The Arizona Wildcats’ logjam in the front court might have just become a bit less crowded.
Reports have surfaced that forward Grant Jerrett might declare for the NBA Draft. The NCAA’s withdrawal deadline is April 28, so if Jerrett is leaving or staying at the UA, the news will become official then.
CBS Sports writer Jeff Goodman tweeted that Jerrett will be returning to the UA: “Arizona freshman Grant Jerrett’s high school coach Eric Cooper to CBSSports. ‘Grant has no intention of going in the draft at this time.’”
DraftExpress has Jerrett, who is listed as 6-foot-10 and 235 pounds, ranked as the 35th-best freshman from the 2012 season.
The news comes as a bit of a surprise, but with Aaron Gordon — a top-5 power forward recruit — coming in, plus the return of last year’s talented freshmen class, meant that Jerrett would probably come off the bench for the Wildcats, likely in a sixth-man role.
Jerrett came to the UA as part of the third-best recruiting class in the nation last year, alongside forward Brandon Ashley, center Kaleb Tarczewski and guard Gabe York, all of whom are expected to return to the Wildcats next season. Plus, 6-foot-10 junior college transfer Matt Korcheck will be joining the Wildcats next season.
In 34 games last year (including two early-season starts), Jerrett averaged 5.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and a team-high 1.0 blocks per game while hitting 40.5 percent of his 3-pointers. Jerrett scored 10 or more points five times and had one game with double-digit rebounds (10 against UCLA on Jan. 24). His best game of the season probably came against the Bruins on March 2, when he got 14 points, five rebounds and hit four 3-pointers.
In January of last year, Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress wrote this about Jerrett’s NBA prospects: “We’re a ways away still from being able to get a great read on Jerrett’s NBA prospects at the moment. We’ll have to see how well he’s able to coexist with fellow top-10 Arizona recruit Kaleb Tarczewski next year, particularly how many minutes they are able to play together.”
