Brandon Williams, Who Recently De-Committed From Arizona, Commits To Arizona

Top high school player Brandon Williams de-committed from Arizona back in early March, citing the “current climate surrounding U of A” in the wake of ESPN’s report of Wildcats coach Sean Miller being caught via FBI wiretap offering money to then-recruit DeAndre Ayton. The climate must’ve changed, because Williams announced Saturday that he is headed to Arizona after all:

Williams was the last major Arizona recruit to de-commit, following Shareef O’Neal and Jahvon Quinerly—O’Neal eventually committed to UCLA, and Quinerly to Villanova. Since then, the Wildcats were dumped out of the NCAA Tournament by 14-seed Buffalo, and Ayton left college for the NBA draft. The world hadn’t exactly been holding its breath while Williams looked for a new landing spot, but his, ahem, return to Arizona probably means a great deal to embattled head coach Sean Miller.

Mark Emmert made it sound like there will not be an NCAA investigation of recruiting violations at Arizona until after the FBI investigation wraps up, and who the hell knows when that could be. Williams is a hot-shot recruit, and might be looking at a one-and-done type of college career, in which case all that unfortunate climate business might not affect his career one way or another.