Arizona men’s basketball coach Tommy Lloyd is in a losing streak when it comes to landing in-state big men.
Darius Wabbington, a 5-star center from Phoenix, announced Tuesday that he will play at Indiana, picking the Hoosiers over Arizona and Illinois. The 6-foot-11 Wabbington is the No. 12 prospect in the 2027 class, including the No. 2 center, according to 247Sports.
Arizona has now whiffed in back-to-back recruitments of 5-star centers from Phoenix. Recruiting insiders had long pegged Arizona as the favorite to land Wabbington. His commitment to Indiana is a reminder of the role NIL plays in modern recruiting.
For Lloyd and the Arizona coaching staff, the inability to land Wabbington will carry some extra sting, as it marks back-to-back failed recruitments of highly coveted homegrown big men.
A year ago Cameron Williams chose Duke over Arizona, leaving the program without an elite center in the class of 2026. In turn, Lloyd and his staff went international by signing newcomers Endurance Aiyamenkhue and Maskim Brnovic. Arizona then added to its front court with transfer pickups Ugnius Jarusevicius (Nebraska) and Evan Otten (Idaho State).
With respect to the four frontcourt players Arizona brought in this season, none are expected to be immediate impact contributors the way Williams would have been had he stayed home. The 7-foot Williams plays power forward and could have slid into the front court alongside Motiejus Krivas.
Lloyd and his staff share criticism for not heavily recruiting another top big man in the 2026 class and leaving Arizona’s roster in the hole it’s in now. If RJ Godfrey loses his eligibility case, the program will enter the 2026-27 season with a meaningful deficiency in the frontcourt.
Under Lloyd, Arizona has built a reputation for not delivering many scholarship offers and putting its chips in a small handful of players. It’s a different approach than other programs competing at the top of the sport.
When the strategy works like it did in 2025, when Arizona landed all four of Koa Peat, Brayden Burries, Dwayne Aristode and Ivan Kharchenkov, it makes Lloyd and Co. look like recruiting magicians.
But when Arizona misses out on in-state priorities in back-to-back classes, it’s fair to wonder why the program isn’t doing a better job spreading its resources.
As for the here and now, Arizona must bank on landing Kamsi Awaka with the hopes that a family connection will be enough to outweigh heavy spenders like Florida and Michigan. Awaka, a top-40 recruit in the 2027 class, has a similar body type as his brother Tobe Awaka and should compete for significant playing time as a freshman.
If Kamsi Awaka chooses Arizona and he pans out as a Tobe-lite addition to next year’s team, then missing out on Wabbington may not be so consequential. If Kamsi Awaka spurns Arizona, however, then the program will find itself at a real disadvantage for constructing next year’s front court.
Considering that Arizona is guaranteed to lose an All-American level player in Krivas and a veteran transfer in Jarusevicius, there’s no excuse why the coaching staff shouldn’t have been more aggressive in its recruitment of big men this recruiting cycle.
