Last week Arthur Kaluma’s AAU coach figured he’d make his decision by this Friday. This week he pushed out the date… kinda. Sean Stevens told Mike Waters he “expected Kaluma to have a decision by early next week and possibly sooner.” Sounds like the top-50 prospect may wait until after the weekend to commit, although Stevens left the door open for the original prediction of Friday.
Kaluma’s decision has become major news in the college basketball world. It’s rare for a recruit of his ranking to still be juggling offers, leading to intense speculation from four central programs. It’s happened because of upheaval at UNLV where he decommitted from a few weeks ago. Syracuse, Arizona, Washington and Creighton are the quartet he’s deciding between, each of which have solid credentials and selling points.
While the Bluejays are not in the ACC or Pac-12, they are a perennial NCAA Tournament team and are coming off a trip to the Sweet 16. Creighton just lost 5-star point guard TyTy Washington, who told the Athletic he decommitted because of Greg McDermott’s ill-advised “plantation” comments. Landing Kaluma would be a big bounce back.
Arizona has the new staff and proximity. Syracuse has the recent Final Fours and ACC competition. Washington has the big West Coast city.
Stevens believes Kaluma should be ranked even higher than mid-40s nationally. “I think he’d be in the top 25 if he’d been able to play more this year.” His schedule, like most players, has been limited because of Covid. Stevens says SU has been involved in two Zoom calls with Kaluma over the past week and they both “went well.” While many pundits believe Arizona is the favorite because of its distance to Kaluma in Glendale, AZ, it still seems like all four schools believe they have a chance. We thought that decision would clarify by tomorrow, but it may mean waiting a few more days.
