Top basketball recruit revokes commitment to UA

The projected centerpiece of Arizona’s 2009 basketball recruiting class is gone, at least temporarily.

Top-20 point guard Abdul Gaddy said Thursday he has decommitted from the Arizona Wildcats, largely because of wholesale changes on Lute Olson’s coaching staff, but he will still consider UA while reopening his recruitment.

Gaddy said he was particularly close with former assistants Josh Pastner and Miles Simon and had only limited recent contact with the new Wildcats’ coaching staff.

“There’s just a lot of change going on,” Gaddy said. “I don’t really know the coaching staff. I know Lute Olson, but when I committed, I committed to Lute Olson, Kevin O’Neill, Josh Pastner and Miles Simon. I had a relationship with that coaching staff.”

Gaddy, a 6-foot-3 senior-to-be at Tacoma (Wash.) Bellarmine Prep, said earlier this month at the Arizona Cactus Classic that he would “take a look” at Arizona’s situation and decide whether to remain committed. His coach on the AAU Northwest Panthers, Gary Ward, said then that Gaddy remained committed “at this particular moment.”

Although NCAA rules limit the contact coaches can have with high school juniors, coaches can call either a player’s high school or AAU coach to get in touch with him, and Gaddy said he went two weeks without hearing from the Wildcat staff. That added to his hesitance to remain committed, he indicated.

“The coaching staff is new and there’s a lot of questions there,” Gaddy said. “I hadn’t been contacted for more than two weeks until I talked to (new UA assistant coach) Reggie Geary two days ago, and it was really brief.”

Gaddy said he talked with Olson once since the Cactus Classic, noting that Olson’s return from a leave of absence is a positive that he will keep in mind.

“Lute Olson is still there. That’s a good thing. That’s a really good thing,” Gaddy said. “Arizona’s always going to be Arizona. It’s always been one of my favorite schools since I was a kid.”

Gaddy said he did not know when he might decide on a new school. He added he would like to play for the same school as longtime backcourt mate Avery Bradley, a top-20 player who also has played at Bellarmine and on the Northwest Panthers.

Ward and Bellarmine Prep coach Bernie Salazar were unavailable for comment. UA coaches cannot comment on recruits until their letters of intent have been signed.

BONUS SHOT: Point guard Nic Wise announced Friday that he will return to the program next year for his junior season.

Wise averaged 9.2 points, 2.3 rebounds and a team-leading 4.4 assists per game in 29.4 minutes per game last season.