The recruitment of Shareef O’Neal just became one of the biggest recruiting storylines for UK in the 2018 class.
Not only is O’Neal a highly-regarded prospect that most schools would want, but he’s also good buddies with another big-time recruit in the Class of 2018. And it just so happens that O’Neal may be on the verge of decommitting from Arizona.
For a refresher, O’Neal committed to Arizona over the summer, which, at the time, was quite surprising given that he was drawing plenty of major college interest. However, O’Neal plays high school basketball in California, so the thinking was he’d play college ball somewhere out West.
But getting O’Neal also gave Arizona a leg up in the recruitment of Bol Bol, regarded as a top-five prospect in every recruiting service. Those two are great friends who played AAU ball together for Cal Supreme, which gave the Wildcats out West an edge for Bol.
“We talk through social media and the phone, but once we finally met in person, we just became really good friends,” O’Neal said of Bol over the summer, per Bleacher Report. “Playing on the same team as him is awesome. He helps a lot with the defense and offense, just with getting him the ball. He gets me the ball a lot. Probably my favorite teammate to play with.
“As for him going to Arizona, he hasn't really told me about what he's looking for, but I'm always in his ear talking about Arizona. I know they're on him. I put my recruiting hat on and I talk to him about it a lot.”
Ever since O’Neal committed to Arizona, they’ve been the favorite in the recruitment of Bol, with USC likely being the second-place team.
However, both USC and Arizona are in the middle of the FBI investigation into college hoops corruption, which has already cost two assistant coaches their jobs. Emanuel "Book" Richardson of Arizona and Tony Bland of USC were among several people charged in the corruption and fraud scheme.
That could ultimately lead to NCAA sanctions for both USC and Arizona, which is hurting them both on the recruiting trail. O’Neal appears to be close to decommitting from Arizona, and it’s hard to see them getting Bol if that happens.
So, if the perceived top two schools in the running for Bol are out of the mix, one has to assume UK is then at or near the top for Scout’s No. 2 overall prospect.
For what it’s worth, UK did pick up one crystal ball pick for Bol today, which was followed up with a ‘foggy’ pick from Cats Pause’s Chris Fisher. Almost every other pick is for Arizona or USC, but it’s getting harder to see either of them lasting in this recruitment.
Is it possible that UK could actually land the sons of Shaquille O’Neal and Manute Bol in the same class?
We’ve still got no timetable on when Bol when decide, so this could drag into the spring. However, Bol is set to take an official visit to UK for Big Blue Madness next week.
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say O’Neal will be there if everything falls into place.
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