Brandon Williams (Photo courtesy of Matt Moreno, goazcats.com)
Brandon Williams, a five-star point guard in the 2018 class, committed to the Arizona Wildcats on Tuesday afternoon.
Williams, who picked Arizona over Gonzaga, USC, UCLA and Kansas, is from Crespi High School in Encino, Calif. Williams is rated the 20th-best prospect and the seventh-best point guard in the nation, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.
Dear University of Arizona,
I'm your Point Guard#COMMITTED pic.twitter.com/jzZndvHikn— Brandon Williams (@TheeBWill) June 6, 2017
He is Arizona coach Sean Miller’s second committed player in the 2018 class, the other being four-star forward Shareef O’Neal, the son of Shaquille O’Neal. Shareef is close to being a five-star recruit (usually limited to about the top 25 players in the country. O’Neal is rated No. 29 overall in the 247Sports Composite, so he certainly has the ability to move up to a five-star during his senior season of high school.
Williams, (6-1, 185) fits Arizona’s 2018 need for a point guard. The Wildcats will lose senior Parker Jackson-Cartwright after the 2017-18 season, and Alex Barcello will be a sophomore. Williams isn’t a “combo guard” but he does bring a scoring mentality to the point guard position, blending with his ability to create for others.
According to Scout.com:
Williams is a speedy point guard who thrives in uptempo situations. He gets up and down the court in a hurry and can either use his ball skills to create for himself or teammates. Williams can really shoot it off the bounce and does a nice job using his handle to create space. He can sometimes be shoot-first, but has the vision to make teammates better. He has good lateral quickness, which aids him on defense. His upside is very high.
Williams is not on the summer travel-ball circuit because of a knee injury that kept him out of his junior year of high school.
With Williams’ commitment, Miller has signed (or has a commitment from) 16 five-star recruits since the 2011 recruiting class, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.
Taking out Williams and two others who are arriving for the 2017-18 season, that leaves 13 previous signees. Among those 13, seven played one year, or not at all, for the Wildcats for various reasons (Josiah Turner, Grant Jerrett, Aaron Gordon, Stanley Johnson, Ray Smith, Terrance Ferguson, Lauri Markkanen).
Here is Miller’s five-star list (using the 247Sports Composite):
2011 — Josiah Turner
2011 – Nick Johnson
2012 — Kaleb Tarczewski
2012 — Grant Jerrett
2012 — Brandon Ashley
2013 — Aaron Gordon
2013 — Rondae Hollis-Jefferson
2014 — Stanley Johnson
2015 — Allonzo Trier
2015 — Ray Smith
2016 — Terrance Ferguson
2016 — Lauri Markkanen
2016 — Rawle Alkins
2017 — DeAndre Ayton
2017 — Emmanuel Akot
2018 — Brandon Williams
Now you just and that the knee is fine but when healthy Arizona might not be able to do better than Williams in this class at the point
— Matt Moreno (@MattGOAZCATS) June 6, 2017
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