Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
It isn’t often that a college program tells a Top 10 recruit not to visit, but that’s exactly what happened late Tuesday.
Arizona coaches called Tony Johnson, the travel team coach of highly touted Dallas small forward LeBryan Nash, and asked him not to take his scheduled official visit this weekend.
“They cancelled the visit,” Johnson said Wednesday by phone. “I told [Nash] late last night. LeBryan was kind of upset about it.
“It’s got something to do with some scholarships.”
The Arizona Daily Star reported that Arizona is already two over its 2011-12 allotment of just 12 scholarships. The Wildcats lost one scholarship because of violations from the Lute Olson era.
Arizona has 11 players on scholarship for next season and has accepted commitments from Josiah Turner, Nick Johnson and New Yorker Sidiki Johnson.
“It’s bad on their part because he was very interested in them,” Johnson said of Nash.
Indeed, the 6-7 Nash told me earlier this week that Arizona could pull even with Oklahoma State in his recruitment if the visit went well.
“Arizona might be matched up with Oklahoma State,” he said. “They might be if everything goes well on the visit.”
Now Nash is down to Oklahoma State, Baylor and Kansas, which he is slated to visit Oct. 15.
This latest development appears to leave Oklahoma State in good position since Nash told me they were the leader.
“Oklahoma State might have a slight lead over everybody and they might be the school to beat,” he said.
“They’ve been recruiting me since the 7th grade and just me going, I think I’ll be the face of the school,” he added. “It’s a good basketball school. It’s a tremendous place to play. They are on TV a lot. Last year they beat Kansas. It’s a tough place to play.
“Me going there might give the fans more to come. We might even get a chance to win a national championship.”
Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter
Adam Zagoria is a Basketball Insider who covers basketball at all levels. A contributor to The New York Times and SportsNet New York (SNY), he is also the author of two books and is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. His articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide. He also won an Emmy award for his work on the SNY mini-documentary on Syracuse guard Tyus Battle.
A veteran Ultimate Frisbee player, he has competed in numerous National and World Championships and, perhaps more importantly, his teams won the Westchester Summer League (WSL) championships in 2011 and 2013.
He lives in Manhattan with his wife and children.
It isn’t often that a college program tells a Top 10 recruit not to visit, but that’s exactly what happened late Tuesday.
Arizona coaches called Tony Johnson, the travel team coach of highly touted Dallas small forward LeBryan Nash, and asked him not to take his scheduled official visit this weekend.
“They cancelled the visit,” Johnson said Wednesday by phone. “I told [Nash] late last night. LeBryan was kind of upset about it.
“It’s got something to do with some scholarships.”
The Arizona Daily Star reported that Arizona is already two over its 2011-12 allotment of just 12 scholarships. The Wildcats lost one scholarship because of violations from the Lute Olson era.
Arizona has 11 players on scholarship for next season and has accepted commitments from Josiah Turner, Nick Johnson and New Yorker Sidiki Johnson.
“It’s bad on their part because he was very interested in them,” Johnson said of Nash.
Indeed, the 6-7 Nash told me earlier this week that Arizona could pull even with Oklahoma State in his recruitment if the visit went well.
“Arizona might be matched up with Oklahoma State,” he said. “They might be if everything goes well on the visit.”
Now Nash is down to Oklahoma State, Baylor and Kansas, which he is slated to visit Oct. 15.
This latest development appears to leave Oklahoma State in good position since Nash told me they were the leader.
“Oklahoma State might have a slight lead over everybody and they might be the school to beat,” he said.
“They’ve been recruiting me since the 7th grade and just me going, I think I’ll be the face of the school,” he added. “It’s a good basketball school. It’s a tremendous place to play. They are on TV a lot. Last year they beat Kansas. It’s a tough place to play.
“Me going there might give the fans more to come. We might even get a chance to win a national championship.”
Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter
