Keep up with the Cats: Your 2019 Kentucky basketball off-season calendar
Basketball season is never really over in the Bluegrass State.
The University of Kentucky’s loss in the 2019 NCAA Elite Eight simultaneously brought the postseason to an end and signaled the start of an off-season full of familiar questions: Who’s going to the NBA Draft? Who’s joining the Wildcats next season? When will we be able to huddle around our 65-inch TV and watch them win again?
Answers are still in flux for some of those questions, and could be for a bit. Here’s a time line of events that can help satiate your appetite for Kentucky basketball before the 2019-20 season tips off in November.
Note: All times below EDT
April 12
Nike Hoop Summit: Signee Tyrese Maxey will play for the USA Team during the 22nd annual showcase, scheduled for 10 p.m. in Portland, Ore. Matthew Hurt, an uncommitted top-10 prospect who has an offer from the Wildcats, is also part of the USA Team. The game will air live on ESPN2.
AAU travel season begins: The Adidas Gauntlet and Under Armour Association circuits get underway this weekend. Those two, along with the Nike EYBL, which hosts its first of four events April 26-28, will run through July. All will bring to them a bevy of top Division I coaches to scout future members of their programs. UK currently has outstanding offers to nine members of the 2020 class but just one in 2021 — Jonathan Kuminga, a native of Congo whom it offered in February.
April 13
NBA playoffs begin: Several ex-Cats will be part of playoff rosters — that’s not unusual — but some of the league’s best teams have UK guys in starring roles, including the Denver Nuggets (Jamal Murray) and Milwaukee Bucks (Eric Bledsoe). Demarcus Cousins, a member of the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors and among the five Wildcats taken in the first round of the 2010 draft, will finally make his long-awaited postseason debut in his ninth NBA season.
April 17-20
Portsmouth Invitational Tournament: Sixty-four of the top college basketball seniors are invited to partake in this annual four-day, 12-game tournament. Reid Travis could be in the mix. All 64 players who participated last season have played professional basketball in the past year, and 14 have signed with NBA franchises. The entire tournament will be streamed at www.netcastsports.com.
April 17-May 15
Division I signing period: Dontaie Allen (Pendleton County) and Tyrese Maxey (South Garland, Texas) signed with the Wildcats during the early period (Nov. 14-21). Kahlil Whitney (Roselle Catholic, N.J.) and Keion Brooks (La Lumiere, Ind.) have not officially inked letters of intent but have committed to UK. Hurt and Jaden McDaniels, another top-10 recruit in the 2019 class with an offer from UK, could both make their decisions during this window.
April 20
Jordan Brand Classic: Brooks, Maxey and Whitney will all take the floor together this month before doing so in Lexington. They’ll suit up for “Away Team” during the 18th edition of the annual high school All-Star game in Las Vegas at 8 p.m.
April 21
NBA Draft early entry eligibility deadline: This is the final day that early entrants (non-seniors) can declare their intent to enter the NBA Draft. They have until 11:59 p.m. to declare, and can withdraw their name later even if they’ve signed with an agent (who’s certified by the players’ union and NCAA).
May 7
Summer school: UK’s 12-week summer session begins, and that means basketball newcomers (as well as those in other sports) could be on campus getting in some early academic and athletic work. The summer semester ends Aug. 1.
May 14-19
NBA Draft combine: Players selected for this invite-only event in Chicago will be evaluated by pro scouts and have a chance to better assess their viability for the NBA. Interviews, medical tests, athletic tests, shooting and skills drills, and five-on-five competitions are part of the process, though most of the top-regarded prospects will probably participate on a limited basis. A full list of invitees typically is known by the first week of May. Five UK players participated in last year’s combine, including PJ Washington, the only one of the group to return to school.
May 14
NBA Draft lottery: Combine invitees will be paying close mind to ESPN during their first night in Chicago: The draft position of the 14 NBA teams that didn’t qualify for the postseason will be decided then. Previously the team with the worst record had the best chance of winning the top pick but this is the first year that the odds change to favor the three teams with the worst record: each has a 14 percent of getting the best spot. The New York Knicks, Phoenix Suns and Cleveland Cavaliers had the three worst records as of April 1.
