UK basketball recruiting notes: Wildcats make contact with five-star prospect from Turkey

Scout.com national analyst Evan Daniels told the Herald-Leader on Wednesday morning that UK has reached out to 6-foot-11 post player Omer Yurtseven, who has passed up a multi-year professional contract and intends to play college basketball next season.

Daniels tweeted that Oregon has also reached out to Yurtseven, who said at last weekend’s Basketball Without Borders camp that Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, California, Duke, Miami and Utah have all shown interest in his recruitment.

Yurtseven is currently playing with pro team Fenerbahçe in Turkey — the same team that once featured Enes Kanter, who was ruled ineligible to play at UK for receiving impermissible benefits while with Fenerbahçe.

Update: Yurtseven’s professional coach is claiming that he accepted money to play for Fenerbahçe. The player says that’s not the case. DraftExpress.com has the details in their latest analysis of Yurtseven’s game and says college coaches recruiting him are not concerned about this development.

Daniels told the Herald-Leader that Yurtseven would likely be considered a top-10 recruit in the class of 2016 if international players were eligible for the Scout.com rankings.

DraftExpress.com already projects Yurtseven, who will not turn 18 years old until June, as the No. 10 overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.

“Where I was impressed the most with him was probably his offensive touch around the rim,” said Daniels, who attended the Basketball Without Borders 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.”

UK Coach John Calipari has said he would like to add another post player to the Wildcats’ recruiting class of 2016.

Other notes

▪  John Calipari and UK assistant coach Kenny Payne were in Texas on Tuesday night to see Wildcats signee De’Aaron Fox score 42 points in his senior night victory. Fox — a 6-foot-4 point guard — received his McDonald’s All-American jersey at a ceremony at his high school earlier in the day.

▪  Melvin Bolden, the father of five-star senior center Marques Bolden, told the Herald-Leader on Tuesday night that his son still does not have a timetable for his college decision. Scout.com’s Evan Daniels told the Herald-Leader on Tuesday that UK and Duke have emerged as the two favorites in that recruitment.

This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 12:50 PM with the headline "UK basketball recruiting notes: Wildcats make contact with five-star prospect from Turkey."