UK Basketball Recruiting: James Wiseman says he’s staying in 2019 class

It looks like the Kentucky Wildcats won’t be getting James Wiseman in 2018, if at all.

On Thursday, Wiseman told reporters he will not be moving up into the Class of 2019, instead opting to remain at Memphis East for his senior season.

This comes after a report from Yahoo Sports said Wiseman was expected to join Penny Hardaway at Memphis. Sticking around Memphis for another year will certainly help the Tigers’ pitch of keeping Wiseman close to home and helping Hardway revive the Memphis Basketball program.

My guess is Wiseman waiting until 2019 to join a college is partly because he wants a year to see what Hardaway does at Memphis before deicing if he’ll attend Memphis or go with John Calipari at UK.

Saying this, Wiseman could still change his tune this summer and decide he’s ready for college after the AAU circuit ends, then pick a school sometime around July or August, ala what Marvin Bagley did this past summer. Kyle Tucker of SEC Country seems to think this is a possibility.

But for now, we should all just assume Wiseman will be in high school when the 2018-19 college hoops season begins. And after it appeared UK was the runaway favorite in this recruitment, Memphis looks like a very real threat to steal him away.

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