Odom Makes Pick

New England Recruiting Report | Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

Middlesex senior Rod Odom made a verbal commitment to the University of Arizona early Wednesday evening, ending what had been a long and hotly contested recruitment. 

Odom selected the Wildcats over West Virginia, Boston College, Vanberbilt, and Harvard. 

And although Sean Miller is still yet to coach a game as the head coach at the University of Arizona, he and his assistant, Emmanuel “Book” Richardson, have been recruiting Odom for quite some time now. 

“I think the fact that they had him out to Xavier after his sophomore year when he was only six-four was a big factor,” said Middlesex head coach Jamie Gallagher. 

Of course since that time Odom has shot up another four inches, polished his skill set, and in so doing become a top 100 player in the country.  This summer in particular was especially important for Odom as he shined, often times running with Expressions Elite, and gained interest and offers from a wide variety of high major programs in the process. 

Odom, a Long Island native, becomes the fourth New York product to commit to Arizona since they took over the program, joining former South Kent star and one time Xavier commit Kevin Parrom, Lamont “Momo” Jones, and current St. Benedict’s swingman Sidiki Johnson. 

SNY’s Adam Zagoria caught up with Odom himself who conceded the decision was an extremely tough one, and almost went in another direction. 

“I was real close to going to Vanderbilt last night but I’ve been talking it over with my mom and my dad and we made that decision,” Odom told Zagoria. 

Odom becomes the first member of the class of 2010 to commit to Arizona and is expected to sign during next month’s early signing period.