Kentucky basketball recruiting mailbag: Predicting UK’s next class, and much more
We asked for your questions about the Kentucky basketball team this week, and there were several great topics to tackle. The first installment of our UK basketball mailbag was posted on Kentucky.com on Wednesday and dealt with this season’s roster.
Here’s part two of our mailbag, focusing on the Wildcats’ recruiting efforts.
With Reed Sheppard committed and Robert Dillingham likely committing in the next few weeks, what do you expect the rest of the 2023 class to look like? Are there any other imminent commitments we can expect or are we looking at next summer like for the 2022 class?
Whoops. This question was asked when pretty much everyone (including me) expected Dillingham to be part of Kentucky’s 2023 class. Instead, the top-10 prospect committed to North Carolina State on Wednesday afternoon following a late shift in his recruitment.
That’s a loss for UK, but it shouldn’t be seen as a major blow to its 2023 recruiting efforts. “Monster class” is the phrase that has popped up when discussing the expectations for Kentucky’s 2023 haul with plugged-in recruiting experts on a national level. And I still expect that to be the outcome.
UK has Sheppard, of course, the No. 17 player in the 247Sports rankings and the best Kentucky high school prospect in recent memory. That’s a great start. Who will join him?
I expect the Cats to land DJ Wagner, who is ranked No. 1 overall by 247Sports, Rivals.com and ESPN. Sure, he could go pro, but here’s predicting that the immense family ties to Calipari, the UK coach’s proven track record with dynamic guards like him, and the fact that he could make a sum pushing seven figures in NIL money in just one season in Lexington wins out.
Kentucky has extended offers to four dynamic wings in the 2023 class, all ranked in the top 15 nationally: Mookie Cook, JJ Taylor, Mackenzie Mgbako and Justin Edwards. I expect UK to land at least one of those players — not Mgbako, who seems destined for Duke — and possibly two from that group. As of now, I’d say Edwards is the most likely, but we’ll see.
I’d also expect UK to land a center for the 2023 class. Right now, the two names at the top of the list seem to be Baye Fall, who is No. 2 in the ESPN rankings, and Isaiah Miranda, a bit of a late-bloomer and one of the more intriguing players in the class. Both are expected to visit Lexington over the next few weeks.
Kentucky has also offered Montverde, Fla., forward Kwame Evans Jr., the No. 2 player in the 2023 composite rankings. He’s probably more of a combo forward at the college level, someone who could play the “4” in the type of lineup that John Calipari seems to be shifting toward. It’s early with Evans (and most of these guys, honestly), but UK did get his first official visit.
So, for the 2023 class, I’d expect Sheppard, Wagner, at least one of those elite wings, a five-star center and possibly Evans.
Leaving room for a wild-card addition (we’re still almost a year from the early signing period) and the possibility that Calipari can land two of those wings, that would be 4-6 five-star players, with most of them ranked in the top 10 nationally. That would indeed be a “monster class,” and I think that’s more expectation than pipe dream at this point.
As far as the timing of any of these potential commitments, I’m not sure I’d classify anything as “imminent” just yet. Of the players mentioned here that UK has the best shot at, Edwards seems like one who might be most likely to commit early, but he’s made no clear signs that any such announcement is coming soon.
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Do you think this late change in Robert Dillingham has to do with Donda Academy and N.C. State being Adidas schools, and will it affect our real target there: JJ Taylor?
I won’t speculate on that aspect of the Dillingham recruitment, but it was certainly an interesting one behind the scenes. Something to get straight here: UK didn’t back off of the five-star combo guard, and he was indeed a very real target, to the point that Kentucky’s coaches were planning a backcourt that featured Dillingham, DJ Wagner and Reed Sheppard in the same class.
Moving on to the JJ Taylor portion of the question …
Taylor is the No. 5 overall recruit in the 2023 composite rankings, a Chicago native with deep ties to UK assistant coach Chin Coleman, and now a teammate of Dillingham at Donda Academy, the pop-up prep program in California backed by Kanye West.
