Star basketball recruit won’t take previously planned visit to Kentucky this weekend
Five-star combo guard Nick Smith Jr. will not take his official visit to Kentucky this weekend.
Smith — a 6-foot-4 combo guard from North Little Rock, Ark. — landed a UK scholarship offer in July and had planned to be on campus in Lexington starting Friday, but that trip won’t happen. 247Sports analyst Travis Branham was first to report that Smith did not make the trip.
The change of plans comes amid a recent surge in the Wildcats’ chances to land five-star combo guard Cason Wallace, who received a UK scholarship offer on the same weekend as Smith and visited Kentucky last week. Wallace, who is from the Dallas area, is expected to take an official visit to Texas this weekend and has scheduled an official visit to Tennessee for later this month. Those are the three contenders for his commitment, though Kentucky has emerged as the favorite in recent weeks.
Branham logged a Crystal Ball prediction on Wallace’s page in favor of the Wildcats on Friday, and it’s possible that Wallace could commit to Kentucky as early as this month. UK already has a commitment from five-star point guard Skyy Clark, and the Cats are heavy favorites to land five-star shooting guard Shaedon Sharpe, who will announce his college decision Tuesday night.
Sharpe is the No. 1 player in the class of 2022, according to the new rankings from Rivals.com. Wallace is No. 10 on that list, and Smith is ranked No. 16 nationally.
Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn and Oklahoma are seen as possible favorites for Smith.
