Craig Victor commits to Arizona
The 6-foot-7, 205-pound New Orleans native — ranked No. 31 nationally in the Class of 2014, No. 1 in Louisiana and No. 5 at his position — picked the Wildcats over LSU, Kansas and Oklahoma State. Victor made the announcement at his travel team’s season-ending banquet.
“For me, it was about going to a place that could develop me for the NBA,” Victor said. “I also wanted a chance to win a national championship.”
As a junior, Victor averaged 14.1 points and 11.3 rebounds per game for St. Augustine High outside of New Orleans. This fall, he’ll head to national power Findlay Prep (Nev.) for his senior season. Media reports suggested Victor opted for Findlay shortly after Findlay alum Anthony Bennett was selected No. 1 in the NBA draft this June.
Victor was a highly sought after national recruit after a strong spring and early summer of AAU and camp ball. He’s one of the few power forwards in the 2014 class with the motor, scoring acumen and perimeter package to play both inside and outside to 18 feet.
At the NBPA Top 100 Camp in June, Victor admitted to his affinity for Sean Miller’s Wildcats.
“They’ve been on me since the eighth grade,” Victor said.
Arizona assistant Joe Pasternack was formerly the head coach at New Orleans, and the New Orleans native maintains strong ties to the region. Victor’s admission that Arizona and Pasternack were on him the longest is a nod to the relationship.
Miller has had no problems recruiting nationally since arriving in Tucson, landing top-10 recruiting classes each of the past three years (No. 5 in 2013, No. 3 in 2012 and No. 7 in 2011) and signing four McDonald’s All Americans during his tenure (Brandon Ashley and Grant Jerrett in 2012 and Aaron Gordon and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson in 2013).
The Wildcats are banking on another strong class in 2014 and are off to a great start. In addition to Victor, Arizona also owns a commitment from ESPN 100 point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright (Los Angeles/Loyola), putting the Wildcats just outside the early ESPN RecruitingNation 2014 class top 10 rankings.
Arizona is also still in the mix with plenty of other top 2014 recruits. Among the elite ESPN 100 players strongly considering the Wildcats are No. 1 overall prospect Jahlil Okafor (Chicago/Whitney Young), center Myles Turner (Bedford, Texas/Euless Trinity), small forward Stanley Johnson (Fullerton, Calif./Mater Dei), wing Justise Winslow (Houston/St. John’s) and small forward Kameron Chatman (Long Beach, Calif./Poly).