A key recruiting date is approaching for these top UK basketball targets
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Starting June 15, college basketball coaches can directly contact class of 2027 recruits.
- UK basketball has offered scholarships to three players in the 2027 recruiting group.
- Baba Oladotun, CJ Rosser and Obinna Ekezie Jr. all have Kentucky basketball offers.
While excitement is still building for Mark Pope’s second Kentucky basketball team — and nearly 150 days remain until the 2025-26 regular season begins — a key date for future UK squads is now firmly on the horizon.
Starting Sunday, June 15, college basketball coaches can directly contact high school recruits in the class of 2027.
By this time next week, expect Pope and his assistant coaches at UK to have established direct lines of communication with several prospects who are rising juniors at the high school level.
Currently, Pope and the Wildcats have offered scholarships to three players in the 2027 recruiting group: Baba Oladotun (small forward), CJ Rosser (power forward) and Obinna Ekezie Jr. (center). All three prospects are ranked as five-star recruits by the 247Sports Composite.
Oladotun and Ekezie are both participants in this week’s NBPA Top 100 Camp in Rock Hill, South Carolina, which is considered a premier summer evaluation event. The Herald-Leader is also in attendance for this week’s NBPA Top 100 Camp, which features a plethora of elite high school players who receive instruction from current and former NBA players, as well as coaches with plenty of ties to the college and professional ranks.
Also in attendance for this week’s NBPA Top 100 Camp? Pope and several of his assistant coaches.
Wednesday and Thursday of this year’s NBPA Top 100 Camp has been earmarked as an “evaluation period” on the NCAA Division I men’s basketball recruiting calendar. This means Kentucky coaches can travel to Rock Hill and watch the likes of Oladotun and Ekezie in action over the next few days, along with other prospects that UK is recruiting.
On Wednesday morning, the Herald-Leader spotted Pope, UK associate head coach Alvin Brooks III, assistant coach Cody Fueger and assistant coach Jason Hart at the event.
While Pope and his coaching staff have long been able to speak directly with 2026 recruits, Sunday will mark an important recruiting date for the likes of Oladotun, Rosser and Ekezie, as Kentucky seeks to build strong relationships with each player. The end goal, of course, is to get them to come to Lexington and don the blue and white of the Wildcats.
Here’s what you need to know about each of the class of 2027 recruits to whom Kentucky has already extended a scholarship offer.
Baba Oladotun
It’s early days, but Oladotun is currently the top-ranked player in the 2027 recruiting class, per the 247Sports Composite.
A 6-foot-9 forward, Oladotun was actually the first player from the 2027 group that Pope and the Wildcats offered a scholarship to.
“I’m a versatile player. That’s one thing, I’ve always been a guard, and been able to play 1 through 5 since I was a kid, both offensively and defensively,” Oladotun told the Herald-Leader last fall.
Oladotun is from the greater Washington, D.C., area, a locale with which Pope has recent recruiting history. Kentucky got a commitment from class of 2025 point guard and D.C. native Acaden Lewis, although Lewis went on to decommit from Kentucky in April. (Lewis will play college basketball next season at Villanova).
Pope has already taken time to visit Oladotun at his high school and engage in positive conversations with Oladotun’s father, Ibrahim, who played collegiately at Wagner and Virginia Tech.
Kentucky has also watched Oladotun play this offseason in the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League, where Oladotun suits up for Team Durant. (Lewis also played for Team Durant on the EYBL circuit).
So far this year in EYBL action, Oladotun is averaging 12.5 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.2 steals per game, in contests where he’s been playing up an age group.
Oladotun has more than 30 scholarship offers from programs around the nation. Ibrahim has also indicated that he will continue to handle his son’s recruitment, even after the direct contact period begins Sunday.
CJ Rosser
The 6-foot-9 Rosser is ranked as the top power forward in the 2027 class, and as the third-best player in the class overall. UK associate head coach Alvin Brooks III is leading Kentucky’s recruitment of Rosser.
The Wildcats offered Rosser a scholarship in May.
A North Carolina native, Rosser is another player that Kentucky has watched this offseason on the Nike EYBL circuit.
Rosser is sticking with his age level in EYBL action, playing with Team United’s 16-year-old team. Rosser is dominating his age division though, with per-game averages of 20.1 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.3 blocks, 1.3 assists and 1.3 steals.
Most recently, Rosser was part of the United States team that won the 2025 FIBA U-16 Men’s AmeriCup in Mexico. Kentucky assistant coach Mikhail McLean, a fast-rising star in the college coaching world, was on hand to watch Rosser at that event.
Rosser had a pair of double-doubles during that competition, including 16 points and 10 rebounds for the U.S. in a gold medal game victory over Canada.
Obinna Ekezie Jr.
Ekezie, a 7-foot-1 center, got his scholarship offer from Kentucky last September.
Originally from Nigeria, Ekezie knows all about what it takes to succeed at both the college and professional levels. His father, Obinna Ekezie Sr., was a standout college player at Maryland from 1995 to 1999 before being selected in the second round of the 1999 NBA draft.
The elder Ekezie played for five NBA teams during his professional career, and he founded the basketball academy in Nigeria where his son first honed his on-court skills.
The younger Ekezie is ranked as the seventh-best prospect and the second-best center in the 2027 recruiting group.
Ekezie spent time in Louisville after moving to the United States, and he recently finished his second season playing for Prolific Prep in California.
Like Oladotun, Ekezie is participating in this week’s NBPA Top 100 Camp in South Carolina.
How has Mark Pope recruited so far at Kentucky?
It’s still, obviously, incredibly early days for Kentucky when it comes to recruiting not only the 2027 class, but also the 2026 group.
In his first full recruiting cycle as the UK basketball coach, Pope has secured four first-year players for the 2025-26 season. The three prospects from this group from the high school ranks — guard Jasper Johnson, small forward Braydon Hawthorne and center Malachi Moreno — combine to give the Wildcats the 11th-best recruiting class in the country for 2025.
A player who is not factored into this ranking is international prospect Andrija Jelavic, a 6-11 big man from Croatia who has previous professional playing experience in Europe.
Both Johnson and Moreno represent, on their own, the best high school prospect successfully recruited by Pope as a college head coach. Johnson and Moreno are both five-star recruits and Moreno was a 2025 McDonald’s All-American.
Pope is also in line to have his first NBA draft pick as a college coach later this month with the expected selection of former UK wing Koby Brea in the 2025 NBA draft.
This story was originally published June 11, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
