Kentucky extends offer to under-the-radar basketball recruit with ties to Calipari
John Calipari is in need of more backcourt players for next season, and he might have found one with a familiar last name from his old stomping grounds.
Adou Thiero — a 6-foot-5 combo guard from the Pittsburgh area — has had a stellar senior season of high school resulting in ongoing interest from several high-major college programs. Thiero is the son of Almamy Thiero, who played for Calipari at Memphis, and the Kentucky basketball coach has been keeping tabs on the 2022 recruit as a possible UK target over the past few weeks. Calipari also grew up in Pittsburgh and has been known to keep a close eye on high school standouts from the area.
On Thursday night, Calipari and UK assistant coach Orlando Anitgua were in Pennsylvania to watch Thiero play in a state title game. On Saturday afternoon, the high schooler tweeted a photo with Calipari, along with a message that the coach had extended an offer for him to play for the Wildcats during an in-home visit with him and his family.
Cincinnati, Indiana, Marquette, Ohio State, West Virginia and hometown Pittsburgh have been some of the other college programs that have expressed interest over the past few weeks. Thiero took an unofficial visit to IU late in the season. Hometown Duquesne extended a scholarship offer a few weeks ago and has been strongly pursuing Thiero.
Earlier this month, he told Pittsburgh Sports Now that he was starting to hear from Kentucky.
“I was definitely very excited,” Thiero said. “Kentucky was my dream school when I was a kid. I went to a Kentucky camp my freshman year, and I just like the program and Coach Cal is a very good coach.”
Thiero averaged 23.2 points, 10.3 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 3.9 steals per game this season.
Kentucky will lose veteran guards Kellan Grady and Davion Mintz off this season’s roster, and sophomore guard Dontaie Allen has already announced his intention to transfer. UK could also lose projected lottery picks Shaedon Sharpe and TyTy Washington to the NBA Draft, while starting point guard Sahvir Wheeler’s future with the Wildcats is still up in the air, as well.
UK is expected to add a few additional guards before the start of next season. It’s not yet clear just how seriously Calipari will pursue Thiero, but he obviously took the time to make a couple of trips to see the son of his former player.
This story was originally published March 26, 2022 at 5:41 PM.
