sean miller has received a commitment from deandre ayton the #1 ranked player in the 2018 class
how did deandre ayton end up committing to arizona?
deandre grew up in a very poor neighborhood in the bahamas far away from the splashy resorts...he grew up in a tiny 2 bedroom house with his mom andrea (she is from jamaica), stepdad & 4 siblings, that's 7 people in a small space
ayton changed schools multiple times because "because i was too hyperactive, i used to follow bad company"
deandre caught the eye of aau coach shaun manning & a wealthy san diego businessman ryan stone...stone paid for the aytons to move to san diego & live with manning
ayton attended balboa city school & together they created an aau team formed around deandre & hired zach jones a former san diego state player as the "executive director"
manning & jones had a falling out & the aytons moved in with jones...balboa city school is not a legitimate academic school & is not recognized by the ncca
then an arizona booster facilitated the ayton's family to phoenix to attend hillcrest academy (which costs $35 k a year) which is a front for a basketball academy that has had issues with the ncca in the past which resulted in 2018's #1 ranked player marvin bagley transferring from hillcrest to sierra canyon high school in southern california
http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/high-school/2016/01/15/hillcrest-prep-basketball-changes-academic-affiliation/78870260/hillcrest's executive director matt allen switched their sketchy educational program from the beleaguered starshine academy to arizona connections academy which is an online school with no monitoring of who actually takes the on line tests...deandre who has struggled academically his entire life now has a 3.5 gpa with the arizona connections academy
money has changed hands & ayton is now an arizona commit if he gets cleared by the ncca (which didn't happen for wildcat commit terrance ferguson this year, he bailed for pro ball in australia)...the arizona booster will try to recoup his investment by steering ayton to an ethically flexible/appreciative agent for his 1st nba contract
what criteria did deandre utilize in making this decision to attend arizona, did academics matter at all?
"it really doesn't matter which school i go to, i just want a relationship with the coach and a good year in college and that's it"
who influenced his decision?
"stanley johnson went there and he has good taste"
stanley johnson was given a $40k tricked out dodge challenger by the same arizona booster that johnson crashed the afternoon after declaring for the nba draft
arizona is a dirty program & while this may result in a potential ncca championship it will come at a cost
this is arizona basketball#