Starting Five: Arizona's direction, five-star commitment watch

With their 2020 recruiting class, Sean Miller and Arizona are headed in an interesting direction. Which five-star is on commitment watch? That and more in this week's edition of the Starting Five.

ROUNDTABLE: Bringing back grassroots basketball, rankings preview

2020 Rankings: Rivals150 | Team | Position

2021 Rankings: Rivals150 | Position

2022 Rankings: Top 75

With the 2020 recruiting class that he and his staff at Arizona have put together, Sean Miller has taken his program in a direction that will be interesting to watch.

It's not that Miller hasn't recruited International players before -- Lauri Markkanen was a major success -- but he's not relied on them heavily. Certainly not like he is with a class of seven soon to be freshmen that features six International players.

I don't doubt that some of the negative headlines Miller and his program have faced in the wake of the FBI scandal has hurt them some in their high school recruiting and likely forced Miller's hand to make this move. But, it is a move that I bet many other coaches of high major programs will be watching closely.

The player I'm most interested to see after watching film is the most recent landed by Miller, Azuolas Tubelis. A 6-foot-9 Lithuanian frontcourt player, Tubelis looks the part of at least a top 50 to 75 type player and should be able to help immediately. He has skill, he has toughness, he seems to be able to do a little bit of anything.

In total, Arizona will have nine new players next season. Bringing that many players into any program isn't going to be easy. It's going to be even harder in a summer where there's a lot of uncertainty. Now add in players that won't be overly familiar with each other and who have to come a long way from home and we've got a situation that we really haven't seen when it comes to a program with Arizona's status.

Five-star big man Moussa Cisse has been moving quickly to make a decision and his recruitment shouldn't last much longer.

A 6-foot-10 shot blocking machine, Cisse cut his school list to Florida State, Georgetown, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU and Memphis at the beginning of May. Last week, he took another step towards arriving on a campus when he announced that he was moving from the class of 2021 to 2020.

Now, as June starts I don't foresee Cisse being uncommitted for much longer. I've got him on commitment watch and would expect him to decide within the next few days. A potential game-changer because of his rim protecting, ability to run the floor and sneaky good skill level, I put my Futurecast in for LSU and still consider Will Wade's program to be the favorites. Should Cisse pick the Tigers, he would be their seventh commitment from the class of 2020 and their second five-star and fifth member of the Rivals150. He would also push them to No. 4 in the 2020 team rankings.

Even though four-star shooting guard Tamar Bates hasn't been able to hit the grassroots circuit with his summer team KC Run GMC, his recruitment continues to thrive.

Bates recently won the DiRenna Award as the Kansas City area's top high school player after a big junior season at Piper High School. He's a smooth scorer who is comfortable attacking off the dribble or shooting jumpers and will head to powerhouse Bradenton (Fla.) IMG for his senior year.

Already holding offers from Creighton, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Northwestern, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and many others, Bates has added four more high major offers in the last month. Alabama started things at the end of April and then in the last two weeks Iowa State, Oregon and Colorado also jumped in with offers.

Bates doesn't appear to be in any kind of rush to make a decision and has been on campus at Creighton, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri and Oklahoma State thus far.

As we've been reviewing high school film from the last month and a half or so of the 2022 season and chasing down information on players that we didn't get to see in person prior to the shutdown of the basketball world, Donald Hand has stood out to me.

A big guard (6'5", maybe pushing 6'6"), I have been impressed with Hand's overall game and versatility. He is a dangerous shooter from deep, he passes extremely well and he plays with excellent pace and overall feel for the game. That kind of size and skill catches your attention and knowing that he's got great bloodlines -- his father played point guard at Virginia -- it's hard to imagine he won't continue to develop.

Colleges are certainly taking notice. On Sunday, Clemson became the latest school to offer. They join Hampton, James Madison, Old Dominion, Penn State, TCU and VCU in doing so. Once schools can get out and watch players again, look for Hand to attract a crowd.

Last week in my Bossi's Best column, I discussed 10 members of the class of 2023 who have gotten my attention. On that list was Simeon Wilcher of Roselle (N.J.) Catholic, but Wilcher isn't the only 2023 player in the program who has the potential to be a nationally recognized name.

Big man Aaron Bradshaw has a very bright future as well.

Pushing 6-foot-11, the wiry big man has a great looking basketball frame and some impressive game. He has some skill as a shooter, can protect the rim and is just dripping with upside.

Though he's not yet gotten much national exposure, Bradshaw has managed to pick up offers from Nebraska and TCU and more are likely on the way.