Jabari Bird Commits to California

Jabari Bird officially gave his verbal commitment to California less than thirty minutes ago in an announcement at his high school. After news came last evening that Bird had decided to cancel all of his official visits and announce his decision the next day, just coming off of a visit to California, it was all but assumed that it meant he would commit to the Bears.

Bird is a 6’5″ small forward from Salesian High in Richmond, California who is rated the 20th best player in the class of 2013. Washington was considered to be one of the frontrunners in the contest for his commitment, and they had scheduled an official visit for Bird on September 29th. So obviously, this is very bad news for Coach Romar’s recruiting.

The decision may also alter the Huskies efforts to recruit Aaron Gordon, the fifth rated player in the class of 2013 who also happens to be Bird’s friend and AAU teammate. The conventional wisdom has been that the two could very well come as a pair, committing to the same school in order to stay teammates. If that is true, Gordon could very well be headed to California. Arizona is also involved. This news doesn’t mean Gordon won’t choose Washington, it just makes the whole decision a little bit more foggy.

The 2013 class has long been considered a chance at a great recruiting haul for Coach Romar, with so many four and five star players considering Washington. Nigel Williams-Goss, a four star point guard from Nevada that is coming to Washington, is certainly a catch, but fans and analysts alike will shake their heads and wag their fingers if the Huskies can’t land several other high profile players. You can cross Jabari Bird off of that list of possibilities.