While Arizona seems to be loaded these days with developing college prospects that are gaining serious attention with college coaches, two young Arizona prospects stand above the rest of the pack. Both are high school teammates and had amazing success together this high school season, but have chosen different paths this spring and summer.
Corona Del Sol's 6-foot-11 rising sophomore post Marvin Bagley and 6-foot-1 rising junior guard Alex Barcello are making serious noise nationally, as they travel the country and participate in some of the country's biggest exposure events of the club season.
No prospect in the country, at any level, has had the impact of Marvin Bagley this off-season, as he is now the consensus #1 player in America's 2018 class by every major national scouting service. Some basketball scouts in the country also have Bagley as the top overall prospect in America - regardless of class. Last weekend on national television on ESPN, commentators listed Bagley among the top 5 overall NBA prospects in the prestigious Nike Peach Jam in Augusta, Georgia.
As a result, Bagley has received serious scholarship offers early, including big offers already from Duke and Kentucky. Every school in America would offer Bagley already, if they knew they might have a chance with the future NBA prospect. Bagley is so good already that chances of him even going to college could be in jeopardy, as he could do like several other top-rated national prospects before him and play overseas for a year instead. Who knows how Bagley's future will play out over time, but he has definitely made a case as the nation's premier performer already.
Bagley turned in a monster 33 point, 13 rebound performance in the Peach Jam last week in front of numerous college coaches, including Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski. Check out these highlights . . .
While no other prospect in Arizona can possibly match the exploits of Marvin Bagley, high school teammate Alex Barcello has been on a tear of his own. After playing very well in this year's NBA Player's Camp in Virginia, Barcello took unofficial visits to Virginia and Wake Forest. While already possessing an offer from Virginia, Wake Forest would offer Barcello while on his visit.
This week, Barcello participated in the Adidas Uprising All-American Camp in New York (July 15-17th) and was one of the top performers in the camp - holding his own against the nation's elite talent. Barcello is a special guard prospect with an advanced level of offensive skillsets, and he now has many division-I scholarship offers.
Barcello also has offers from Arizona, Arizona State, Auburn, California, Colorado, Creighton, DePaul, Grand Canyon, Marquette, New Mexico, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oregon, Providence, St. Mary's (CA), Stanford, UCLA, USC, Utah and Washington State.
Barcello looks to be headed to Las Vegas next week with his club program, Team Bayless (CA), while Bagley will shut it down for the remainder of the summer.
These two prospects are making the state of Arizona very proud and, as a result of these two tremendous prospects, Arizona is quickly becoming known as a hotbed for basketball talent. Imagine if Markus Howard and Marcus Shaver both were still in Arizona.
