UK signees on national TV again, and more basketball recruiting notes for the weekend

Another weekend, another all-star high school basketball classic on national television featuring a couple of future Kentucky Wildcats.

Following last week’s McDonald’s All-American Game and GEICO national championships featuring UK signees Keldon Johnson and Immanuel Quickley, the high school basketball programming calendar shifts to the Jordan Brand Classic on Sunday evening.

Johnson — a 6-foot-6 small forward from Oak Hill Academy (Va.) — is on the Jordan Classic roster, and he’ll be joined by fellow UK signee Tyler Herro, who was not selected for the McDonald’s Game.

For many UK fans, this will be the first opportunity to watch Herro, a 6-5 shooting guard from Wisconsin who averaged 32.9 points, 7.8 rebounds and four assists per game as a senior, shooting 43.5 percent from three-point range.

The Jordan Classic will be played at Barclays Center in Brooklyn and be televised live at 5 p.m. on ESPN2. A replay of the event will be shown at 9:30 p.m. Sunday on ESPNU.

Johnson and Herro will be back in action again next week for the Nike Hoop Summit on Portland, Ore. That game is set for April 13 and will be shown at 10 p.m. on ESPN2.

On the road

The final live recruiting period — where college coaches can visit with recruits off campus — of the spring started at noon Thursday, and news of John Calipari’s first visit trickled out a couple of hours later.

The UK coach started things off in Texas with five-star point guard Tyrese Maxey, the first player at his position to earn a UK scholarship offer for the class of 2019. Maxey’s father is on the staff at Southern Methodist — and SMU is the current favorite on his 247Sports Crystal Ball page — but Calipari has now made the trip to Texas four times in the past six months, and the Herald-Leader has been told since last fall that Kentucky is in a great spot in Maxey’s recruitment.

The 6-3 point guard will play on the Nike circuit this spring and summer.

Calipari is expected to see five-star power forward Matthew Hurt — a 6-9 prospect from Minnesota — on Friday. Hurt is the No. 4 player in the 2019 rankings and is scheduled to meet with head coaches from UK, Duke, Kansas and North Carolina before the first window of this live recruiting period ends Sunday.

UK’s coaches are also scheduled to meet with five-star forward Keion Brooks in Indiana on Friday night, the Herald-Leader has learned. Brooks is the No. 22 overall prospect in the 247Sports composite rankings for 2019.

After those visits, Calipari is expected to be in the Memphis area Saturday. He’ll meet with D.J. Jeffries — the Cats’ only commitment for 2019 — then, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he also ends up seeing Memphis standout James Wiseman, who is UK’s top target in the 2019 class and the No. 1-ranked junior in the country.

Kentucky’s coaches are also expected to visit with junior power forward Vernon Carey this weekend, according to 247Sports analyst Evan Daniels. Carey is No. 2 overall in the 247Sports composite rankings.

Loaded summer squad

The Nike Elite Youth Basketball League announced this week that Adair County star Zion Harmon will play for Tennessee-based Bluff City Legends — formerly known as Team Penny — this summer.

Among Harmon’s new teammates with the Legends will be top UK target James Wiseman and UK commitment D.J. Jeffries, two of the top players in the 2019 class.

Harmon — a 5-10 guard — is currently in the class of 2021 but has already received recruiting interest from Kentucky, Kansas and several other top schools. He averaged 32.7 points per game and hit 115 three-pointers in 31 games as a freshman this past season.

Last summer, Harmon played alongside UK signee Keldon Johnson on the Nike circuit, averaging 12.0 points per game as a 15-year-old.

Crystal Ball check

There hasn’t been a whole lot of Crystal Ball movement with UK targets over the past couple of weeks.

Heading into Thursday evening, Duke still had 100 percent of the predictions for top 2018 frontcourt player EJ Montgomery, the only uncommitted recruit in the class with a UK offer. However, the publisher of the Vanderbilt 247Sports website picked the Commodores for Montgomery later Thursday.

Montgomery’s father told the Herald-Leader on Wednesday that the family has meetings planned with UK and North Carolina next week. It wouldn’t be a surprise to start seeing some Crystal Ball buzz for more schools other than Duke over the next couple of weeks, though Montgomery’s decision still appears to be a few weeks away.

UK has picked up the last eight picks on the Crystal Ball page of Ashton Hagans, the top point guard in the 2019 class. Hagans is considering a move to the 2018 class, which would allow him to play college basketball next season. Kentucky extended a scholarship offer last week.

Nike EYBL recruiting analyst Alec Kinsky logged a pick Thursday night in favor of Kentucky for five-star point guard Tyrese Maxey, who Calipari visited earlier in the day. Last week, Kinsky picked Michigan State for Keion Brooks, one of the first players from the 2019 class to earn a UK scholarship offer.

Also of interest: 247Sports national analyst Brian Snow has a prediction in favor of Louisville for Trinity star David Johnson, who backed out of his original U of L commitment following Rick Pitino’s departure but remains a top Cardinals’ target. Johnson has visited UK in the past and is the state’s top-ranked player for 2019.

Duke’s All-Americans

Earlier this week, we took a closer look at Duke’s No. 1-ranked recruiting class and the expectations that will be attached to that group. On Wednesday, this season’s All-America selections from USA Today were announced, and the first team was heavy on Blue Devils.

All four Duke commitments — R.J. Barrett, Tre Jones, Cam Reddish and Zion Williamson — made the first team, as did junior forward Vernon Carey, who is currently uncommitted. Duke is the leader on Carey’s 247Sports Crystal Ball page, and if he ultimately picks the Blue Devils that would mean that USA Today’s entire first team would end up playing in Durham.

USA Today’s second team included UK signee Keldon Johnson, alongside Oregon’s Bol Bol, North Carolina’s Coby White and uncommitted seniors Jordan Brown and Romeo Langford.

The third team features UNC signee Nassir Little, Notre Dame signee Dane Goodwin, Iowa State signee Talen Horton-Tucker, and uncommitted juniors James Wiseman and Cole Anthony.

Barrett was named the USA Today national player of the year.

This story was originally published April 6, 2018 at 9:35 AM with the headline "UK signees on national TV again, and more basketball recruiting notes for the weekend."