2015 Basketball Recruiting

John Calipari & Kentucky offered LaGerald Vick, per a source. One of best available guard prospects. Starts a visit with them on Sunday.

— Evan Daniels (@EvanDaniels) May 15, 2015

According to multiple sources, Kentucky has offered a scholarship to 6‘5" wing LaGerald Vick. Vick is a late bloomer from Memphis who, after decommitting from SMU, was thought to be headed to prep school to join the 2016 class, but will apparently be eligible for 2015. The Kansas St. Wildcats, Kansas Jayhawks, and Kentucky Wildcats are said to be the finalists for his services with Kentucky and Kansas considered to be the favorites. Vick is ranked #137 in 2016 and a 3-star, but Rivals.com’s Eric Bossi says ($$) he would be an unranked 4-star in 2015. 247Sports.com has already ranked him a 4-star. He is a good perimeter shooter and plenty athletic enough to play for any major program including Kentucky. Make no mistake, Vick would be a major addition to Kentucky’s class and might even have a bigger impact offensively than Charles Matthews. He’s that good.

You never know when opportunity might knock this time of year. McDonald’s All-American big man, Caleb Swanigan, has decommitted from Michigan State. It’s pretty rare for Tom Izzo to lose a commitment, and Kentucky was definitely among those vying for Swanigan’s serves before he committed last month to MSU. The thing is though that Kentucky was just one of a number of big-name schools on his list, and he never even took a visit here. He did, however, visit Duke, and Duke was higher on his list than Kentucky by some calculations. Purdue and, believe it or not, California, are considered high on his list. What a recruiting coup it would be if Cuonzo Martin landed him — that would propel Cal past Kentucky in the recruiting rankings. Make no mistake, Swanigan is just the kind of player Kentucky could use. UK currently lacks bulk in the paint, and Swanigan could provide that at 6‘9", 265#. He’s a very good player, and whoever gets him is going to get a major boost.

Skal Labissiere is now reckoned to be the #1 recruit by Rivals.com. Believe it or not, this is only John Calipari’s 2nd #1 Rivals.com recruit, the first being John Wall back in 2009. In retrospect, it’s really hard to believe Anthony Davis was only #2 and not #1. Former #1 Ben Simmons (LSU) is now ranked #2. Kentucky now has the #1 (Labissiere), #10 (Isaiah Briscoe) and #48 (Charles Matthews) ranked recruits in the 2015 class according to Rivals. UK is still involved with a number of highly ranked recruits, most of them in the Rivals.com top ten including Thon Maker (9), Cheik Diallo (5), Brandon Ingram (4) and Jaylen Brown (3).

The dominoes are continuing to fall. Malik Newman has already said that he won’t sign a National Letter of Intent, but he is going to choose between Kentucky, Mississippi State, Kansas, Ole Miss, LSU and North Carolina St. Those are all still listed as his finalists, and as far as I know, that hasn’t changed. I have no idea who he will pick, but the street right now seems to think Ben Howland’s hiring at Mississippi State had made them the favorite. 247 Sorts has Kentucky at 45% to obtain his services with MSU close behind at 36%. Ken Pomeroy’s algorithm ($) says Kentucky is 74% to win his services (note that this hasn’t been updated for a few days). Take that all for what it’s worth, which is not too much. UK could surely use another guard the quality of Newman, and a 3-guard starting lineup would not be out of the question for UK, especially if they don’t get another big man. I like Newman’s athleticism and his skill, and while he does bring some shooting, he tends to be streaky from long range — he either makes them all and drops 30 on you, or he misses most of them and goes 1-8. You can never really tell. Newman’s a menace in transition and off the bounce, and he has blow-by ability with his first step. He can play both with and off the ball, and that versatility is extremely useful. Final thought — UK really hasn’t had a truly guard-heavy team in the Calipari era. It would be really interesting to see what one would look like.

Therrell Gosier signs with Kentucky, as expected.

— Justin Rowland (@RowlandRIVALS) February 4, 2015

Big 6'6" Therrell Gosier recently decommitted from Miami, and is now a Wildcat Rivals page is here, Hudl highlights here.

WILL JACKSON commits to Kentucky over Wake Forest.

— Justin Rowland (@RowlandRIVALS) February 4, 2015

Jackson is a Rivals.com 2-star who was a bit of a surprise. His Rivals page is here and his Hudl highlights are here.

To me, this has a lot of Enes Kanter earmarks, but at least now, we have some idea what the NCAA will and will not allow. This kid does have some skills, and if Calipari is actually interested, that’s all I need to know about how he can play the game. Whether or not he can get past the NCAA eligibility process is another question altogether. Read the article and I think you’ll see why I say that.

This seems ever so slightly overwrought to me. Blakeney is a good player, but I think Calipari is focusing on Malik Newman at this point. If Blakeney picks UK, that's great, but I'm betting on LSU. I don't think Mizzou has enough to offer right now, but you can never tell about these young guys.

Well, that didn't take long.