John Calipari may be locking up his 2017 backcourt with the two five-star guards Lonnie Walker and Quade Green.
Green is scheduled to take a visit to Kentucky next week, according to Scout’s Evan Daniels, and Walker has Kentucky on his final five list, according to Rivals.
Green said that Kentucky’s pitch to him has been to start as a freshman and be the guy.
“Come in and take over hopefully to be a one and done. That’s what the big picture is for me,” Green said.
Green also said that he took a visit to Syracuse, and will probably take visits to Duke, Arizona and Villanova.
Although he’s visiting Villanova, he said that aside from Syracuse and Kentucky, Duke and Arizona were the only other schools involved.
Green set out his visit schedule, saying, “I’m going to take my first official (visit) next week to Kentucky and then after that Nova, Syracuse. Every week I’m going to take an official.”
Green also said he’d be deciding early on his commitment, so look for a fall decision here.
As for Walker, he’s down to Kentucky, Arizona, Miami, Syracuse and Villanova, a very similar list to Green’s.
Walker, like Green, spoke on Kentucky’s pitch to him.
“Coach Calipari's message is basically do you want to win? Do you want to win and do you want to make the NBA and make money? The thing I like about him is he doesn't cut around the outside of the bush, he goes straight through the bush.
“He says he's going to have to offer six guys every year to come in as freshman and six freshman are going to have to play so whoever wants that spot is going to have to earn it. Nothing is guaranteed. I like that he's going to make you fight for it.”
Walker seems high on Calipari and the program, and likes the way Cal coaches.
Walker will also be taking visits here soon, going from Arizona to Kentucky, Villanova and Syracuse, in that order. Walker talked about how excited he was for these visits.
“I can’t even explain what’s going through my head,” he said. “How are they going to go, who am I going to hang out with? I have so many questions that go through my head that sometimes I can't even sleep. I'm just excited. To be a kid from Reading, PA seeing his dreams come true and hard work pay off is amazing.”
Walker also talked about what he’ll be looking at during his visits.
“I'll be looking at the overall environment and building a bond with the coach,” Walker said. “I don't want to go to a school where the coach feeds me the wrong stuff and I go there and it's the complete opposite. I'm just going to be talking to the coaches, talking to the players and talking to the alumni to see how it really is and I'll go from there.”
Both Green and Walker would be huge acquisitions for Kentucky to fill the roles of De’Aaron Fox, Isaiah Briscoe and Malik Monk, should they all go pro next year These two may both be one and done players as well, but they would be major contributors to the Cats in their one season at Kentucky.