Ex-Arizona basketball champ A.J. Bramlett back on recruiting trail — this time as a dad

This time as a dad.

Bramlett was on hand at the Section 7 tournament to watch his son, Drew, a rising junior point guard for ABC Prep of Albuquerque, who is drawing college recruiting interest. A.J. said Drew has scholarship offers from Wisconsin-Green Bay, Northern New Mexico and New Mexico Highlands, as well as interest from schools that include UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego.

“It's a totally different world, so you just have to support them all the way through it,” A.J. Bramlett said of today's recruiting, adding that he aims to "promote them, try to give them the wisdom and knowledge that I had, about what coaches are looking for, and how to be professional. But really just enjoy it, man, because it's going to be gone quick, and it's a fun thing to go through.”

Bramlett joined the Wildcats in 1995, then started 28 of 33 games as a sophomore in 1996-97, when UA won the NCAA title. He started 54 more games over the next two seasons before becoming the 39th overall pick in the 1999 NBA Draft, then playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers and in Europe over the next decade.

Also with a daughter who graduated from New Mexico and now lives in Atlanta, and another son studying at New Mexico State, Bramlett is still in the game as a regional vice president of Playfly Sports, offering marketing, business development and corporate sponsorship support for high school athletic programs.

Decades later, he also still keeps a hand in Arizona basketball. Bramlett said he remains in touch with all of the 1997 Wildcats via a group text chat. Bramlett said current UA coach Tommy Lloyd has kept former Wildcats connected, too.

“He reached out to me early on when he first got the job, and we've been close ever since,” Bramlett said of Lloyd. “He's done a hell of a job with the alumni and keeping everybody engaged, and it's fun, man. We’re coming up on our 30-year anniversary in the fall, so we'll probably all be back and do something.”

Boomerang

After playing for AZ Compass Prep in middle school and then spending his first two years of high school playing Arizona Interscholastic Association ball, Phoenix-based guard Jakyi “Kyi Kyi” Miles transferred back to AZ Compass this spring from Mesa High.

“Mesa was a good experience for me, but I just wanted to get on a bigger stage, bigger platform against better competition because that's where you see where you're really at,” said Miles, a UA recruiting target. “If you’re in a room and you’re the best one, it’s a problem.”

The move required a quick adjustment. Miles said AZ Compass always treated him like family even while he was at Mesa, but when he returned, he said he didn’t know the current Compass players.

Also, they had almost no time to get ready for their Section 7 games in what is officially the prep school spinoff known as the “House of 7."

“Our first practice together was this morning,” Miles said after AZ Compass Prep beat DNA Prep on Friday afternoon. “But we’ve been busy with all the camps. You’ve got to get in what you’ve got to fit in.”

3-for-1

While fellow UA assistant coaches Brandon Chappell and Ken Nakagawa worked elsewhere at the Arizona Athletic Grounds during the first day of Section 7 events Friday, T.J. Benson found a catbird seat.

Benson sat high on a chair between Court 1 and Court 2, able to watch three UA targets at once: Darius Wabbington playing for Phoenix Sunnyslope on Court 1, while Adan Diggs was playing for Goodyear Millennium on Court 2 directly opposite yet another UA target, guard Jalen Davis of Bremerton (Wash.) High School

Of course, Benson wore a red shirt and a white-and-red cap that helped him stand out in the crowd, too.

Turkish delight

In addition to all the usual concessions and branded Section 7 merch available at the Arizona Athletic Grounds, there were also constant reminders on a video board about some international visitors who had just passed through.

The Turkish national soccer team chose the massive Arizona Athletic Grounds as its training base camp for the World Cup before playing group-stage games along the West Coast: Turkey was scheduled to open against Australia in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Saturday, then face Paraguay on June 19 in Santa Clara, Calif., and the United States on June 25 in Los Angeles.

The big number

70: Dollars (actually $69.58, fees included) for an all-session ticket to Section 7, the only option for fans interested in attending since no single-day tickets are being sold.