Dillingham’s decision on its own won’t have anything to do with Taylor, but it sure seems that the unorthodox move to Donda — a program that didn’t even exist a few months ago — is an indication that this could be a wacky recruitment.
Coleman was the first college coach to show interest in Taylor — when the star recruit was a middle-schooler and the UK assistant was still at Illinois — and Coleman previously coached Mac Irvin Fire, the Nike grassroots program that Taylor has played for. He knows Chicago basketball and that program as well as any college coach. Before the Donda move, Taylor’s high school coach was Mike Irvin, who also leads the Mac Irvin Fire program and remains close to Coleman.
On paper, this one was all lined up for Kentucky. Now, not so much.
Any high school move like this means more voices will be in a recruit’s ear, and — in this particular case, given the mystery around the Donda program — it’s fair to question what kind of development Taylor will get on the court over the next two seasons. It’ll be interesting to see if he actually plays two seasons of high school ball for Donda, and it will be just as interesting to see where he plays his AAU ball this summer.
Six months ago, Taylor’s recruitment seemed like it might be all Kentucky. That’s changed, and I certainly wouldn’t have him penciled into UK’s 2023 class just yet.
Do you think Kentucky will target Kylan Boswell after missing out on Dillingham?
That’s a good question. My guess is they at least gauge his interest.
Boswell is the No. 11 player in the 2023 composite rankings and arguably the best pure point guard prospect in the class at this point. He plays for the same Arizona Compass Prep program that recently produced TyTy Washington, who is leading UK in scoring this season. He’s also teammates with top-five recruit Mookie Cook, a major Kentucky target who took an official visit to Lexington a few weeks ago.
I was told that Kentucky’s staff did indeed inquire about Boswell while there to see Cook before his UK visit. And that was at a time when the Cats thought they were getting Dillingham, Reed Sheppard and (possibly) DJ Wagner. So, there’s clearly some level of interest on UK’s end.
Boswell — a 6-foot-2 playmaker from the Los Angeles area — hasn’t mentioned Kentucky prominently in recent interviews. He did list Arizona, Illinois, Michigan and Southern Cal in an interview with 247Sports over the weekend. He doesn’t seem to be too far along in his recruitment, however, so there’s plenty of time for Kentucky to make a move here.
A 2023 combo of Boswell, Sheppard and Wagner would certainly be interesting. All three of those players could play on or off the ball, with Boswell perhaps the best-suited as a point guard at this stage. Sheppard would provide great shooting off the ball. Wagner would be a dynamic guard in either situation. That’s three good ball-handlers with a whole lot of basketball IQ. (Dillingham, conversely, was more of a super-scoring guard who actually prefers to play off the ball).
The Compass Prep coaches have spoken highly of Boswell, who is new to that program, and it won’t hurt that Washington is doing well so far at Kentucky, both on the court and in the NIL realm, where he could end up surpassing seven figures in earnings in his freshman season.
This is certainly a recruitment to monitor moving forward.
Who’s UK looking at for center in the 2023 class? Rivals has only three in the top 50 and only one in the top 10, so — late-bloomers aside — it looks like a class where Cal may have to cast a wide net.
It’s a bit perplexing that Kentucky keeps missing on five-star big men — Jalen Duren, Dereck Lively II and Adem Bona being the most recent examples — given the program’s abundance of post players starring in the NBA. Maybe that skid comes to an end in the 2023 cycle?
With the transfer portal now an annual option, I’m not sure Calipari will cast too wide a net here, since there aren’t a ton of instant-impact post recruits in this class (as of now). That center position makes for an especially tough transition from high school to college, and there’s usually only a small handful in any class that Calipari would trust to come in right away and be the starting “5” on a team with national title hopes.
The two big names to watch at the moment are Baye Fall and Isaiah Miranda.
