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Are the Kentucky Wildcats still recruiting Billy Preston?
The five-star power forward out of Oak Hill Academy seemed to indicate that in an interview with Zags Blog. Preston told the blog that he has recently heard from UK coaches, who were initially hesitant to recruit him when the 6-10, 230-pounder was at API, where John Calipari was all but stopped recruiting at.
"Yeah, I’ve been in touch but I’m still waiting on an offer," Preston said. "They said they’re happy that I got out of the situation that I was in before [at API] and I’m definitely going to strive at Oak Hill and have a great season. And that I’m going to start hearing from them more often now, and that was it."
Preston said that is was UK assistant coach Kenny Payne who stopped by recently to watch a practice at Oak Hill. We cant say if this was the workout Payne watched, but it sure wouldn’t have hurt Preston’s bid for a scholarship offer.
I may bend but you can't make me fold. Always taking steps forward and getting closer to my dreams #RIPJazi pic.twitter.com/Ybf0c3yRgJ
— Billy Preston♕ (@nolimitbill) October 10, 2016
247 ranks Preston as the fifth best prospect in 2017 and the third best power forward behind only Mohamed Bamba and DeAndre Ayton.
Preston and his family have made it clear they like UK, but to this point, the API situation has kept Calipari from making a serious run at him. Even though there’s still contact between the two sides, Preston is probably a backup option at this point in case UK misses on Mohamed Bamba, Nick Richards and/or P.J. Washington.
The good news is Preston says he won’t make a decision until the spring, so it’s possible UK will keep in contact to remain in consideration in the meantime.