P.J. Washington’s recruitment is going to end soon, and he just took a big step towards making that happen.
Washington, fresh off his visit with Kentucky, just cut his list to three schools in consideration. The three who made it were no surprise, but the one that did not is the big story:
@pjwashington_25 PJ Washington Top 3! pic.twitter.com/9C9zk06JdY
— Tipton Edits (@TiptonEdits_) October 18, 2016
UNLV is now out of the running for Washington. That’s significant, as Washington’s father, Paul, is the head coach at Findlay Prep in Nevada, and many thought that could lead to a pipeline for Paul and P.J. to go from Findlay to UNLV next year.
Paul even recently said UNLV might get an official visit from his son, but it looks like that is no longer an option.
Also, UK assistant coach Kenny Payne is expected to visit with P.J. this Wednesday.
UNC's Roy Williams and UK's Kenny Payne both meet today with 2017 F @pjwashington_25 , his dad tells me.
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) October 17, 2016
But while UK is in great shape for Washington, those other Wildcats in Arizona are lurking. They have the advantage of keeping P.J. closer to his current home, not to mention Paul has said playing with current Zona commit DeAndre Ayton is something his son would like to do.
We’ll go see them this weekend,” Paul told Zags Blog. “He likes playing with DeAndre. He played with him in a couple of all-star games over the years and they like each other. I know they communicate. P.J.’s a team player so that’s someone who will take the burden off of him. That looks like a good option and he wouldn’t have to travel that far from where we are out here on the West Coast.”
At this point, Washington’s recruitment is essentially a two-horse race between UK and Zona. If a fall decision is made, which is the expectation, UK should be the pick, but don’t rule the other Wildcats out just yet.