Kentucky coach checks in on one of the top center recruits in high school basketball
A Kentucky basketball coach was in Massachusetts on Wednesday night to check out star center Isaiah Miranda, who is gaining the reputation as one of the top post players in the 2023 recruiting class.
Miranda — a 7-footer from Rhode Island — had 17 points, 11 rebounds and six blocked shots for Springfield (Mass.) Commonwealth Academy in a 65-56 victory over Woodstock Academy (Conn.) on Wednesday, according to The Season Ticket recruiting website.
The junior standout was in Lexington last month for a recruiting visit centered on the UK-Western Kentucky game at Rupp Arena, and he’s emerging as one of the Wildcats’ top post targets in the 2023 class. UK coaches had already traveled to see Miranda two other times this season, and Wildcats assistant Orlando Antigua was in the stands for a 28-point performance a few weeks ago.
Miranda is a prime candidate for a Kentucky scholarship offer moving forward. He’s one of the most intriguing post players in a recruiting class seemingly light on impact big men.
“The bigs in the 2023 class — it’s a down year for them, frankly,” 247Sports analyst Travis Branham told the Herald-Leader last month. “Isaiah is arguably the most talented big man in the entire class, when it comes to strictly talking about the ‘5’ position. He’s pushing 7-foot, he’s really athletic. His frame has yet to even start filling out. He can shoot from three. He can kind of create his own shot.”
Miranda is the No. 32 overall player and No. 4 in the 2023 class, according to the 247Sports composite rankings, but he’s expected to rise up that list during the next round of updates. He told ZagsBlog earlier this week that the four schools recruiting him the hardest at the moment are Kentucky, Louisiana State, Southern Cal and UConn.
He’s already visited all of those schools, except for LSU.
Miranda’s high school coach is also Antonio Anderson, who was a four-year player at Memphis under Coach John Calipari from 2005-09, playing for his final Tigers team before he took the UK job. Anderson started all 40 games for the 2007-08 Memphis team that advanced to the national title game.
