By ADAM ZAGORIA
Josh Christopher named his top five schools.
Christopher is down to Arizona State, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri and UCLA. The 6-foot-5 Christopher out of Mayfair (CA) and the Las Vegas Elite is ranked No. 10 by ESPN.com in the Class of 2020.
“The hardest teams that are probably on me right now are Michigan, Kentucky, Arizona State with my brother being there, Missouri with my uncle being a coach there, a lot of the Pac-12 schools, UCLA with Shareef [O’Neal] being there,” he told Adam Finkelstein at Peach Jam.
But at the end of the day, that’s my brother’s future. And he did what was best for him going to Arizona State, I gotta do what’s best for me as well . So if Arizona State is the right place for me, or Arizona Tucson is the right place, or wherever, I can go to Alaska and play basketball, I’m going to be the best Josh Christopher I can be.”
Kentucky: “I mean, shoot it’s Kentucky, it’s Calipari, so I think any player that’s in high school appreciates what Calipari brings to the table, so of course myself being a kid who’s always watched Kentucky and watched the guys like Anthony Davis and John Wall, of course you appreciate that and take it into consideration.” He added: “I appreciate Calipari and company, coach [Kenny] Payne and coach [Joel] Justus. I appreciate the love they’re showing right now. I’ve worn Kentucky hoodies and stuff like that since I was in elementary school and early middle school so [with my] recruitment I have to calm down with the college clothing I put on. But I’m a fan of Kentucky so we’ll see what happens with my decision for college.”
UCLA: “That would be crazy to watch ‘Reef [Shareef O’Neal] play. [Their pitch] is to get the opportunity to play with Shareef, stay home, be a neighborhood hero in Southern California. Playing with Shareef, that would be pretty cool. UCLA is like 30 minutes from me.”
Michigan: “[Juwan Howard] wants me to be the best me that I can be. Of course, he understands that I want to make it to the NBA. He emphasized that he wants me to be in his program and go to the NBA from there. So however long that takes, he said. If I’m there for a year or two years or up to four years, however long I need to prepare myself for the NBA. And just relationship . That was his big thing with me, too.
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He broke down several options with me at Peach Jam: Arizona State: “I talk to coach [Rashon] Burno all the time. I’m really cool with him, I built a relationship with him. Of course, my brother [Caleb Christopher] being there, that could play a factor in my recruitment, of course.Boom! Top 5. Early bday gifts for everybody! God is Good! Thank you for everyone that helped through this process! pic.twitter.com/rbhtfpu3Vd
— Josh(ua) Christopher (@Jaygup23) July 25, 2019
