Nationally televised Jordan Brand Classic loaded with UK basketball recruits

The best basketball recruits in the country will return to national television with Friday night’s Jordan Brand Classic in Brooklyn.

This year’s event, which will be shown live at 8 p.m. on ESPN2, features many of the same players who performed in the recent McDonald’s All-American Game and Nike Hoop Summit.

Four of the 24 high school seniors chosen for the Jordan Brand Classic are UK commitments: point guard Quade Green, forwards Jarred Vanderbilt and PJ Washington, and center Nick Richards. Two other prospects in the game — five-star recruits Mohamed Bamba and Kevin Knox — list UK among their final schools.

Green, who suffered a concussion at last week’s Hoop Summit, and Vanderbilt will play for the East team, which also includes Western Kentucky signee Mitchell Robinson, a top-10 recruit and the Hilltoppers’ first McDonald’s All-American.

Richards, Washington, Bamba and Knox will all play for the West team.

Knox had planned to announce his college decision a few days after the Jordan Classic, but he has now moved that timetable back to either the last week of April or early May. He also has added Missouri to his list of possibilities, which already included UK, Duke, Florida State and North Carolina. Knox visited Mizzou last weekend.

Bamba is down to UK, Duke, Michigan and Texas, and he has not set a specific timetable for his college decision. UK and Texas are now considered the favorites.

The Jordan Classic is the final nationally televised game on the postseason all-star circuit.

This story was originally published April 13, 2017 at 9:52 AM with the headline "Nationally televised Jordan Brand Classic loaded with UK basketball recruits."