Kentucky’s attention centers on Adem Bona. ‘He wants to be great in this game.’
Even before Dereck Lively II — the top-ranked frontcourt player in the 2022 class — announced his commitment to Duke over Kentucky on Monday night, Adem Bona had emerged as a major recruiting target for the Wildcats.
On Sunday, the eve of Lively’s decision, John Calipari was in California for his first in-person visit with Bona, who is also among the most highly rated big men in the 2022 class. He was already a priority UK target. Now that Lively is off the board, he’s clearly at the top of the wish list for Kentucky’s frontcourt of the future.
Bona — pushing 6-foot-11 with a 7-5 wingspan — is listed at No. 10 nationally by 247Sports, making him the third-highest-ranked frontcourt player in the class behind only Lively and fast-rising Arizona big man Yohan Traore.
A native of Nigeria who began his basketball career as a teenager in Turkey, the 18-year-old moved to the United States last year and is entering his second and final season for Prolific Prep (Calif.), a program that has produced several five-star prospects in recent years.
Billy McKnight led Prolific for its first four seasons (2015-19) and returned to the program this summer for his second stint as head coach. He coached against Bona last season, and he’s enjoying his time spent with the five-star big man in preparation for his senior year.
“He is a superior energy guy. Maybe his greatest skill and talent is how hard he plays,” McKnight told the Herald-Leader on Tuesday. “But then he’s also just a physical freak. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to coach another guy like him again. He’s just an incredible runner, jumper — he’s just a physical specimen. And he finishes way above the rim, touches way up the backboard, way over the square.
“Defensively, he rebounds outside of his area. He blocks shots. He distracts shots all over the place. So he’s just an extremely physically gifted guy. But it’s not just his physical gifts. He plays so hard, and he brings such energy to the game. And that’s why he’s got places like Kentucky interested in him.”
247Sports analyst Travis Branham said that — while Bona still has ample room for improvement as an offensive player — he has the potential to have as big of an impact as Lively does as a college freshman from a defending and rebounding perspective.
Branham also told the Herald-Leader that Bona would be a good complement to the personnel that Kentucky expects to have next season. With offensively talented, perimeter-based players like Skyy Clark, Shaedon Sharpe and Chris Livingston coming in — and combo guard Cason Wallace expected to join in the near future — Bona wouldn’t have as much pressure to make an impact on the offensive end as that area of his game continues to progress.
McKnight said Bona has been working on aspects of his offensive skill set this offseason. The coach acknowledged that Bona sometimes plays too fast, so they’ve been working on slowing him down a little bit on that end of the floor.
He also wants Bona to try and disrupt defenders. With the strength and quickness he possesses, Bona could open his scoring package even more if he can get his defender just a little off balance, then pounce.
“Don’t get me wrong. We’re really nitpicking here,” McKnight said with a laugh, interrupting himself and noting that Bona should be projected as a lottery pick in the 2023 NBA Draft.
Prolific Prep is planning to run some five-out offense this season, meaning the coaches have also been working with Bona on his play away from the basket. He’s improving his passing and ball handling on the perimeter, and McKnight sees a player that can excel against defensive mismatches in that space.
“If big, slow guys come out on him, he’s going to be able to get by them,” he said.
From there, it’s about making the best decisions with the ball. When to pass. When to keep driving. When to jump-stop to avoid a charge.
Bona shows up for every practice willing and ready to expand his game, his coach said, adding that he spends countless hours on the court outside of that time.
“When he walks into the gym, it’s just instant energy. Every time,” McKnight said. “He wants to be great in this game. And work ethic is something that he has in spades.”
Bona and Kentucky
Defense is where Bona impacts the game the most, using that length, athleticism and high motor to frustrate opponents all over the court.
“Defensively, he can switch onto guards on the perimeter,” McKnight said. “And that’s pretty rare for a guy his size, to be able to move their feet well enough to be able to stay in front of guys and guard. And that’s something that he wants to do. He’s not trying to hide from anybody. He’ll guard whoever.”
It was pointed out to McKnight that those traits sounded similar to former Kentucky big man Willie Cauley-Stein, who excelled at switching onto smaller players and keeping up with them.
“Yeah, Coach Cal was actually talking about Willie a little bit when we met with him,” the coach said. “And he was talking about Adem and how much he respected how hard he played the game.”
McKnight said Bona’s meeting with Calipari on Sunday went well, and the Kentucky coach made it clear he wanted the star big man to be part of his 2022 recruiting class.
There’s a little ways to go before that happens.
Branham told the Herald-Leader on Monday that he views UCLA as Kentucky’s top competition for Bona’s commitment, and McKnight said that Bruins Coach Mick Cronin and at least one assistant were due to visit with Bona on Tuesday.
Kansas hosted Bona for an official visit this past weekend — before Calipari’s meeting with him in California — and McKnight called UK, UCLA and Kansas the three “main” schools in Bona’s recruitment at this point.
As of Wednesday morning, there were six total predictions on Bona’s Crystal Ball and Rivals FutureCast pages, all in favor of Kentucky, with UK picks coming in from national analysts Jerry Meyer and Dan McDonald right around the time the Wildcats extended a scholarship offer last month.
There has been no movement on the national prediction pages since Lively’s decision Monday night, and Bona’s recruitment appears to be a relatively tight one — likely between Kentucky and UCLA — heading into the final stretch.
As of now, those are the only two additional official visits Bona is confirmed to be taking.
McKnight said he would arrive in Lexington for his UK visit Oct. 1. The UCLA trip is expected to come later in October. There’s no set timeline for his commitment, but Bona could make a college decision before the end of the early signing period in November.
During the Sunday visit, Calipari told Bona about the expectations at Kentucky, that playing time is not guaranteed and hard work is rewarded. That standard pitch from the UK coach sounds like it meshes perfectly with Bona’s approach.
“It seemed like it went really well,” McKnight said. “He knows Adem has the talent. And if Adem was ready to go with it, he’d love to get him right now.”
