Calipari planning to meet with top prospects during Midwest recruiting swing

At the annual Tip-Off Luncheon in Louisville on Monday afternoon, John Calipari let slip that he’d be spending the early part of this week doing a little recruiting, specifically saying that Minnesota and Indiana would be his next stops on the trail.

The Herald-Leader confirmed Monday that UK coaches will be visiting with Matthew Hurt, Keion Brooks and Isaiah Stewart, all prospects who are ranked in the top 15 nationally by 247Sports.

Hurt — a 6-foot-9 forward from Rochester, Minn. — earned a UK scholarship offer last year and might be the most heavily recruited player in the 2019 class. He has offers from Duke, North Carolina, Kansas and several other top programs, and he has not yet taken any official visits in his recruitment. He’s the No. 6 overall player in the 247Sports composite rankings for 2019.

Calipari will also be seeing Brooks and Stewart, who are teammates this season at La Lumiere (Ind.). Both have already taken official visits to Lexington, and Brooks just wrapped up his visit Sunday. The 6-7 forward — originally from Fort Wayne, Ind. — is the No. 21 senior in the composite rankings, though 247Sports’ in-house rankings have him at No. 12 nationally.

Brooks’ list of finalists also includes Indiana, Michigan State, North Carolina, Purdue and UCLA.

Stewart — a 6-9 post player from Rochester, N.Y. — has had a bit of a topsy-turvy recruitment in recent weeks. He added UK to his list after receiving an in-school visit and scholarship offer from Calipari last month, then followed through with an official visit to Lexington a couple weeks later.

Around the time of that visit, Kentucky emerged as a possible favorite in Stewart’s recruitment. That momentum fizzled almost immediately, and some recruiting observers have all but written off the Cats completely. He’s since taken official visits to Michigan State and Syracuse, and he was on Washington’s campus for an official visit a week before his trip to Lexington.

Duke, Indiana and Villanova are also on his list of finalists, and a final official visit to Durham has been talked about — but not confirmed — for later this month.

Though Michigan State has taken a slight lead on Stewart’s 247Sports Crystal Ball page, his recruitment remains tough to handicap, and the Herald-Leader was told Monday that UK still sees itself as a legitimate contender for his commitment.

247Sports ranks Stewart as the No. 7 overall player in the class, and he’s the No. 5 prospect nationally in the 2019 composite rankings.

This story was originally published October 22, 2018 at 4:29 PM.