Basketball recruiting season begins now. These are the players Kentucky will be watching.
Now that the 2021-22 college basketball season is over, coaches from around the country are turning their full attention to the recruiting trail.
And things are about to get busy.
The first live evaluation period of the grassroots basketball season begins Friday, and that means college coaches will be on the road en masse to scout the next group of prospects.
John Calipari and Kentucky assistant coaches Orlando Antigua, Chin Coleman and Jai Lucas are expected to hit multiple stops through the weekend.
Most of UK’s top immediate targets will be on the Nike circuit this spring, and that league tips off Friday evening in Orlando, Fla. The Adidas and Under Armour circuits will both begin their seasons in the Indianapolis area Friday. There will be another evaluation period for college coaches later in April, and the next major opportunity to watch players with their shoe company teams after that won’t come until July.
Here’s a look at the latest on 10 Kentucky basketball targets to watch in the coming months. Many of these players are among the few that have UK scholarship offers, and the others will be recruits of interest for Calipari and his coaching staff as AAU basketball heats up this month.
Matas Buzelis
“Swiss Army knife” is a term that’s being used more and more in the recruiting world to describe a player that can help your team (and hurt the opponent) in a lot of different ways. It’s one that fits Matas Buzelis, who is a first-generation American, grew up in the Chicago area and plays his high school ball for Brewster Academy (N.H.), the alma mater of the late UK basketball player Terrence Clarke. At 6-foot-9, Buzelis often plays on the perimeter and will bring an intriguing, versatile skill set to the next level. 247Sports moved him up to No. 4 overall in the latest 2023 rankings, and Kentucky has already extended a scholarship offer and hosted him for an official visit back in December. Duke is another school on his offer sheet, and it’s still unclear which way he might be leaning for college.
Naas Cunningham
Every other player on this list is a 2023 recruit — that is, a rising high school senior — but Naas Cunningham’s status as the unanimous No. 1-ranked prospect in the 2024 class deserves mention. The 6-7 small forward from New Jersey has already attracted scholarship offers from Duke, UCLA and a host of others. Kentucky has made it clear that they will be seriously recruiting him, while communicating that the program doesn’t typically extend offers to high school sophomores. Expect that UK offer to come very soon. Cunningham — a long, athletic perimeter player — has wowed scouts so far with his promising game, which includes an improving jump shot and great passing skills for a player of his size. A couple of other 2024s to follow over the next few months will be shooting guards Ian Jackson and Tre Johnson, two prospects that UK would seemingly be in a good spot for if the Cats offer (which they almost certainly will).
Robert Dillingham
The recruitment of Robert Dillingham has already been a roller coaster ride for those involved. Last fall, the overwhelming buzz in recruiting circles indicated that the offensively minded 6-2 point guard was ready to pop a Kentucky commitment at any moment. Instead, he committed to North Carolina State — Dillingham was raised in Hickory, N.C. — and transferred to the Kanye West-backed Donda Academy (Calif.) right around that same time. Last month, he backed off the commitment to the Wolfpack and re-opened his recruitment. Along the way, there have been rumors of a jump straight to the pros and/or reclassification, either or both of which could still happen. The Herald-Leader was told this week that Dillingham is still very much considering college, and Kentucky could still be in that mix if the Cats want to pursue him again. As one of the most offensively gifted backcourt players in all of high school basketball, Dillingham will generate a ton of interest over the next few months. His recruitment should be an interesting follow.
▪ Donda Academy teammate JJ Taylor, who landed a UK scholarship offer last year, is also worthy of mention here. The 6-8 wing was once seen as a possible Kentucky lean — thanks in large part to the fact that Chin Coleman started recruiting him in middle school and Taylor’s ties to the Nike league program that Coleman previously coached. Taylor’s recruitment has been much more difficult to figure out since he broke those Chicago ties by heading west to Donda.
Justin Edwards
Long seen as one of the most likely Kentucky commitments from the 2023 class, Justin Edwards continued to impress in his junior season in the Philadelphia area. The 6-7 small forward is the type of team-first, do-whatever-it-takes player that John Calipari is always looking for on the recruiting trail, so it should be no surprise that he was one of the first prospects from his class to land a UK scholarship offer. Edwards also projects as an impact, versatile defender at the college level, with a high floor for success. Kentucky has always been a dream school for Edwards, but he hasn’t committed yet after landing that Wildcats offer during an official visit to Lexington in late November. He took an official visit to Tennessee last month, while UConn has often been mentioned as a possible landing spot, and hometown Villanova came in with a recent offer. 247Sports ranks him No. 11 in the 2023 class.
Kwame Evans Jr.
