UK basketball recruiting notes: Bolden still mulling decision; New possibility emerges for 2016

A little more than a month after John Calipari declared that he’d like to add one more player — “a big guy,” the UK coach specified — to his top-ranked recruiting class of 2016, there hasn’t been much movement among the Wildcats’ top targets in that group.

Texas high school star Marques Bolden remains the biggest name left on UK’s recruiting radar for 2016, and there’s no clear timetable for his college announcement.

There have been conflicting reports in recent weeks over which schools Bolden — a 6-foot-10 post player — is considering. What has become fairly clear is that Kansas — once thought to be a frontrunner — is out, and UK, Duke, Oklahoma and Texas Christian are still in the mix.

Scout.com national analyst Evan Daniels told the Herald-Leader on Tuesday that the recent commitment of four-star center Udoka Azubuike to Kansas basically eliminated the Jayhawks, who were long mentioned as one of Bolden’s top three schools, along with UK and Duke.

“I certainly believe that Duke and Kentucky are the two schools at the top of his list and the two schools that he likes the most,” Daniels said. “But, Oklahoma and TCU are still involved.”

Though Kentucky is the current favorite on Bolden’s 247Sports Crystal Ball page, other predictions regarding the high school senior have been largely split between the Cats and Blue Devils in recent weeks.

It’s also unclear just when he will announce his college decision.

Bolden’s family has repeatedly said that there is no set timetable for that announcement, and — while it looked at one point that it could come during the season — it now appears more likely to happen sometime during or after the postseason all-star circuit.

“You never know with Marques,” Daniels said. “He likes to keep people guessing. I think it’ll end up probably being more toward April or McDonald’s All-American time — I would foresee him making his choice around then.”

The McDonald’s All-American Game will be played March 30 in Chicago.

Joining Bolden in that game will be four UK signees: Edrice “Bam” Adebayo, De’Aaron Fox, Sacha Killeya-Jones and Malik Monk. Killeya-Jones told the Herald-Leader this month that some of UK’s signees — most notably, Wenyen Gabriel — have been in contact with Bolden about joining them in Lexington, and those recruiting efforts will only intensify if he shows up in Chicago next month still uncommitted.

The addition of Bolden would probably affect Adebayo the most. Both are bigger-bodied post players, and they’re similarly ranked by the recruiting services. (Scout.com has Bolden at No. 12 and Adebayo at No. 15).

They’re also different enough that they could play at the same time, says Daniels.

“With how athletic he is and how well he moves, I think Bam could defend ‘4s,’” he said. “I don’t know if that’s his position moving forward. But it wouldn’t surprise me — and Kentucky has done this many times — if they played two posts together, and I think they could get away with that.”

Closer to home?

The other post player often mentioned as a possible UK addition in the class of 2016 is Jarrett Allen, who is also a five-star prospect from Texas.

Going into the early signing period in November, it appeared that Allen was favoring the Wildcats. The commitment of Adebayo seemingly changed that, and Allen has rebooted his recruitment since.

Now, he’s expected by many recruiting observers to stay closer to home.

“I think that Texas and Houston sit at the top of his list,” Daniels said. “That’s just kind of what I’ve gathered from the situation. ... With that said, Jarrett is a different kid. He’s very quiet, and he’s been that way throughout this whole process. So things could change. He’s just trying to navigate through this process.”

Daniels also expects Allen to wait until McDonald’s All-American week — or possibly a little later — to announce a college decision.

One more to watch

John Calipari has a history of looking outside the United States for recruits, and 6-foot-11 Omer Yurtseven could be the next international player to pique his interest.

Yurtseven, who currently plays with the professional team Fenerbahçe in Turkey, competed at the Basketball Without Borders camp in Toronto last weekend, and he lived up to his lofty reputation.

“Where I was impressed the most with him was probably his offensive touch around the rim,” said Daniels, who attended the event. “He’s got a very nice set of hands, very good touch at the basket. He did a good job as an area rebounder. It’s hard to push him off his spot, and he took a lot of physical play. He’s not an explosive athlete, but he’s a better athlete than you’d expect.”

Daniels described Yurtseven as a 6-11 kid with a “sturdy” frame. He doesn’t turn 18 years old until June, and he made it clear over the weekend that he wants to play college basketball next season.

Yurtseven plays for the same pro team that featured Enes Kanter, who signed with UK but was ultimately ruled ineligible to play college basketball for receiving impermissible benefits during his time with Fenerbahçe.

It’s been reported that Yurtseven has turned down a multi-year contract with the club, and there is no sign that he has done anything to jeopardize his college eligibility.

DraftExpress.com already projects him as the No. 10 overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, and Scout.com ranks him as a five-star recruit. Daniels told the Herald-Leader that he would most likely be a top-10 overall player in the class of 2016 if international prospects were eligible for the Scout.com rankings.

There has been no public confirmation that UK is recruiting Yurtseven, but Daniels said his recent declaration that he wants to play college ball will likely lead to more schools showing interest.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if (UK) reached out to him and started that communication,” he said. “I think it’s pretty clear that they’d like to add another post player to their class, and this kid is a high-level talent.”

This story was originally published February 16, 2016 at 3:46 PM with the headline "UK basketball recruiting notes: Bolden still mulling decision; New possibility emerges for 2016."