A new recruiting period starts Thursday. Who will Calipari and UK’s coaches be meeting?

While the wait continues for several Kentucky basketball players and their stay-or-go decisions regarding where they’ll play next season, the UK coaching staff will be back on the road this week in hopes of recruiting more future Wildcats.

Following a brief recruiting “dead period” that coincided with Final Four weekend, college coaches will again be permitted to meet with prospective recruits starting Thursday at noon, and UK already has some plans in place.

John Calipari and assistant coach Tony Barbee are scheduled to see Memphis-area standout D.J. Jeffries on Saturday, the player’s father, Corey Jeffries, told the Herald-Leader. Jeffries — a 6-foot-7 small forward — is the Wildcats’ first and (so far) only commitment for the 2019 class. He’s playing this spring with the Bluff City Legends — formerly Team Penny — and will once again be teammates on that squad with top UK target James Wiseman.

Wiseman — a 6-11 power forward in the 2019 class — also lives in Memphis, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Calipari and Barbee meet with him while they’re in the area this weekend. Wiseman is the No. 1-ranked recruit in the class of 2019.

The most recent recipient of a UK scholarship offer, 2019 guard Ashton Hagans, is playing in an AAU tournament in Arkansas this weekend, his father told the Herald-Leader. Marvin Hagans said Wednesday that he wasn’t yet sure if any college coaches would meet with the family this week.

Hagans has received recent offers from UK, Louisville and several other schools, and he could eventually reclassify to 2018 and play college basketball next season. He’s emerged as UK’s top backcourt target for the 2018 class — if he does make that move — so it’s expected that Calipari will find some time to see him over the next couple of weeks.

The recruiting period that starts Thursday runs through Sunday. There will then be another dead period Monday-Thursday of next week — coinciding with the start of the regular signing period Wednesday — before another live recruiting period that lasts about a week.

These next couple of weeks will be the last chance for coaches to meet with uncommitted players from the class of 2018 before they make their college decisions.

Kentucky’s No. 1 target on that list is 6-11 power forward EJ Montgomery, a McDonald’s All-American and the No. 6 overall player in the 247Sports rankings for 2018.

Montgomery’s father told the Herald-Leader on Wednesday that the family is on spring break in Florida, but he added that coaches from UK and North Carolina have already planned recruiting visits for next week.

Both of those schools, along with Duke, hosted Montgomery for unofficial visits in February, and he said at the McDonald’s game last week that he’s planning on taking return trips to those three campuses — and possibly a few others — before he makes his college decision. The spring signing period runs through May 16, but players can still commit to a school and sign scholarship papers after that date.

Rivals.com national analyst Eric Bossi told the Herald-Leader last week that he’s not expecting a decision from Montgomery anytime soon.

“I think it’s going to be a while with him,” Bossi said. “I’ve got a feeling he might be the last guy to pop when it’s all said and done. If anyone is heading for one of those mid- to late-May decisions, I think it’s going to be Montgomery.”

No other recruits from the 2018 class have scholarship offers from Kentucky, though UK did reach out to California point guard Brandon Williams by telephone — according to ESPN’s Jeff Goodman — on Sunday night. If he’s a serious option for the Cats, there might be continued contact with him over the next couple of weeks.

The only other prospects with UK offers are 2019 recruits Bryan Antoine and Scottie Lewis — teammates in New Jersey who have already visited with UK coaches several times — Texas point guard Tyrese Maxey, Indiana forward Keion Brooks, Minnesota forward Matthew Hurt and Florida forward Vernon Carey.

UK’s contact with Carey — seen by many as a Duke lean — has waned in recent months, but Antoine, Brooks, Hurt, Lewis and Maxey are all still regarded as major targets who could see the Kentucky coaches sometime soon.

This story was originally published April 4, 2018 at 3:44 PM with the headline "A new recruiting period starts Thursday. Who will Calipari and UK’s coaches be meeting?."