The constantly-evolving recruiting cycle is taking turn after turn, as we’ve got updates on Zion Williamson’s crystal ball, Immanuel Quickley’s summer schedule, Kentucky’s shot at a couple big Canadian stars, Hamidou Diallo’s future and even some news on a big 2019 star.
Kansas sits atop Zion’s crystal ball
Kentucky has officially lost the lead in Williamson’s crystal ball on 247 Sports. After he and Quickley talked about being a package deal, many thought it’d be highly-likely that Kentucky lands them both.
However, recent developments have changed that, as many recruiting experts have changed their pick to Kansas, including 247 recruiting expert Andrew Slater. It’s still close — Kentucky trails Kansas 38 percent to 31 percent — but this isn’t a good trend for the Cats.
You can read more about this trend in this Ben Roberts post over on the Lexington Herald-Leader blog.
Immanuel Quickley isn’t getting much rest
Quickley played everywhere this summer, according to Roberts. He played at events in Dallas, TX., Atlanta, GA., Hampton, VA., Richmond VA., Italy, Charlottesville, VA., Colorado Springs, CO., Egypt (for John Calipari’s Team USA in the FIBA World Cup), South Carolina, Orlando, FL., Las Vegas, NV., Houston, TX. and Aruba.
Oh, and he’s got his recruiting visits to Kentucky, Kansas, Maryland and Miami.
Calipari called Quickley “nuts” after hearing about how much Quickley’s traveled this summer.
You can read more about his crazy travel schedule from Roberts here.
Hamidou Diallo is getting praise from an NBA player
Diallo has been playing pickup basketball with NBA players, including LeBron James and teammate J.R. Smith.
A photo of Diallo pulling a jumper on Smith was posted on Instagram, and Smith commented “Next year top 5 pick! #KeepWorking” on the post.
Bron , Melo, KD , J.R , Lance Thomas ,Kanter , Dantay Jones , Chris Smith ,Hamidou Diallo ,Nick Richards , Marshall Plumlee hooping pic.twitter.com/dAl7etJQ2G
— Best'sPointOfViewTV (@PovofBest) August 15, 2017
Kentucky could get two big Canadian stars
R.J. Barrett and Simi Shittu have both included Kentucky in their narrowed-down lists. Many think Barrett could go elsewhere because he wouldn’t want to be in a super team, but whether on a team where his talents would be showcased more.
According to a conversation Kyle Tucker had with Evan Daniels, that’s not the case.
“That would surprise me,” Daniels said. “I think he’s too good to get lost in any shuffle.”
As for Shittu, he still hasn’t received an offer from Kentucky. According to his basketball coach, Alex Popp, that doesn’t matter.
“If the school is willing to take a commitment from a kid, what’s the difference? And that’s what they said: ‘We would take your commitment right now, but we would love for you to taken an official visit.’ That’s what Cal told me himself,” Popp said, according to Tucker.
Popp also said that he thinks Shittu will visit.
It’s likely that Shittu will get his official offer from Calipari on that visit.
You can read more about the two and their potential commitments to Kentucky on Tucker’s story here.
Kentucky showing interest in elite 2019 big man
In an interview with 247’s Andrew Slater, five-star 2019 power forward Vernon Carey listed Kentucky as one of the schools currently recruiting him.
In terms of recruiting, since June 15th, who have been some of the programs that you’ve heard from?
Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, Arizona, UNC, UCLA, Miami, Florida, just pretty much a lot of schools.
The interview went more in-depth with Carey’s recruitment with Kentucky, including his unofficial visit, what Kentucky’s side has been telling him and his relationship with current players.
Carey said Kentucky has told him he’s their priority for bigs in 2019.
“They said that I’m their priority for their big man in their class,” he said. “That’s what they said. So, they’ll just keep recruiting me hard. They said that Coach Cal(ipari) will come out and see me in September.”
Carey also said that his unofficial visit went well, and that he knows some players currently on the team, like P.J. Washington, Jarred Vanderbilt, Kevin Knox and Quade Green.
As for the visit, he said “It went really well. I got to see former players like Bam (Adebayo), De'Aaron (Fox), and Malik (Monk). So, it was really good.”
You can read more about his recruitment in Andrew Slater’s piece here.
Also Read:
Why John Calipari will win another title at UK
Zion and Quickley hook up in Aruba
UK fading on Romeo Langford; offer for Simi Shittu likely forthcoming
R.J. Barrett cuts Kansas, UK still alive
Cameron Reddish nearing a decision
Mitchell Robinson down to Kansas and New Orleans
Big Blue Madness 2017 Announced
Sports Illustrated talks (and stops) the Zion - LeBron comparisons
Marvin Bagley picks Duke, but I still like our Wildcats
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