Tyler Herro, UK’s recent five-star visitor and more basketball recruiting thoughts

The biggest UK basketball recruiting story of this week — the final one before the early signing period begins — has been the speed in which the Cats have moved in their pursuit of Tyler Herro.

In a matter of a few days, UK assistant Kenny Payne reached out to Herro, who decommitted from Wisconsin last month, UK Coach John Calipari traveled to Milwaukee to meet with the four-star shooting guard, extended a scholarship offer during that trip and quickly scheduled an official visit for Herro to come see Lexington next weekend.

Scout.com national analyst Evan Daniels and several other recruiting writers have since logged predictions in favor of UK on Herro’s 247Sports Crystal Ball page.

“You have to think — at the pace that his recruitment is moving and with the visit set up so quickly — that Kentucky is in great shape,” Daniels told the Herald-Leader on Thursday. “I’m betting they wouldn’t trade their position with anyone.”

Earlier in the week, Herro had said he would take official visits to Oregon and Villanova (and possibly others) and planned to take his recruitment into the winter before making another college decision.

When he spoke to Scout.com again Wednesday — after the UK offer — Herro said that he “might” take official visits to Oregon and Villanova, noting that the trip to Kentucky is the only one scheduled so far.

Though Herro’s original plan was to wait on a college decision and explore all of his options before a second commitment, it’s now looking like a real possibility — perhaps even a probability — that he could be ready to sign with the Cats before the end of the fall period, which goes until Nov. 15.

The 6-5 shooting guard already appears to be the most likely uncommitted 2018 prospect to ultimately choose UK. If next weekend’s visit goes well (and official visits to Kentucky always do) that commitment could come shortly after the trip.

Herro is the No. 36 overall recruit in the 2018 class, according to the 247Sports composite rankings.

Recent visitor

Jeremy Roach still has three more years of high school basketball left, so his recruiting visit to Kentucky for last week’s exhibition game against Thomas More flew a bit under the radar. It was still a big deal to get such a talented player on campus so early in the process.

Roach — a 6-2 point guard from Leesburg, Va. — is ranked by Scout.com as the No. 14 overall prospect in the class of 2020, and he was a member of the USA Basketball U16 team that won a FIBA gold medal in Argentina over the summer. (UK assistant coach Joel Justus made the trip to South America to scout that event).

Scout.com’s Evan Daniels scouted Roach at the USA Basketball minicamp in Colorado Springs last month, a training camp that also featured five-star players from the 2018 and 2019 classes.

“Jeremy is a competitive point guard prospect,” Daniels told the Herald-Leader. “He’s one of the best point guards I’ve seen in that 2020 class. I was really impressed with the improvement that he had made from June, when he was trying out for that USA Basketball (U16) team. He showed up at the minicamp and I thought he held his own, not just against guys his age, but against the older group, too.

“This is a kid that competes on defense — slides his feet well and moves well laterally. Offensively, he’s got a nice blend of facilitating and scoring. He’s got solid size for the position. I think he’s a really good point guard prospect.”

The training camp included five-star 2018 guards such as UK commitment Immanuel Quickley, Darius Garland and Quentin Grimes.

“That’s a great experience,” Daniels said. “Any time you can put a kid in a competitive environment, playing against good players is a good thing. I was impressed with how he handled himself. It was clear that he spent time in the gym and in the weight room trying to get better, and that’s what you want to see out of a young player.”

Roach plays on the Nike circuit and has early offers from Maryland and Villanova.

Must-see TV?

Five-star shooting guard Keldon Johnson, one of UK’s top remaining targets in the class of 2018, is expected to make a college decision in time to sign this fall. He’s also expected — based on the Herald-Leader’s conversations with those around his recruitment — to make that announcement during one of the made-for-TV recruiting specials.

Oak Hill Academy (Va.) head coach Steve Smith pointed out to the Herald-Leader recently that ESPN’s studio for such announcements is not far from the high school, and he’s had other players that have revealed their college decisions that way.

In years past, ESPN has produced a recruiting special — usually on the first Thursday of the early signing period — that included multiple college announcements. There are currently no such shows on the ESPN schedule for the early signing period, which ends Nov. 15. An ESPN representative also couldn’t confirm Thursday that such a show would be produced for this month’s early signing period.

Johnson has also not yet set a date for his college announcement.

The expectation is still that Johnson will make some sort of televised announcement during the early period, but there are obviously still many moving parts.

Stay tuned.

SEC success

National recruiting insider Andrew Slater logged a Crystal Ball prediction in favor of Vanderbilt for five-star point guard Darius Garland on Wednesday night, and that has led to the Commodores jumping Indiana for favorite status in that recruitment.

Slater — the No. 1-ranked analyst in the Crystal Ball standings — also has a pro-Vanderbilt prediction in place for Simi Shittu, a five-star forward in the 2018 class.

Both players are ranked in the top 10 in the 247Sports composite rankings for the class of 2018, meaning Vandy could be sitting on a major recruiting coup.

Landing just one of those players would be unprecedented in recent recruiting history.

According to the Recruiting Services Consensus Index, which has Top 100 composite player rankings dating back to the class of 1997, the Commodores have not landed a consensus Top 25 recruit in at least 20 years.

John Jenkins — ranked No. 29 in the 2009 class — is the highest-rated Vanderbilt signee in that span. The only other Top 50 recruit to sign with the Commodores in that time period was Dai-Jon Parker, ranked No. 45 in the 2011 class.

Bryce Drew is entering his second season as Vanderbilt’s head coach.

This story was originally published November 3, 2017 at 10:07 AM with the headline "Tyler Herro, UK’s recent five-star visitor and more basketball recruiting thoughts."