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All it took was the zip of a jacket for the New Mexico basketball team to lose out on Zylan Cheatham.
Cheatham, the No. 1 prospect in the state of Arizona, unzipped his jacket to unveil a San Diego State T-shirt. That signaled he had chosen San Diego State over Washington University and conference rival UNM. Cheatham live-streamed his decision via YouTube Saturday night at the Arizona Prep Fall Showcase in Scottsdale.
“I feel like it was the best option for me,” he said during his press conference. “They have a lot of great players. I think we’re going to shock the world.”
The decision comes after UNM fans showered Cheatham with love over Twitter and in person. When Cheatham did come on his official recruiting visit to Albuquerque, fans showed up at his hotel waving ‘Z’ signs, and during the Lobo Howl on Oct. 18 fans held up signs with ‘Z’ on them while chanting “We want Z” several times throughout the event.
“They’ve already invested so much in me that you wish you could repay it somehow for all three (coaching staffs), but you can only repay one of them,” Cheatham told the Albuquerque Journal.
Cheatham, a forward, is ranked the No. 87 prospect by ESPN and No. 73 by Rivals.com. He’s listed as a four-star recruit by both ESPN and Rivals.com. Cheatham has just made a nonbinding verbal commitment and cannot sign his letter of intent until Nov. 13.
SDSU already has two other Top 100 recruits in California forward Malik Pope and shooting guard Trey Kell.
“Lorenzo Romar (Washington’s head coach) and Craig Neal, I love both of you and I wish I could go to all three schools,” Cheatham said.
Texas guard Xavier Adams and California power forward Joe Furstinger are the two 2014 commits the Lobos have. If Cheatham did commit to UNM, he would have needed another scholarship to open up. The Lobos have only two seniors — Kendall Williams and Cameron Bairstow — and a player under scholarship would have needed to have his taken away, transferred or leave the program early in order to fit Cheatham onto the roster.
Kendall to Cousy
Senior guard Kendall Williams was named to the preseason watch list for the Bob Cousey Award for the third straight year on Tuesday.
The award is named after former Boston Celtics legend Bob Cousy and honors the top men’s college point guard in the country.
This also marks the fifth-straight year that a Lobo has been named to the list. Former Lobo Dairese Gary was named to the list in 2009 and 2010. In 2011, both Williams and guard Hugh Greenwood made the initial cut.
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“He’s one of the best guards in the country,” Greenwood said. “We’re going to rely on him a lot this year and lead this team.”
Two other Mountain West Conference players were named to the list as well in Boise State’s Derrick Marks and Utah State’s Preston Medlin.
The list will be cut down to 20 in February, and the five finalists will be announced in March. Williams made it to the final 20 last season.
