Fab 48: Ashley does not have top list

LAS VEGAS - Brandon Ashley wants to make it clear that Kentucky and Oregon are not his two favorites, that those were just the last two programs to offer him, and he doesn't have any top list at this point in his recruitment.

"They were just the last two to offer, definitely not the top two," Ashley said Friday at the Las Vegas Fab 48. "I'm wide open right now. I don't have a top school."

Rumors had circulated that the Wildcats and Ducks had emerged as the favorites for Ashley, a 6-foot-8, 225-pound power forward who's the top-rated prospect in the 2012 class by Rivals.com.

But the Oakland (Calif.) Bishop O'Dowd prospect - and one of the top players Friday in the Fab 48 tournament with his loaded Drew Gooden Soldiers team - said he hasn't narrowed anything down and is still looking at every school. He's probably not even close to putting together a top list of teams.

"It's just important for everybody to know that I don't have a top school right now so every coach can still recruit me and just know I'm wide open, I'm open to everything," Ashley said.

"You can't really dislike it because people are going to say what they're going to say, you can't really control it, but it is hard sometimes."

Ashley said "pretty much" every top team in the country is recruiting him and many elite coaches - including UCLA's Ben Howland, Florida's Billy Donovan, Arizona's Sean Miller, North Carolina's Roy Williams, Maryland's Gary Williams and many others - were on hand Friday evening to watch the Soldiers against Mac Irvin Fire.

With so many opportunities in front of him, Ashley said he could wait until this time next summer to narrow his list and he certainly hasn't made any of those moves yet.

"Probably within the next year," he said. "I want to see which coaches have been there the whole entire time and the people that are just coming in now."