Vernon Carey schedules in-home visit with Kentucky; update from Evan Daniels

Vernon Carey has already planned a visit to Lexington for Big Blue Madness, but before then, he’ll play host to Kentucky coaches.

According to Adam Zagoria, Carey will host Kentucky for an in-home visit next Tuesday. He’s also set to meet with coaches from Miami, Duke, North Carolina and Michigan State next week.

Elsewhere, recruiting guru Evan Daniels indicated to the Herald-Leader that Carey’s recruitment has become a true toss-up.

“I think that one is as wide open as it’s ever been, to be honest,” Daniels told the Herald-Leader. “If I looked at that list, there’s probably only one school that I could take out. So, yeah, I think (Kentucky) has a shot.”

Daniels followed that up by changing his crystal ball prediction to ‘cloudy’ for Carey. What was once thought to be a recruitment Duke would win, Kentucky now has a very real shot at landing one of, if not the best player in 2019.

Carey has long been viewed as one of the true program-changing recruits in 2019, something you can only usually say for 2-3 guys per class. He has made a good case for being the best player in this class at times, not to mention the most ready to make a major impact in college basketball right away, whereas guts like James Wiseman are more highly ranked because of long-term potential.

Initially, it was Wiseman who Kentucky was all in with in the 2019 class, but since the spring, they’ve been making Carey a much bigger priority. Part of that could be due to Memphis now looking like a major threat to land Wiseman, and Kentucky really needs to come out of this class with one of Wiseman or Carey.

They’re both game-changers in the frontcourt, which Kentucky may need serious help in with Reid Travis graduating and PJ Washington, EJ Montgomery and Nick Richards possibly going pro.

It may be paying off, as Kentucky has been picking up more buzz in this recruitment, though we’ve still got a ways to go until he decides, which could be in February.

And remember, Kentucky is still in the running for Wiseman, so the dream of getting both him and Carey together is still in the cards. Imagine that frontline together in Lexington.

Check out some highlights of Carey from the summer AAU circuit:

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