DeAndre Ayton, the number one high school basketball recruit in the country, committed to Arizona on September 6th. Ayton is a seven foot big man who is a beast in the paint, but also has a solid midrange game. Committing is very good for the kid, but bad for the many other teams besides Arizona that spent long, hard days recruiting him. It is interesting in sports how people put labels on and rank kids when they are so young. This guy is our age and is already getting national media attention. Deandre Ayton’s commitment to Arizona was live on Sportscenter for the world to see. When big shot recruits get so much hype early on, it can be a burden to them and they can die out. Sometimes, high recruits out of high school are not high NBA draft picks, and even some high draft picks end up being busts in the big leagues. It is good to praise this player and give him attention, but there are a lot of really good ball players who are getting recruited for their hot stuff. It was interesting DeAndre Ayton chose to play at Arizona. Even though the guy is from Phoenix, Arizona does not have an elite program like Kansas or Kentucky, and it is not an academic powerhouse with good basketball like Duke. This kid got offers from everywhere, so Arizona seems a little bizarre to me. Hopefully, Ayton can prove himself to be the real deal make Arizona a legit contender for a few years. Unless, of course, he is a one and done and is playing in the NBA in the blink of an eye.
I now realize why these young basketball talents sometimes crack under all of the pressures of media and doing well. It must be very hard for DeAndre Ayton to make an important decision such as this one.
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