The top Bay Area basketball prospect is trimming his list down to the top five or six, and two Pac-12 schools are very well in the mix. Dublin power forward/Findlay Prep transfer Brandon Ashley is looking up at Eugene and down at Tucson as potential landing spots. Adam Zagoria has more on the Zags blog (with video included) after talking with Ashley at the LeBron James Skills Academy.
Current teams that have offered Ashley? All of the original Pac-10 schools, UConn, Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio State, Texas, Wake Forest. But the two names he's been clear will make the cut? The defending Pac-10 champion Arizona Wildcats, and the up-and-coming Oregon Ducks.
Rest assured that when he cuts his list, Arizona and Oregon will appear on it.
“I can’t really say if there [are] any schools that’s ahead for me; I’m still even-keeled with everybody right now,” Ashley said. “But they are two of the schools that’s recruiting me the hardest out of all the schools recruiting me.”
Arizona makes plenty of sense. Sean Miller has been a master recruiter and players just seem to love to play under him, and the Wildcats seem to be returning to national relevance in a hurry. The Oregon love takes a little bit more searching. Although the Ducks received a huge commitment from Jabari Brown last year, the Ducks are not likely to make noise in the near future. Unless Ashley is planning to stick around a few years, the best perk is playing time, the second best is playing in Nike Arena or whatever it's called.
Cal and Stanford are both in the mix too, but it'd be a huge surprise if either of them made the final five/six.
For more on Oregon recruiting, Addicted to Quack is where to go. Arizona recruiting is best pursued at AZ Desert Swarm.