Fall — a 6-foot-10 center from Senegal, now playing in Denver — is the No. 6 overall prospect in the 2023 composite rankings. He mentioned Kentucky prominently in a recent interview related to his recruitment, and he’s expected to visit Lexington sometime this winter. He projects as an instant-impact rebounder and rim-protector with plenty of athleticism and offensive potential. Fall, who turns 18 years old later this month, is the No. 1 center in the 2023 class.
Miranda — a 7-1 big from Rhode Island — is one of the most intriguing players in the class, regardless of position. He hit a growth spurt after developing some guard skills — Anthony Davis is a player he models his game after, naturally — and is quickly making a name for himself nationally. Miranda currently sits at No. 32 overall in the 2023 composite rankings, but if he continues to progress as he has been, he’ll be in five-star range at the next round of updates. He projects as a great shot-blocker and rim-runner with legitimate perimeter skills and a high amount of offensive upside. Miranda will take an official visit to Lexington for the UK-U of L game this month. It won’t be a surprise if he heads home with a scholarship offer.
Both Fall and Miranda could be reclassification candidates, it’s important to note. And UK still doesn’t have any big men locked in for its 2022 recruiting class. Stay tuned.
One more interesting big in this class is Aaron Bradshaw, who is teammates with DJ Wagner at Camden (N.J.) High School, the program that produced current UK forward Lance Ware. Bradshaw is a 7-footer and currently ranked No. 21 in the 2023 composite (No. 2 at the center position). Given the high ranking and the UK recruiting ties, he’s worth keeping an eye on, as well.
Do you think the staff has a hierarchy of 2023 wings or is just casting a wide net and evaluating right now? Who would you want most at UK: Justin Edwards, Mookie Cook, Mackenzie Mgbako, Matas Buzelis, JJ Taylor, etc?
I think John Calipari would take commitments from any of those players at this stage in the recruiting process. Edwards, Cook, Mgbako and Taylor have all been to UK for official visits this fall and now hold Kentucky scholarship offers. Buzelis is expected to visit Lexington later this month, and it would be surprising if he left town without an offer.
This 2023 class is absolutely loaded with elite wings. All five of those players are ranked among the top dozen prospects nationally, according to 247Sports: Mgbako at No. 3, Buzelis at No. 4, Cook at No. 5, Taylor at No. 6 and Edwards at No. 11. That’s a ridiculous amount of talent at one position, and UK would love to have any of those players, so any kind of “hierarchy” likely goes out the window if someone from that group is ready to commit.
This is a little different way to answer the “who would you want most?” question, but I think Edwards — the lowest-ranked of the five names here — could be the most important player in this group for the Cats.
Everything I’ve been told about this kid is positive. He plays well and fits well with other super-talented players. He has a high basketball IQ, described as someone who would likely mesh well with Calipari from the start. He’s a three-level scorer who can handle the ball. He’s a willing and versatile defender. He’s already gained the reputation as an unselfish player that accepts coaching. “Humble” and “mature” are two words that have come up from multiple sources.
Edwards might not have as much upside as some of the other names on this list, but he seems to have an extremely high floor as a college player. He’s also called Kentucky his dream school in the past, and well-connected recruiting experts have told me that UK would be the team to beat with a scholarship offer, which was extended on his official visit last month. (UConn looks like the Cats’ top competition for now).
One more thing: it seems doable that Kentucky could get Edwards and another wing on this list. He just has the reputation that would lead other star players to want to play with him, the mindset to be OK sharing the spotlight with other elite freshmen, and a versatile enough game that you could easily play Edwards and one of these other guys at the same time.
Edwards checks a lot of boxes for what college recruiters are looking for, and every time his name comes up in conversation, the feedback just screams: “Calipari guy.”
Reed Sheppard is a similarly versatile and team-first prospect. If UK can lock down two players like that relatively early in this recruiting cycle, that would be huge for the Cats’ overall 2023 outlook.
