The FBI investigation is rocking the college basketball world, and it’s really shaking up the recruiting landscape for 2018 and beyond. With that scandal, experts are changing some predictions for key recruits.
That includes Bol Bol, a 7-foot, 5-star recruit with all kinds of versatility. The son of Manute Bol was expected to pick Arizona, but that’s all changed now that the Wildcats out west are involved in the FBI investigation.
Eric Bossi of Rivals has Bol picking Kentucky now. His colleagues have him going elsewhere, though. Corey Evans has him going to Oregon, Dan McDonald has him going to UCLA and Krysten Peek has him going with Arizona.
ESPN’s Jeff Borzello has Bol picking Oregon, but with a confidence level of 20 percent, and Kentucky as one of his other teams in the mix.
There are a lot of people picking Kentucky for Zion Williamson, a 5-star power forward who’s widely regarded as the No. 2 player in the class of 2018.
Bossi, Evans and Peek all predict Kentucky for Williamson, while McDonald predicts Duke.
As for Borzello, he’s going with Kentucky, with a confidence level of 45 percent.
Williamson visited Kansas last weekend, as the Jayhawks looked to regain some of the momentum they lost since the end of July. But Kentucky remains the leader at this point, with Clemson hoping to make up ground with a pitch to keep him home in South Carolina. Duke is not out of it yet, either, and the Blue Devils will host Williamson in two weeks. UCLA is also still involved.
As for other Kentucky targets, no one in that Rivals group predicted Romeo Langford, Darius Garland, Keldon Johnson or Quentin Grimes to pick Kentucky.
Jeff Borzello also had all four of them going elsewhere, although he did have Kentucky in the mix for Garland and Johnson.
If this were to hold up, that means Kentucky would have a class of Immanuel Quickley, Bol Bol and Zion Williamson. That’s easily a top-two class, and depending on what Duke does, it could be the No. 1 overall class.
And we already know John Calipari will find a way to add 1-2 more guys to that class if it comes to fruition.