UK basketball recruiting notes: Five-star player Jarred Vanderbilt will visit Kentucky

There’s been a change to the UK basketball program’s recruiting guest list for this weekend.

Five-star shooting guard Lonnie Walker is no longer planning to take an official visit to Lexington. Instead, the Wildcats will host five-star small forward Jarred Vanderbilt, who told the Herald-Leader on Thursday that his trip this weekend will be an official visit.

Vanderbilt — a 6-foot-9 prospect from Houston, Texas — is ranked by Scout.com as the No. 15 overall player in the class of 2017, but it was unclear how interested UK remained in his recruitment after John Calipari did not visit him in the opening days of the fall recruiting period. Texas Christian, which recently hired Vanderbilt’s first cousin as an assistant coach, emerged over the summer as a favorite.

Still, this weekend’s visit is an indication that both sides are still interested in each other.

Walker — a 6-4 prospect from Reading, Pa. — has already taken official visits to Miami and Arizona, and he’s scheduled trips to Villanova and Syracuse for the two weekends following this one. He has not yet set a new date for his official visit to Kentucky. Walker is planning to announce a college decision this fall.

▪  Class of 2019 teammates Balsa Koprivica and Vernon Carey — both from University School (Fla.) — will also visit UK this weekend. Koprivica — a 7-footer from Serbia — is ranked by 247Sports as the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2019 class. Carey — a 6-9 player — is ranked by 247Sports as the No. 4 overall recruit and top power forward in the class.

The point guard picture

Highly touted point guard Tremont Waters announced his commitment to Georgetown on Wednesday, picking the Hoyas after also taking official visits to UK, Kansas and Indiana.

Waters was No. 3 on UK’s point guard wish list for the class of 2017, and the other two recruits on that list — Trae Young and Quade Green — both remain uncommitted.

“I think they very likely get one of those guys,” Scout.com’s Evan Daniels told the Herald-Leader on Thursday. “I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility that they miss on both. They’re one of a couple of schools with both guys, but it’s not a shoo-in. Neither is a shoo-in.”

Both players were at Big Blue Madness last weekend, and Kentucky likely will need to land one of them. Current Wildcats guards De’Aaron Fox, Malik Monk and Isaiah Briscoe are all expected to enter the NBA Draft after this season.

UK and Oklahoma are considered the co-favorites for Young, a Norman, Okla., native. Green — from Philadelphia — seems to have Syracuse and Kentucky at the top of his list. Young will be at Kansas for an official visit this weekend. Green is expected to visit Syracuse on Friday for the fourth time in less than two months.

Daniels said Thursday that he thinks UK landing both point guards is “100 percent out of the question,” so it’s likely an either/or situation for the Wildcats.

Looking at a local

UK assistant coach Joel Justus was at Paul Laurence Dunbar on Wednesday to see class of 2017 guard Taveion Hollingsworth, who led the Bulldogs to a state championship last season and won Sweet Sixteen MVP honors as a junior.

Hollingsworth told the Herald-Leader last year that Kentucky was his dream school, and the Wildcats are expected to add several backcourt players in their 2017 class.

Western Kentucky extended a scholarship offer to Hollingsworth on Wednesday night.

Good news for UK

Five-star forward PJ Washington has canceled his official visit to Arizona that was scheduled for this weekend and is no longer considering the Wildcats.

The change of plans, first reported by ESPN, comes just a few days after Washington — a 6-foot-8 prospect from Findlay Prep (Nev.) — returned home from his visit to UK for Big Blue Madness, his second trip to Lexington in four weeks. Washington also took official visits to UK and North Carolina last month and is expected to see UNLV’s campus one more time before making a college decision.

Those are the three finalists in his recruitment.

Arizona was seen by some recruiting analysts as UK’s top competition for Washington, who emerged earlier this year as one of John Calipari’s priority recruiting targets for the class of 2017.

Scout.com ranks Washington as the No. 14 overall prospect in the senior class, and he is expected to be ready to make a college decision in time for the early signing period in November.

This story was originally published October 20, 2016 at 2:07 PM with the headline "UK basketball recruiting notes: Five-star player Jarred Vanderbilt will visit Kentucky."