 post in the 2022 class, per ESPN. Her other finalists are Oregon, UCLA, Louisville, Duke and Arizona State.

“Superior shot blocking presence with emerging offensive game consistency,” her ESPN scouting report reads. “Makes plays through contact in the block, brings a soft touch in the key, adding offensive weaponry, continues to emerge as a coveted prospect in the class of 2022.”

Arizona landed Chandler’s Madi Conner in the 2021 class and Phoenix’s Bryce Nixon in the 2018 class. Both were among the top in-state talents.

Barnes has said Arizona’s 2022 class will be very strong. So far the Wildcats have a commitment from 5-star guard Kailyn Gilbert. And in addition to Basham, the Wildcats are also finalists for these other 2022 recruits...

• 5-star point guard Kiki Rice (No. 6 overall)
• 5-star forward Maya Nnaji (No. 8 overall)
• 5-star point guard Chance Gray (No. 14 overall)
• 4-star point guard Londynn Jones (No. 15 overall)
• 4-star forward Grace VanSlooten (No. 16 overall)
• 4-star shooting guard KK Bransford (No. 27 overall)
• 4-star guard Carleigh Wenzel (No. 37 overall)
• 4-star post Sa’Myah Smith (No. 44 overall)

Barnes has said the 2022 class could take a little longer to come together since in-person recruiting has been banned since March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“I know a couple of the players in ‘22, they are going to wait some time because they want to take visits,” she said. “That’s the unfortunate part of it. But I guess the fortunate part is we have time for relationships and a lot more Zoom calls to get to know people, which is great. Before the visits start I would say maybe we’ll have one or two more [commitments] and then we’ll probably have to [wait for] commitments [until] after visits, I think.

“A lot of those kids we haven’t seen in a while, so it just makes them more challenging. It means you’re doing a really good job when you can get someone from across the country to come that’s never been to the state of Arizona and not really the West Coast a whole lot. So I think that’s impressive, but I think it’s also hard for players because the players are having to make decisions sight unseen, haven’t met the team, and I think those are very hard and we’re talking about 16 year olds.”