May 29
NBA Draft early entrant withdrawal deadline for NCAA players: College underclassmen who entered their names in the NBA Draft have until 10 days after the NBA Combine to remove their names from draft consideration and retain their collegiate eligibility. This is that day.
May 30
NBA Finals begin: Will former teammates Bledsoe and Cousins — who played together on John Calipari’s first team at UK — face off for the NBA title? Their teams are the betting favorites to make the 2019 finals, according to Bovada.
June 7-29
UK summer basketball camps: John Calipari hosts camps for youth basketball players as well as father-son duos each year. There are two youth camps (ages 7-17) scheduled for June 16-19 and June 23-26. Click here for registration information for those. There are three father-son camp opportunities — June 7-8, June 14-15 and June 28-29. Click here for registration information for those.
June 20
NBA Draft: Which Wildcats are going to be in the mix come late June? ESPN’s latest projection had no UK players going in the lottery but tabbed three guys — PJ Washington, Tyler Herro and Keldon Johnson — as prospects who could be chosen in the middle of the first round. Zion Williamson, the prohibitive favorite for the No. 1 pick, should make about $8.1 million his first year in the league. Players in the middle of the first round will make anywhere from $2 million to $2.8 million in their first season. Every player drafted in the first round receives a four-year contract; the first two years are guaranteed and the next two are team options.
June 24
Undrafted deadline: Beginning this year, underclassmen who requested an undergraduate advisory committee evaluation and participated in the NBA combine but then went undrafted can return to college. They have until 5 p.m. on the Monday following the draft to inform their school’s athletic director of that decision.
June 21-23
Scholastic event evaluation: This is the first of two designated NCAA evaluation periods in which only scholastic events approved by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) or a junior-college athletics governing body can be conducted. The second such window is June 28-30. A list of NCAA-certified events will be available soon.
July 5-15
NBA Summer League: All 30 NBA teams as well as two international squads — China and Croatia — will participate in the NBA’s annual summer league, which this year is shortened a day and confined completely to Las Vegas after previously sharing the spotlight with Orlando. It will be the latest ex-Cats’ first opportunity to impress their newly adopted fans; nine of the top 10 selections in last year’s draft played in the 2018 Summer League, including Kevin Knox.
July 10-14
Nike EYBL Peach Jam: The most widely recognized summer recruiting event is staged in North Augusta, S.C. this week. The Adidas Gauntlet Championships and Under Armour Association Finals also occur during this window. The NCAA evaluation period for non-scholastic events during this time (July 11-14) is the only one in July; before this year there were three such weekends in July.
Aug. 26
First day of school: UK’s fall semester starts the last week of August, signaling the return of UK basketball in just a few weeks.
September
Prelude to Madness: Ticket distribution for Big Blue Madness — and the feverish campout that follows — is usually held at the end of September, but an actual date probably won’t be announced before August. UK players during the month will partake in individual workouts, photo shoots and preseason interviews.
October
Madness!: UK’s celebratory first practice in recent years has been held the second Friday in October, so the very unofficial projected date of Big Blue Madness is Oct. 11. The program’s annual Pro Day preceded last year’s event; it was held the Sunday before, so be on the lookout for that as well. The Blue-White scrimmage and a series of to-be-announced exhibition contests will follow Madness.
Oct. 18-20
John Calipari Basketball Fantasy Experience: Calipari will host his eighth annual fantasy camp for charity in Lexington. Participants can choose to have a playing experience or a coaching experience. Click here for more information and to register.
Nov. 12
Champions Classic: Kentucky probably will play its first game before this — the regular season begins earlier in the month — but this annual showcase, heading into its ninth year, has become the unofficial marker to general sports fans that college basketball season has, indeed, started. UK will take on Michigan State — possibly the defending NCAA champion — at Madison Square Garden in New York. The event, which also includes Kansas and Duke as part of its rotation, has been renewed through 2022. The only other games officially locked in at this point for the 2019-20 season are a pair of games in Las Vegas — Utah on Dec. 18, then Ohio State on Dec. 21 in the CBS Sports Classic.
This story was originally published April 3, 2019 at 7:54 AM.