Arthur Kaluma has already made the move to Arizona to better and further his basketball career. Now, he’s weighing the option of sticking of the desert for college, a collegiate career he hopes lasts just one year.
Kaluma, a four-star power forward, and his family trekked from Irving, Texas last July so he could play his final two high school seasons Dream City Christian School in Glendale, a basketball academy that plays a more robust national schedule. So far, it’s paid off. Kaluma is ranked as a top-60 prospect in the country with high-major programs hopping on his recruitment.
And last week, Kaluma trimmed his prospects to a final eight: Syracuse, UNLV, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Texas A&M, USC and Arizona State.
The Sun Devils, which can now include Kaluma as an in-state prospect, offered him last August, just a few weeks after he finished up his EYBL Summer League season with his AAU club Houston Hoops. During that live evaluation period, he averaged eight points, seven rebounds and nearly a pair of assists and blocks.
ASU assistant Eric Brown showed up at one of Dream City’s practices early into Kaluma’s Arizona residency. He began speaking regularly with the four-star power forward, laying the foundation for what has become an excellent relationship.
“He’s more of a very close friend than a college coach at this point,” Kaluma said of Brown. “He’s just a cool person. Our conversations are not always about basketball. It’s how have I been? How’s everything going? How’s school? How’s my family?
“Most of the time, when college coaches talk to me it’s all about business. Coach Brown is different and I really appreciate that.”
Since he began recruiting Kaluma almost a year ago, Brown’s sales pitch has undoubtedly become a bit easier. The Sun Devils secured the no. 11 recruiting class with the pair of big-name signings of five-star prospects Josh Christopher and Marcus Bagley.
Kaluma likely won’t be teammates with either. And, in his mind, that’s a good thing. If all goes well in Tempe, the 6-foot-7, 200-pound power forward may be able to follow a one-and-done blueprint set forth by Christopher and Bagley.
“If the cards are right,” Kaluma said about being a one-and-done player. “I feel like it’s cool if a school has that history of, ‘We produce the most one and dones,” and all that. But at the end of the day, you can’t blame it on the school. You either have it, or you don’t.”
And coaches and analysts seem to agree: Arthur Kaluma has it.
“Coach Brown has seen me play on multiple occasions and loves the way I play the game and I’m confident in my game,” Kaluma said. “He said there’s so much I can bring to ASU from the defensive side to the offensive side. He said I wouldn’t be put in the box, that I’ll be able to do what I need to do, that I can play my game.
“I’m not someone where you can stop one thing they do, and then the rest of the game he’s nonexistent. A lot the time my scoring is on. But when it goes off -- like I’m having a rough night -- there’s so much more I can bring to the table. Like rebounding. I’ll go to the glass and get you at least ten offensive rebounds. There was one game (in high school) that I had 25 and 17.”
There’s a lot to Kaluma’s recruiting, a lot he’ll have to consider. And, for now, it seems as if ASU offers advantages a lot of other schools can’t. It holds the proximity to Kaluma’s Glendale home and, more notably, Remy Martin, who is currently testing the NBA draft waters.
“Remy is my guy. He went to high school with my brother (Adam Seiko) at Sierra Canyon,” Kaluma said. “He said, ‘This is a place where you come and get better and that they prepare you for your next goal in life.”
Kaluma admitted he would like to commit some time during his senior season, if not earlier. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused mass uncertainty for recruits, new days bringing constant worries if they’ll be able to take a visit or, heck, even play a season. Some, such as Kaluma, have decided that acting with a sense of urgency may be the best route with so many unknowns present, and that they may have to pledge themselves to a school they’ve never visited.
Luckily for the Sun Devils, Kaluma is no stranger to the ASU campus and knows what Tempe can offer on and off the court. Therefore, you can chalk that aspect as another Sun Devil advantage. Yet, it’s just one of many aspects Kaluma hopes to find in his ultimate school of choice.
“(I’m looking for) a good team culture. Nice fan base. Location for sure, location is probably going to be something very important -- how far away it is from home or what’s around the area,” Kaluma said. “Just having a good community of people around me.”
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