Five in the Mix for Arthur Kaluma with Decision in the Near Future
Class of 2021 forward Arthur Kaluma is ranked #43 in the SI-99. Kaluma originally signed with UNLV, but was released from his National Letter of Intent as he reopened his recruitment. That has led to schools across the country trying to add the 6-8 versatile forward to their rosters. One of those schools is Syracuse, who had a Zoom call with Kaluma on Thursday.
We spoke with his AAU coach, Sean Stevens of Vegas Elite, to find out where things stand in Kaluma's recruitment, schools involved, interest in Syracuse, how the Zoom call went and when a decision is expected.
Q: What type of player is Arthur Kaluma?
Stevens: "Arthur is a 6-foot-8, kind of a combo three, four. Very, very, very underrated. We've had lots of kids like Jaden Hardy, Josh Christopher, guys in the league like Zach Collins. To me Arthur is as good as any of them as potential NBA prospects. To me it goes Paolo Panchero, Chet Holmgren and Arthur Kaluma when you talk about those front court guys. He's dynamic and exciting. Just a fantastic kid. He's actually one of my favorite kids I've ever had. We love him."
Q: What has the interest been like since he was released by UNLV?
Stevens: "My phone hasn't stopped beeping. He's being heavily recruited by the University of Arizona. Right now I'd say it's a four horse race between Arizona, Syracuse, Creighton and Washington with Western Kentucky hanging around a little bit. It's heavy. He broke it down there from having the entire Pac-12 calling to this level of about four. Syracuse being really the only program that was recruiting him pre-UNLV at a high extent."
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Q: What is Kaluma's timeframe for a decision?
Stevens: "Actually, he's looking at making a decision probably in the next week. He's ready to start his college process. I would expect as soon as maybe next Friday, he'll be committed somewhere. He took Zoom calls from Creighton Wednesday, Syracuse and Arizona Thursday, and Washington and Western Kentucky will be Friday."
Q: How did the Zoom call with Syracuse go?
Stevens: "He talked with coach Boeheim. It was coach Boeheim, Red, Griff, G-Mac, the whole staff. They talked a lot about his versatility and his length in the zone. They did talk about how they have a lot of forwards though, which could be the only hiccup I see, with Benny, Cole Swider coming in and then Jimmy as well. There's not guaranteed minutes per se, but he could fight for the minutes. I thought it went really well. I thought coach Boeheim did a really good job. Coach Griffin was the point man on the call and he did a really good job. The staff did a really good job portraying the family tradition at Syracuse. How they keep guys on staff. That type of deal."
Q: How about with Arizona?
Stevens: "The pitch was stay in Arizona. The same type of thing to get him out, show his strength, that he can put it on the floor, lead the break or be a power guy inside. He's really a matchup nightmare the way he handles the ball and his quickness. That's their pitch that they'd use him as a point forward and he's in the rotation of six right now. New staff, bringing Gonzaga guys over, they've done great with those kind of guys is their pitch."
Q: What are going to be the things Kaluma looks at to make the final decision?
Stevens: "I think right now he's going to gather all of the information from the Zooms and see where he thinks he can best showcase himself. He's looking at some of the genuineness of the calls, who was real with him, who wasn't. We're going to try to decipher through some of that as well. Get to know the lineups and the rotations as well.