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Five-star power forward Koa Peat is staying home as he chose Arizona over Arizona State, Houston, Baylor and Texas. He made the announcement during "The Pat McAfee Show" on Thursday. As he heads to Tucson, he will be teaming with Bryce James, a three-star prospect and the son of LeBron James.
Peat reacted to one of the posts announcing his commitment on his Instagram Stories.
"Lets work," Peat posted.
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Arizona had been the heavy favorite to land the No. 7-ranked overall recruit from the Class of 2025, according to On3. The ranking website had the Wildcats at an 87.9% chance to land Peat, which was way ahead of No. 20-ranked Arizona State, which only had a 2.3% chance.
Texas, Houston and Baylor each got a 1.6% chance to bring in the power forward, though many considered this to be a race between Arizona and Arizona State.
Peat acknowledged that his decision was hard on "The Pat McAfee Show":
"It was a super hard decision," Peat said. "Me and my parents had really serious talks about it, but I just felt like Arizona is the right situation for me. Coach Tommy (Lloyd) is a great coach. They have great assistant coaches over there for my development, and they're a winning program, so I'm just excited to come down and play in McKale."
Wildcats coach Tommy Lloyd had been trying to recruit Peat even before the five-star went to high school, with Lloyd offering Peat a scholarship when the power forward was still in eighth grade.
Koa Peat ends high school basketball career with Perry Pumas as a state champion
Koa Peat has had a stellar senior season, being named Arizona's Gatorade State Player of the Year and being invited to play in the McDonald's All-American Game on April 1 in New York City. However, one of his biggest highlights was his last game wearing a Perry Pumas uniform as he led his squad to an AIA state open basketball championship against Sunnyslope 63-44 on March 9.
This was Peat's fourth straight open state title with the Pumas (27-2), scoring 20 points for the four-peat, pun intended, as Perry finished as one of the best teams in high school basketball.
