ASU basketballl misses on Koa Peat: What now?

TEMPE — This morning, five-star recruit Koa Peat announces his commitment to Arizona. Peat went on ESPN’s Pat McAfee show to announce his commitment in front of a national audience.

“It was a super hard decision,” Peat said on ESPN. “Like I said me and my parents had serious talks about it, I just felt like Arizona was the best situation for me. Coach Tommy (Lloyd) is a great coach… I just thought they were best for my development, and they’re a winning program.”

Arizona was selected over finalists Arizona State, Baylor, Houston, and Texas. Peat is the third member of Arizona’s 2025 class, joining four-star Dwayne Aristode and three-star Bryce James.

This is a major hit for Arizona State basketball as coach Bobby Hurley and his staff have prioritized recruiting Peat for several years now.

Koa Peat commits to Arizona

According to 247 Sports, Peat is the No. 8 overall player in the class of 2025, the third-best power forward and the top prospect in the state of Arizona.

Among all 2025 prospects, Peat was the second-highest player remaining available, No. 4 overall, Nate Ament.

As for Peat himself, the list of accolades is as long.

Peat’s accolades include:

• 4x State Champion
• 3x Gatorade Player of the Year in Arizona
• Gold Medals: 2024 FIBA U17 World Cup, 2023 FIBA Americas U16 Championship, 2022 FIBA U17 World Cup
• 2023 USA Basketball Male Player of the Year
• 2x MaxPreps player of the year in Arizona
• McDonald’s All-American

What now for ASU basketball?

Peat was a major target for Bobby Hurley and his coaching staff. Now, the Sun Devils will look to pivot. Currently, they have two commits in the 2025 class: PF Kash Polk and C Fridrik Leo Curtis.

In the NIL world, missing on a player like Peat means a significant amount of resources just became available to allocate elsewhere. I expect the Sun Devils to shift the treasure chest of NIL money dedicated to Peat to the transfer portal as opposed to a 2025 high school prospect.

This also could potentially free up more NIL resources to retain key players from last year’s team like Jayden Quaintance, Amier Ali, Shawn Phillips, Adam Miller or Trevor Best.

Missing on Peat is a major recruiting loss for ASU basketball, but now in a bustling offseason, they need to pivot fast.

Thank you for reading Sun Devil Daily! Follow us on Twitter to stay up to date with Arizona State news! For feedback, questions, concerns, or to apply for a writing position, please email our Managing Editor at [email protected]. Also, make sure to check out the Sun Devil Daily shop for merchandise! Forks up!