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The Kentucky Wildcats could be losing its grip with two of the top recruits in the class of 2018. Recently, fewer recruiting experts have been predicting Bol Bol and Romeo Langford to pick Kentucky.
Bol was cut from John Calipari’s U19 USA team recently, and while we’re not clear as to whether or not that will hurt Kentucky’s chances, it does affect some predictions. Four Rivals experts picked four different schools for Bol, one of them being Kentucky, and the other three being USC, Arizona and UCLA. After moving out to California to finish his high school career, the California schools are certainly playing their part in his recruitment.
On top of that, national recruiting analyst Jerry Meyer from 247 Sports changed his prediction for Bol from UK to USC. Kentucky is still the favorite to land Bol, according to the 247 Sports Crystal Ball, at 62 percent.
SEC Country acknowledges the fact that, while Calipari was the head coach of the USA team that Bol was cut from, Arizona’s Sean Miller was on the committee that selected the final roster. Arizona and Kentucky were his two favorite schools going into the roster cutdown, so who knows how this really affects his decision.
As for Romeo Langford, the 6’4” shooting guard has Indiana, Kansas and Louisville gunning for him after he was put into a limited role on Cal’s U19 team, which apparently was due to back issues.
Louisville is currently the favorite, as all four Rivals experts selected UK’s in-state rival. According to SEC Country, Evan Daniels says it’s a mix of the three battling it out for him, and Kentucky is fading in his recruitment.
On the sense that Kentucky is fading in his recruitment, particularly after Langford’s limited role (back spasms reportedly contributed to that) on Team USA: “That certainly seems to be the word. I can’t confirm it, but it appears to be the word,” Daniels said, noting that in-state Indiana, nearby Louisville and powerhouse Kansas are the three to watch with Langford.
This isn’t good news for Kentucky, but they’re still the favorite to land Bol, and they’re not quite out of the race for Langford yet. Knowing Cal, he can turn this around. The good news is Bol still plans to take an official visit to UK this fall. SEC Country reports it could come on Big Blue Madness.