The only player here that has already dropped a manageable list of finalists is Kwame Evans Jr., a 6-9 hybrid forward from Baltimore who played this past season for high school national champion Montverde Academy (Fla.). Evans is the No. 2 overall player in the 2023 composite rankings and has long been on Kentucky’s radar, heading to Lexington last fall for his first official visit. Oregon, however, has emerged in recent weeks as a possible favorite, and Evans will be on that campus later this month for what could be a crucial next step in his recruitment. Auburn, Indiana and UCLA round out his final five. The Ducks recently landed a commitment from another top-five recruit — longtime UK target Mookie Cook — and a pledge from Evans would be yet another major victory for that program. The other schools recruiting him will hold out hope that he doesn’t make a commitment around the time of the Oregon visit.
Ron Holland
One of the few players on this list without a Kentucky scholarship offer, Ron Holland should be getting one soon. The 6-8 forward from Texas has been one of the hottest names in high school basketball over the past few months, and he’s rocketed up the recruiting charts — now ranked No. 2 overall in the 2023 class by On3.com and No. 4 nationally by ESPN. This past weekend, Holland told 247Sports that UK, Arkansas, Houston, Memphis and UCLA are the five schools pursuing him the hardest, adding that Kentucky’s coaches have indicated they will extend an offer when he visits Lexington (something that has become common practice for Calipari with this 2023 class). UK assistant coach Jai Lucas has deep ties to Texas, and that could pay off big when Kentucky makes its expected move in Holland’s recruitment. 247Sports analyst Brandon Jenkins says he expects Holland — an athletic, hard-working forward and one of the nation’s best rebounders — to make a push for top-five status in the next update to that website’s rankings.
Mackenzie Mgbako
New Jersey native Mackenzie Mgbako — a 6-8 small forward — has been mentioned in recent months as a prime candidate for the still unsettled No. 1 ranking in that 2023 class. Going into the spring, he holds the No. 3 spot in the 247Sports composite rankings, but he’ll continue to make the push for the top spot as the AAU season unfolds. UK extended an offer to Mgbako and hosted him for an official visit last fall. Duke, however, has long been seen as the favorite to land his commitment, and that status was unchanged as of a couple of weeks ago.
Update: Mgbako committed to Duke on Friday night.
Isaiah Miranda
A high-upside 7-footer from Rhode Island, Isaiah Miranda visited Kentucky in December, and top UK assistant Orlando Antigua made a few trips to New England to see him play during the season. Miranda doesn’t have a Wildcats scholarship offer yet, but he has continued to list them as one of the programs recruiting him the hardest — along with UConn and Southern Cal — and Kentucky clearly has a high level of interest. Miranda is still scratching the surface of his full potential, and UK’s coaches will be watching closely over the course of this spring and summer to chart his progress toward a possible scholarship offer heading into his senior season. The 2023 class is light on high-profile centers, so Miranda is definitely one who will stay on UK’s radar.
Reed Sheppard
Yes, in-state star Reed Sheppard is already committed to Kentucky for the 2023 class, but just because there’s no real curiosity left in his recruitment doesn’t mean there’s not any intrigue about his game. Sheppard was just starting to pop up on the national radar as a possible high-level prospect last year, and by the end of the summer he had sold scouts — and college coaches — on his game. This spring, he goes into the Adidas circuit with a target on his back for opposing players. How will Sheppard live up to those expectations? And can he maintain (or even improve on) his top-20 national ranking? UK’s coaches will continue to keep a close eye on the 6-3 combo guard in his final season of grassroots basketball, and he’ll face a new level of scrutiny from recruiting analysts as his senior year of high school approaches.
DJ Wagner
This list is alphabetical, so it’s just by chance that it ends with the single most intriguing player on Kentucky’s recruiting board going into the spring. DJ Wagner — the consensus No. 1 recruit in the 2023 class — is the son of former John Calipari star Dajuan Wagner and the grandson of former Louisville star Milt Wagner, and his recruitment now seems likely to be a tug of war between his dad’s coach and his grandad’s alma mater. Until recently, Kentucky was viewed as the overwhelming favorite to land Wagner’s commitment. (We’re talking stone-cold lock territory here). But now, U of L has hired Kenny Payne, a former teammate of both Milt Wagner and Pervis Ellison, who is also DJ’s AAU coach.
The word out of Louisville over the past few weeks has been that the eldest Wagner (and perhaps Ellison, too) will join Payne’s basketball staff in some capacity. The buzz has also been strong that it’s now Louisville, not Kentucky, that should be considered the favorite in Wagner’s recruitment. We’ll see what happens. That Calipari-Payne relationship is all rosy right now, but recruiting has a way of changing things in a hurry, and this rivalry is about to heat back up.
A battle over a 16-year-old combo guard from New Jersey could be the spark.
This story was originally published April 6, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
