Five-star point guard Kobi Simmons commits to Arizona
Jan 16, 2016, 4:54 PM | Updated: 6:28 pm
Source: @JavierJMorales on Twitter
Sean Miller and his coaching staff received some great news before their game against Washington State on Saturday night, as five-star recruit Kobi Simmons picked Arizona.
I'm An Arizona Wildcat!!!! BearDown🐻⬇️ ⚪️🔴🔵Blessed🙏🏼✊🏽💯🔥
— Kobi Simmons (@JordanKobi) January 17, 2016
Welcome to the squad @JordanKobi 🔴🔵🐻⬇️
— Allonzo Trier (@ISO_ZO) January 17, 2016
The 6-foot-6 point guard from Alpharetta, Georgia chose Arizona over Ohio State and Kentucky. Earlier in the week Ohio State stopped recruiting Simmons, according to a report from CBS Sports.
Simmons is a quick, long and bouncy point guard that perfectly fits into the mold of previous players at Arizona like Nick Johnson, Aaron Gordon and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson. He uses that athleticism combined with a great handle of the basketball and attacking instincts to consistently create space for himself and his teammates.
With an athlete of that pedigree, Miller will look to turn Simmons into an elite defender, similar to what he has done this season with junior guard Kadeem Allen and what he did in the past with Johnson, Gordon and Hollis-Jefferson.
Here is a look at some highlights of Simmons:
With Simmons, the point guard position becomes very crowded in the 2016-17 Arizona campaign. Sophomore Parker Jackson-Cartwright has been coming off the bench and Allen has been starting, but Jackson-Cartwright has far less use as a combo guard than Allen.
There’s also freshman Justin Simon, who was ranked in a similar range as Simmons in last season’s recruiting class and is the same type of slasher and athlete. Simon has slowly earned his way into the rotation and has looked good in his short spurts, spending time on the floor as more of a combo guard than a point guard.
Simmons joins Finnish 7-footer Lauri Markkanen in the 2016 recruiting class. Arizona is still active, with the No. 3 overall recruit in ESPN’s top 100 Josh Jackson listing Arizona in his final five schools in late December. The Wildcats are also reportedly “going hard” after small forward Rawle Alkins, who is No. 15 on ESPN’s top 100.
