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P.J. Washington and Lonnie Walker recruiting update

Washington visits for Big Blue Madness this weekend, Walker planning to visit October 21

P.J. Washington and Lonnie Walker are among John Calipari’s top targets to be part of the next group of Kentucky Wildcats for the Class of 2017.

Both have planned visits to Kentucky coming soon, with Washington visiting for Big Blue Madness this weekend, and Walker planning a visit for the following weekend.

Washington, a consensus top 20 player and one of the top power forwards in the class, said in an interview that he was becoming tired of the recruiting process.

“I thought it would be a lot more fun, but it’s really getting annoying now,” Washington said.

Despite this, he still plans on finishing his visits and targeting a decision this winter.

“Honestly, I feel like all of them are about the same,” Washington said. “I need time to think about my decision and the coaches and think about the best fit for me.”

The interview, which was done with Rivals’ Krysten Peek, was a little unusual as she asked Washington about his experience on his visit, although Madness is not until this weekend. Nonetheless, Washington was very complimentary of Kentucky.

“It was great. We got to see everything. It was crazy. I’ve never seen anything like it. I got to talk to [De’Aaron] Fox, and Bam [Adebayo] a little bit. They’re crazy, they wanted me to reclass(ify) up.”

Here is the video from Rivals of Washington’s interview.

Kentucky will have some ground to make up if they want to gain the commitment of #21 overall Lonnie Walker. Kentucky got into his recruitment a little later than other schools, and most believe he has three favorites in Syracuse, Villanova, and Arizona. Along with those four, Miami rounds out Walker’s top five schools.

According to his 247 Crystal Ball, Villanova and Arizona are tied at 36 percent, with Syracuse in third at 27 percent.

However, Kentucky is in his top five and it is never a good idea to count John Calipari out of a recruiting battle. Walker’s visit on Oct. 21 will be situated in between Arizona on Oct. 14 and Villanova on Oct. 28.

Calipari has turned up the heat on Walker’s recruitment, visiting him twice in the month of September, but has also made fellow 2017 five-star shooting guard Hamidou Diallo a priority as well.