Shaquille O'Neal likes Kentucky Wildcats for Shareef O'Neal, who's climbing up rankings

You may have heard by now that Shaquille O'Neal has a son who's very interested in playing for the Kentucky Wildcats.

Shareef O'Neal is ranked as the No. 15 prospect in 2018 by 247 Sports after being ranked in the 60s as recently as April. His surge up the rankings is only further proof that the true blue-blood programs will really start to show more interest in the son of Shaq.

Among them is UK, who Shaq continues to talk up on his podcast. At the 27:30 mark, Shaq confirms that he is in fact counseling his son as to why UK could be his best fit for college.

"I’ve said that. The reason why Kentucky, because the potential my father saw in me, and him knowing that I was going to go to the next level, I definitely see it in Shareef," Shaq said. "The reason why he trusted me with Dale Brown is because he knew Dale Brown could get me to that next level — not playing-wise or coaching-wise; discipline-wise."

However, UK isn't the only school that Shaq wants his son to consider. Of course, he wants alma mater LSU to be in the running, and he also likes Michigan State.

"So I would like for my son to play for a coach that is going to teach him next level stuff," Shaq said. "I have three in mind: Johnny Jones at LSU because I know him personally; Calipari; and the coach from Michigan State, Tom Izzo."

Shaq also made it clear he's not pushing his son towards any one school, but just offering his thoughts and support.

"I'm not steering him," Shaq said of his son." I'm just letting him know, 'Hey, this is what I think.'"

Here is where you can listen to the entire podcast: