Who might be Kentucky’s next basketball commitment? Here are 10 recruits to watch.
The next few weeks of Kentucky basketball developments will be consumed by the stay-or-go decisions of the Wildcats’ current players following the abrupt end of their season due to the coronavirus pandemic.
After all of those decisions are made, Kentucky will start to get recruiting commitments from the next wave of Cats.
John Calipari could still add to his No. 1-ranked recruiting class for 2020, a group of six players that all officially signed with Kentucky in the fall. UK has a scholarship offer out to five-star forward Greg Brown III, and the Cats are still circling a handful of recruits that could reclassify from 2021 to 2020, but any late additions for next season might be more likely to come from the transfer portal, which is already starting to fill up with names following the NCAA’s decision last week to cancel the NCAA Tournament, effectively ending the 2019-20 season.
The biggest possible needs — going by UK roster projections for next season — would be a physical post player and maybe another point guard (unless Immanuel Quickley returns for his junior year).
The Cats are not known to be recruiting any more high school point guards that could be on campus next season, and, if they were to add a physical frontcourt player for the 2020-21 team, it seems more likely Calipari would target a veteran college transfer — like he did with Reid Travis and Kerry Blackshear Jr. over the past two offseasons — rather than a still-developing teenager.
That doesn’t mean Kentucky won’t surprise and land a high school recruit in time for next season. And, even if that doesn’t happen, this should still be a busy time for future roster-building.
The spring travel season is on hold — and the NCAA has banned all in-person recruiting until at least April 15 — but there are still several UK recruiting targets that could make college decisions in the next several months.
Here’s the latest on 10 high school players that have been on Kentucky’s wish list and have a decent chance of picking a college before the end of the calendar year:
The remaining 2020 target
Greg Brown III — a versatile, 6-foot-9 forward from Austin, Texas — took an official visit to Lexington in January and has wrapped up all of his other recruiting trips (a good thing, given the NCAA’s current ban on such visits). Brown is also considering Auburn, Memphis, Michigan and Texas, the hometown school where his father is a former college football standout.
The Brown family’s original plan was to wait it out, see how each team performed to end the 2019-20 season, monitor the stay-or-go decisions within all of those programs, and find the right fit for Brown’s freshman year. It’s likely that Brown and his father will stick to the script of seeing who goes, who stays, and what each roster will look like before announcing a decision. That would seemingly make an announcement unlikely for the next few weeks.
Brown posted on his Instagram account Sunday night that a decision was “coming soon,” but he gave no timetable for such an announcement.
Greg Brown Jr., the recruit’s father, recently told the Herald-Leader that they want to go to a team that can win immediately, and they’ll be focused on next season’s rosters, as well as — and this, he said, was probably the most important variable — how Brown will be used offensively. “We’re not too worried about the defensive end,” Brown Jr. said. “Because he shouldn’t have a problem guarding the ‘1’ through ‘4.’”
The Browns clearly have their sights set on the NBA — and the 18-year-old is already projected as a lottery pick in the 2021 draft — so a big part of that, “How does he fit offensively?” question will ultimately come down to which teams would allow him to play away from the basket. Brown Jr. made it clear his son doesn’t want to go somewhere that would stick him in the post, and he has been working on his perimeter skills and outside shooting in anticipation of playing such a role in college, and beyond.
Texas and Memphis have remained relatively steady as the two favorites.
The Longhorns had a late-season resurgence but were still in danger of missing the NCAA Tournament, which would have meant another year of no tournament wins in the Shaka Smart era. Smart has now coached five seasons at Texas with zero NCAA tourney victories.
If Smart is still around for next season, that number could change.
The earliest betting odds for next season have Texas at 25-1 to win the national championship, tying them for 10th as far as most likely teams to win it all.
Memphis was also in danger of missing the NCAA Tournament after all of the preseason hype surrounding Penny Hardaway’s team, and the Tigers have zero class of 2020 commitments and ample roster uncertainty for next season. Still, they’re expected to make some additions over the next couple of months, and Brown could be a big part of a team that could find itself back in the Top 25 discussion by the start of the 2020-21 campaign.
Kentucky has generally been handicapped as running third, at best, in Brown’s recruitment.
UK should once again be atop the preseason rankings — early betting numbers have only Gonzaga, Virginia and Kansas with shorter odds to win it all — so that checks the Browns’ winning box. There would seemingly be some strikes against the Cats, however.
Next season’s perimeter appears to be loaded with talent, while the Cats’ biggest question marks are in the post. So how much would the 6-9 Brown get to play away from the basket? If he did, how many touches would he get? And is this UK squad already too loaded with talent?
Brown’s father has said none of those are disqualifiers. He told the Herald-Leader that — the more UK’s coaching staff has seen his son play — the more they think he could fit in anywhere on the court. He also said that — relative to the level of basketball — Brown’s star-studded Nike league squad last year was more loaded than Kentucky’s team will be next season. “I think we played on a more talented team than Kentucky — for the time — last summer with the (Texas) Titans. And he did just fine.”
Time will tell. Kentucky probably remains in the middle of the pack in Brown’s five-team recruitment, but it would be unwise to completely count out Calipari just yet.
Reclassifying to 2020?
Three high school juniors that have been closely linked to Kentucky are viewed in recruiting circles as likely to make the jump from the 2021 class and move up this year.
Jonathan Kuminga — a versatile 6-8 forward from Congo and currently at The Patrick School in New Jersey — leads that list as the unanimously ranked No. 1 player in the 2021 class, and he was the first player in his current class to earn a UK scholarship offer (during a visit to Lexington last year).
Kentucky has continued to be mentioned prominently in Kuminga’s recruitment — and the Cats would likely be even more serious players in the unlikely event he sticks in 2021 — but the general vibe among recruiting experts is he’d end up elsewhere if he plays college ball next season. Auburn, Louisiana State and Texas Tech — where Kuminga’s brother recently transferred — are all considered more likely landing spots, and Georgia hosted him for a recruiting visit recently. There is also the possibility that Kuminga doesn’t play college basketball at all — either this coming season or next — before beginning a professional career.
Moussa Cisse — a 6-10, 220-pound power forward from Guinea, now living in Memphis — also has a UK scholarship offer, and the Herald-Leader was recently told not to count out the Cats, though Florida State, LSU and Memphis, where Cisse moved from New York City last year, might have better shots. National recruiting expert Andrew Slater logged a Crystal Ball pick on Cisse’s page in favor of LSU last week. Cisse is currently the No. 8 recruit in the 2021 class.
Moussa Diabate — a 6-10, 215-pound power forward from France, now at IMG Academy in Florida — does not yet have a confirmed UK scholarship offer, but the Cats have shown consistent interest in his recruitment. The Herald-Leader was told over the weekend that he could still return to high school for another year, though the narrative for much of this season has been that he’d be more likely to jump to 2020.
Diabate — the No. 10 recruit in the 2021 class, for now — is a great talent, but he wouldn’t fill the Cats’ apparent need for a bruiser in the post.
There are currently no Crystal Ball picks on Diabate’s page, though Memphis has long been seen as a possible favorite, and Alabama is another school that could have an increasingly good chance to land him.
The top 2021 targets
It’s unclear when (or even if) the Nike travel league season will start up for 2020 following the announcement last week that the first two sessions in Indianapolis and Atlanta have been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
If they do play Nike ball this summer, that’s where almost all of Kentucky’s focus will be.
In addition to Kuminga and Cisse — who are both committed to Nike programs for this year — the other four recruits from the 2021 class with UK scholarship offers are all Nike players.
The highest ranked of those prospects is Seattle power forward Paolo Banchero, who Rivals.com has as the No. 2 overall player in the 2021 class, behind only Kuminga.
UK hosted Banchero for a recruiting visit on Big Blue Madness weekend last fall, and the Cats are seen in recruiting circles as perhaps the favorite to land his commitment. The 6-9 prospect is also considering Duke, North Carolina, Tennessee, Gonzaga, hometown Washington and others.
Kentucky might be even more of a favorite for Las Vegas-area shooting guard Jaden Hardy, who has been a major subject of the Wildcats’ attention over the past few months and is currently ranked as the No. 1 guard in the 2021 class. National recruiting experts Corey Evans, Andrew Slater and Jerry Meyer are all predicting the Cats will land Hardy.
UK has also extended offers to Memphis native Kennedy Chandler — the No. 1 point guard in the 2021 class — and Milwaukee small forward Patrick Baldwin Jr., the consensus No. 3 overall player in the class.
The Cats are not seen as favorites for either player, but that could change. Duke and home-state Tennessee have been mentioned prominently for Chandler, who visited UK last month and will likely continue to consider the Cats among his very top teams. Baldwin — a smooth-shooting 6-9 perimeter player — has long been seen as a Duke lean, and the Blue Devils will continue to be perceived as favorites until something happens to change that narrative.
None of these four players are expected to reclassify to 2020, but they’ve all been pretty active in their recruitments to this point, and all four could be signed with a college team by the fall.
2022 targets moving up?
Players in the 2022 recruiting class still have two more years of high school ball … unless they make the jump to 2021 and play out their prep careers next season.
That could be the path for two major Kentucky targets currently in that group.
Brandon Huntley-Hatfield — a 6-foot-8 power forward from Clarksville, Tenn. — is the No. 4 prospect in the 2022 class and the only player in those rankings with a scholarship offer from Kentucky, though UK and other schools in his recruitment are expecting him to ultimately move back to 2021, his original class.
The Wildcats hosted Huntley-Hatfield for a visit centered on the Kentucky-Louisville game back in December, and UK is seen as a favorite in his recruitment.
Skyy Clark — a 6-3 combo guard from the Los Angeles area — is less of a sure thing to move from the 2022 class, where he’s ranked as the No. 18 overall prospect. Clark visited Lexington a few weeks ago, and his father has told the Herald-Leader that the family is contemplating a permanent move from California to the Nashville area, which would obviously be much closer to UK’s campus.
The Cats have made Clark a major priority in the 2022 class, and Kenny Clark, the recruit’s father, acknowledged they are still considering reclassifying to 2021. Clark’s dad has also said multiple times that his son — one of the top perimeter scorers in the country — would be willing to play on or off the ball in college, making him a dynamic and versatile fit for any major program.
Kentucky, at this point in his recruitment, should be viewed as the favorite, though many other schools — including Kansas, UCLA, Michigan and Memphis — have already extended scholarship offers.
There are no timetables on any potential reclassification decisions for Huntley-Hatfield or Clark, but — if they do officially announce the move from 2022 to 2021 anytime soon — college commitments later this year would not be a surprise.
