Arizona Wildcats Basketball
5-Star PG Nico Mannion Commits to Arizona over Villanova, More
Adam Wells@adamwells1985Twitter LogoFeatured ColumnistSeptember 14, 2018
Source: 247Sports
Prized point guard Nico Mannion is off the market after committing to play basketball at the University of Arizona.
Mannion announced his decision to join the Wildcats on Twitter:
niccolo @niccolomannion
110% committed to the University of Arizona!! 🐻⬇️ https://t.co/zh24lDl9lh
The Phoenix native tweeted last week that he had narrowed down his choices to Arizona and Marquette. He was one of the most sought-after recruits in the 2019 class, receiving offers from defending national champion Villanova, Duke and UCLA.
A 5-star recruit, Mannion is ranked as the nation's top point guard and No. 13 overall prospect in next year's recruiting class by 247Sports.
Mannion told Wildcat Authority's Jason Scheer last month that part of Arizona's recruiting pitch was to build style of play around his strengths.
"Arizona's pitch is to have the ball in my hands and let me play my game," Mannion said. "They really want to change their style of play because in the past seasons they have had bigs. He wants to get more guards and play faster, which is kind of my style in play."
Wildcats head coach Sean Miller and his staff are off to a great early start on the 2019 recruiting trail. The program is the class of the Pac-12 with four regular-season conference titles and three conference tournament titles since 2014.
Arizona has won at least 25 games in each of the past six seasons. Mannion's arrival will go a long way toward keeping the Wildcats at that level in the future.