Star basketball recruit Chris Livingston ready to commit. Kentucky is major favorite.
Kentucky basketball fans won’t have to wait much longer to hear Chris Livingston’s recruiting decision.
The five-star prospect — and one of the top basketball recruits in the country — has moved his announcement date to Wednesday, bumping up the reveal a full month from his previously planned announcement date of Oct. 15.
The change can only be seen as positive news for the Wildcats, who have emerged in recent weeks as the major favorite to land Livingston’s commitment.
Kentucky hosted Livingston — a 6-foot-6 wing from Akron, Ohio — for an official visit in June and kept close tabs on him during the July evaluation periods. UK Coach John Calipari met with Livingston at his new school — Oak Hill Academy (Va.) — on the first day of the fall recruiting period last week, and the star recruit immediately set up a second official visit to Lexington for next month.
Technically, the rest of Livingston’s college list includes Georgetown, Memphis and Tennessee State, but it’s Kentucky that has all of the momentum heading into Wednesday’s announcement. Memphis was previously viewed as the Cats’ top competition — and perhaps the team to beat — but the Tigers are no longer pursuing Livingston, a recent development and likely sign that Penny Hardaway and his coaching staff already knew how this recruitment was going to end.
As of Monday morning, all seven predictions on Livingston’s 247Sports Crystal Ball page were in favor of Kentucky, including picks from national analysts Travis Branham and Jerry Meyer, while others in the recruiting world have weighed in over the past few days to call UK the favorite.
Livingston is the No. 5 overall player in the class of 2022, according to the 247Sports composite rankings. Last season, he was named a MaxPreps.com First Team All-American for his class after averaging 31.1 points, 15.8 rebounds, 6.1 assists, 4.7 steals and 4.0 blocks per game.
If UK does indeed land Livingston, the Cats will achieve the No. 1 ranking in the 2022 cycle. Last week, Kentucky landed a commitment from star shooting guard Shaedon Sharpe, who is the consensus No. 1 player in the 2022 class. UK has a previous commitment from five-star point guard Skyy Clark.
The Cats are also favored to land five-star combo guard Cason Wallace, and they’re in the mix for five-star centers Dereck Lively II and Adem Bona.
This story was originally published September 13, 2021 at 10:11 AM.
