Shareef O’Neal announced his decision to decommit from Arizona over the weekend. O’Neal, a four-star power forward in the class of 2018, announced his decision to open up his recruitment in light of the controversy surrounding the Wildcats program, namely the allegations that its head coach, Sean Miller, was caught on a wiretap discussing a $100,000 payment for star center Deandre Ayton.
Miller wasn’t uncommitted for long, as Shaq’s son announced on Wednesday night that he’s going to go to a different Pac-12 school. The talented big man posted on Instagram that he’s headed to Westwood and joining the UCLA Bruins, and both of his parents look really happy about the decision.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bfuh-1sD5PK/
Getting the nation’s No. 33 recruit was a massive pickup for Steve Alford’s program, and with his commitment, UCLA now has the No. 3 recruiting class in the nation behind only Duke’s historically-great class and Oregon, according to 247Sports. Obviously, bringing in that good of a class and a talent like O’Neal has one of the NBA’s best Bruins pretty stoked.
Shareef O’Neal to UCLA!!??? Oh it’s on now!!! 🔥🔥🔥
— Kevin Love (@kevinlove) February 28, 2018
Dwyane Wade, meanwhile, took to Twitter the morning after his big night in South Beach to congratulate O’Neal on his decision.
Congrts nephew! https://t.co/Iibf1VV44Q
— DWade (@DwyaneWade) February 28, 2018
This is brutal news for Arizona, as O’Neal is staying in the division for his collegiate career. But still, with O’Neal going to high school in Los Angeles, UCLA picked up a massive win by keeping a top-40 prospect home.
