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Shaq's heavily recruited son changes college plans after scandal hits NCAA basketball

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Arizona’s basketball program has had as poor a three-day stretch as it could possibly have, and it has nothing to do with the Wildcats’ play on the court.

On Thursday, Allonzo Trier, the second-leading scorer in the Pac-12, was hit with a suspension for testing positive for a banned substance.

On Friday, it was reported that coach Sean Miller had discussed paying freshman DeAndre Ayton $100,000 to land him when he was a top recruit.

On Saturday, after the news of Miller’s involvement in a scandal that has rocked college basketball, one of the top recruits from the Class of 2018 backed away from his commitment to Arizona.

Shareef O’Neal, son of Shaq, announced he is decommitting from the Wildcats and reopening his college recruitment.

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https://twitter.com/SSJreef/status/967499122461704192

“At the time my family and I think it’s in my best interest to look at other options to assure my play in the NCAA next year,” he tweeted.

Even with Miller suspended for Arizona’s game Saturday and ESPN’s Jay Bilas speculating that he’ll never coach again, O’Neal took time to thank the embattled coach and Arizona’s fans.

https://twitter.com/SSJreef/status/967499124017848321

The writing was on the wall when news came out of Miller’s involvement in FBI’s widespread corruption investigation. O’Neal may be a teenager, but he knows he doesn’t want to be involved in a program that’s under federal investigation. Late Friday night, O’Neal posted, and then deleted, a tweet indicating he was done with Arizona.

Since O’Neal signed only nonbinding financial aid papers with Arizona instead of a letter of intent, he doesn’t need the school’s permission to go somewhere else.

He is essentially a free agent, one of a handful of elite players from the Class of 2018 who remain unsigned. 247 Sports ranks him as the 45th-best player in his class, but the sixth-best among those who have not committed or signed with a school.

With Arizona now out of the picture, Shareef will be hotly pursued by the other schools that offered him a scholarship prior to his signing with the Wildcats. Among those is his father’s alma mater of LSU, although the Tigers also received mention in the latest report about the FBI’s investigation. When he was a junior at LSU, Tim Quarterman received at least $16,000 from the ASM agency, according to Yahoo Sports.

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Other schools that offered O’Neal a scholarship are Baylor, Cal, Georgetown, Kansas State, UCLA and USC.

Things could get even worse for the Wildcats: They could also lose their other top recruit, Brandon Williams. O’Neal and Williams were Arizona’s only two commits in the Class of 2018, but Williams is reportedly contemplating backing out of his commitment as well.

“We’ve gotta sit down and see what to do,” Williams’ father told Tucson.com. “Last night he had a playoff game and he’s still focused on the playoffs, but without Sean Miller, that’s another thing.”

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Ross Kelly has been a sportswriter since 2009.
Ross Kelly has been a sportswriter since 2009 and previously worked for ESPN, CBS and STATS Inc. A native of Louisiana, Ross now resides in Houston.
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