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The Kentucky Wildcats are set to host one of their top targets in the Class of 2019.
Beginning Saturday, five-star wing Scottie Lewis will start his official visit with Kentucky, according to Pat Lawless. Initially, Lewis was thought to begin his visit today, but it looks like it starts tomorrow instead.
While most experts think Kentucky is in the top two for Lewis, John Calipari and co. will have their work cut out for them to overtake the Florida Gators for this elite recruit. Remember, Florida just landed a walk-on commitment from combo guard Alex Klatsky, who hails from the Ranney School in Eatontown (NJ), the same high school where Lewis goes.
The two are good friends and will be teammates again this upcoming season. Having Klatsky at Florida clearly increased their odds for landing Lewis.
That also came on the heels of national recruiting guru Evan Daniels logging a crystal ball prediction for Florida to land Lewis. All of this is why Florida seemed like the runaway favorite going into the weekend visit to Lexington.
However, something has happened that’s caused Daniels to change his prediction. He now has ‘foggy’ for his pick, so he’s no longer confident enough to pick Florida in this recruitment.
That’s big, especially since it comes as Lewis is visiting Lexington. Perhaps it means Kentucky has a real shot at landing the top-15 recruit.
Or, maybe it means another school is making a late push for Lewis. Villanova just landed his teammate, Bryan Antoine, so perhaps they could be making a run at getting them both to Philly next year.
There was also this tidbit from Andrew Slater a few weeks ago, which seems to indicate St. John’s could be a major threat if they hire Mike Rice,
Sure, although they’re certainly friends and enjoy playing with each other very much, they’ll make decisions independent of each other. Barring a late change, where coach Rice joins the St.John’s staff (which is looking unlikely), I expect Scottie to join a different SEC school https://t.co/5eaYwRyBr7
— Andrew Slater (@Andrew__Slater) August 30, 2018
Rice has previously coached Lewis with Team Rio on the AAU circuit, and they’ve built a strong relationship that could sway this recruitment if a college program hires Rice.
Five-star Scottie Lewis told @ASlater247 if a local program hired Mike Rice it would mean "a lot" for his recruitment. Hmmm.
— Zach Braziller (@NYPost_Brazille) August 4, 2017
However, Team Rio is now coached by Brian Klatsky, the father of Alex Klatsky and a Florida graduate. That’s another big reason why Florida became the runaway favorite when Alex committed to the Gators, but something appears to have happened that’s cast some doubt on where Lewis ends up.
Whatever the case may be, it’s safe to say Lewis to Florida isn’t the done deal it was made out to be earlier this week. That’s good news for Kentucky, especially with reports that Lewis could announce his college decision not long after his visit to Lexington.