Homecoming transfer for Zylan Cheatham
Four years ago, four-star local forward Zylan Cheatham was very much on the Sun Devils’ recruiting radar. The South Mountain High School standout chose San Diego State University at the time, but today Cheatham decided to return home and finish his college career at Arizona State.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Cheatham said of his decision to transfer return to the valley. “Better late than never. It was 100 percent basketball related, just a basketball move for myself. I didn’t really like the role I was playing and how I was being played. I kind of just wanted to get put in a different position.
“Coach Hurley is a great guy and he has a great staff and it seems like they see the same vision I see."
Cheatham averaged 9.1 ppg and 6.3 rpg last year for the Aztecs, and ironically enough faced the Sun Devils last December in San Diego, a contest that ASU won 74-63. Though the forward admitted that this game didn’t set his transfer thoughts in motion.
“Looking back at it, at the time I wasn’t thinking about it too much,” Cheatham commented, “I was caught up in the season. I was trying to not let thoughts like leaving get in the way while we were trying to turn our season around.
“Obviously playing them and getting a feel first hand for how (Hurley) coaches and how the players react to him and stuff like that, and being able to see it in a competitive setting was an advantage. All that factored in and I feel like I made a great decision.”
While Cheatham is naturally very familiar with ASU’s program, he is technically committing sight unseen, as he’s planning to only officially visit Tempe in the first week of May. The forward who was also considering St John’s, Marquette, and Grand Canyon University said he has no interest in a prolonged recruiting process involving his transfer and never visited any of his suitors.
“It kind of just came down to the process lingering on me,” Cheatham explained. “I kind of wanted to visit some schools to make sure that what I was feeling was what I was feeling. I tried make a decision on it being the whole school and being the most convenient, but the feeling never wavered.
“Arizona State was the school I grew up watching. I just got the feeling like, ‘Man, this is the right spot for me’ and I just really wanted to get this process going.”
The 6-8 forward’s toughness passion, and leadership are some of the skills Cheatham said the Sun Devil staff was attracted to.
“We talked and kind of reflected on his (Hurley’s) career and the type of player he was and the type of guy that he still is, and the type of person that attracts to him. I kind of checked of a lot of those boxes and when I was searching for a program and a guy I want to play for, he did the same. It was a collective effort. We had a couple conversations and it feels like he’s a real genuine person about stuff he says.”
Cheatham will have to sit out this upcoming year due to NCAA transfer rules. Due to a broken foot injury, he did redshirt his freshman year at SDSU months ahead of the start of the season and proceeded to play for the Aztecs the following two years. There is a chance that he will get that year back and then have two years left to play for ASU.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” Cheatham said.
