After one of the strangest and quietest recruitments ever, consensus 5 Star prospect Koa Peat has committed to the Arizona Wildcats. It became apparent Wednesday evening Peat would be a Wildcat as multiple parties began to feel like he headed to Tucson shortly after announcing a commitment would be announced on the Pat McAfee Show the next morning.
It was long believed to be between Arizona and Arizona State, but one would assume Bobby Hurley’s contract along with the program as a whole being in a state of instability influenced this decision. With another highly touted prospect in Joson Sanon transferring out, it is apparent from an outsider’s perspective Hurley’s program isn’t a place to grow and develop. With that being said, for whatever reasons Koa Peat has decided to play for the Cats, we’ll take it. He’s a perfect fit for this system. Beating out little brother in the process makes it even sweeter as many around their program felt they had a very real chance to land Peat.
What does this mean for Arizona?
Tommy Lloyd has prioritized Koa Peat as a must-get prospect for almost 3 years now. Landing said player after putting in so much time and resources into this recruitment is a fantastic sign that Tommy Lloyd’s recruiting strategy is working. Since stepping foot on campus, this coaching staff’s recruiting strategy has been highly scrutinized, seeing a highly-touted prospect commit after years of prioritizing shows this recruiting strategy can work and perhaps the scrutiny was a bit premature. From an optics standpoint, receiving a commitment from the best in-state prospect in years is truly a great accomplishment.
In terms of basketball, Arizona has its starting power forward for the 2025-2026 season. Peat is an elite athlete, standing at 6’8” and weighing in at 235 lbs. Many experts have found Peat to be a very cerebral player and should be a big time contributor the moment he steps foot on campus. Koa Peat will be the most put together freshman Arizona has had in a long time, and is a near certainty to be a one-and-done prospect. While Tommy Lloyd has brought in elite prospects, no prospect has been quite as ready to make an immediate impact as Koa Peat. In Tommy Lloyd’s system, Peat should be at least 12 and 8 day one and will be a major improvement on the power forward position.
A step back
This commitment is the first step towards Arizona’s 2025-2026 roster being finalized but also opens up some intriguing questions that we really don’t have answers to.
This was a massive get for the Arizona Wildcats and Tommy Lloyd. Lloyd gets to put some recruiting criticism to bed and the Wildcats get a bonafide superstar at power forward this upcoming year. Peat committing cements this recruiting class as being very strong, joining 5 star prospect Dwayne Aristode and 3 star prospect Bryce James. The Cats now look to land Brayden Burries, another odd and quiet recruitment.
Welcome to Tucson, Koa Peat.
