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Stop me if you've heard this one before: The Kentucky Wildcats and John Calipari may be on the verge of landing a monster recruiting class.
Cal has already assembled what would finish as a top-10 class with commitments from five-star forwards Sacha Killeya-Jones and Wenyen Gabriel, but there are still many talented uncommitted prospects that UK is pushing hard for. The biggest of which that Kentucky is the clear favorite with is five-star point guard De'Aaron Fox.
However, some believe UK is also the favorite for five-star shooting guard Malik Monk following his visit for Big Blue Madness. ESPN recruiting analyst Adam Finkelstein also believes that's the case, and he tabbed UK as the leader for Monk in his 'Who's in the lead for uncommitted 5-stars?' piece.
No. 5 Malik Monk (SG, 6-3, 185, Bentonivlle/Bentonville, AR) -- Kentucky Wildcats
The Wildcats seem to be the favorite, although Arkansas and to a somewhat lesser extent Oregon appear to be in consideration as well. Arkansas has the hometown advantage, especially since Monk's older brother Marcus starred on the football field there, but when Kentucky and John Calipari are locked in on a prospect for this long, they rarely miss.
In a bit of a surprise, Finkelstein also has Kentucky in the lead for five-star power forward Jarrett Allen.
No. 19 Jarrett Allen (C, 6-10, 235, Saint Stephen's Episcopal/Austin, TX) -- Kentucky Wildcats
Allen cut his list to eight and is coming off a recent visit to Notre Dame which reportedly went well. Nonetheless though, it's starting to look more and more like Allen could be headed to either Kansas or Kentucky, schools he'll will visit in back-to-back weekends to end the month of October. Ultimately, it might come down to the domino effect, given that both schools are in the mix for Marques Bolden. If one guy ends up at Kentucky, the other could be sealed for Kansas.
Finkelstein also has UK as the leader for Fox, but so does pretty much the entire world at this point. The real surprise is UK being the favorite for Allen, who doesn't even have a UK prediction in his 24/7 Sports Crystal Ball. Calipari and hiss staff have really amped up the pressure on Allen recently, perhaps realizing they'll likely miss out on five-star power forward Harry Giles in 2016.
Allen could be a great complimentary forward even with Killeya-Jones and Gabriel committed. Gabriel has the skills to play on the wing while SKJ plays at the 5 spot, leaving Allen to man the 4. Allen will take his official visit to UK on Halloween weekend after visiting Kansas this coming weekend, so expect to hear about more movement in his recruitment over the next two weeks.