Shaquille O'Neal talks about why he’d be happy for Shareef at UK

Shaquille O’Neal was in Whitley County last night to speak at the University of the Cumberlands, and talked about his son’s recruitment.

Shareef O’Neal is a five-star power forward in the 2018 class, and Kentucky’s on his list. Shaq seems to be pretty happy about that.

“I love — well, I can’t say I love UK,” Shaq said, laughing. “UK for me was always a tough place to play. It’s one of the schools on my son’s list. So, I don’t know where he’s going to go, but I’d love for him to play for a coach like Cal.”

Shareef has said before that his dad wants him to play for Kentucky, and Shaq has even talked about it before, praising John Calipari’s ability to prepare his players for the next level.

“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 once said on his podcast. “So I would like for my son to play for a coach that is going to teach him next level stuff. 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 praised the Big Blue Nation last night, saying the fans at Rupp Arena always show out.

“The fans there were always great,” Shaq said. “I played there in ‘88, ‘89, ‘90. I’m sure in 2017, it’s more fabulous. But the guys are always getting the top recruits, always in the top 10, and it’s a great show. And when they beat UCLA, I thought they had a chance of going all the way.”

Here is one of the most recent highlight-reels of Shareef:

And be sure to follow our Twitter page to get all of the latest Kentucky Wildcats news and analysis.