Tyrese Maxey is Kentucky’s lone commit in Rivals’ top 10

With May here, we’ll be seeing the final recruiting rankings released by 247 Sports and Rivals this week.

Today, Rivals unveiled their final top 10 for the Class of 2019, and the full rankings will be released later this week. Prior to the new rankings, Tyrese Maxey and Kahlil Whitney were both top 10 recruits. However, Rivals’ new top 10 only has Maxey,

This is actually an improvement from last year when Kentucky didn’t have a Rivals top-10 recruit, as the highest was EJ Montgomery at 11. The year prior, Kentucky had just one top-10 recruit in Kevin Knox (10).

If RJ Hampton (6) and Jaden McDaniels (7) don’t pick the Wildcats, that means they’ll have had just two top-10 recruits in the last three recruiting cycles combined. This, after Kentucky had three in the 2016 class alone in De’Aaron Fox, Malik Monk and Bam Adebayo.

The good news is John Calipari has still kept Kentucky among the nation’s elite by recruiting more multi-year guys like PJ Washington and Ashton Hagans while also netting a grad transfer in two straight cycles.

Then you’ve got the potential of Kentucky having Hagans, Maxey, Keion Brooks, Dontaie Allen, a sophomore EJ Montgomery, a sophomore Immanuel Quickley and a junior Nick Richards. That alone is a great group for any college team to have, and it really helps to soften the blow of not landing more elite recruits in this class.

And then you’ve got the possibility of landing McDaniels, the No. 7 overall recruit. He would be the highest-ranked Kentucky pledge since Fox and Adebayo were sixth and seventh in the 2016 class. While Washington is still a major threat, Kentucky has been getting buzz recently with the Seattle native.

As for Hampton, Kentucky is still technically in the running, though it’s a long shot he makes it to Lexington with Hagans, Maxey and Quickley already in the fold.

And lest we forget Kentucky is in the running for Virginia Tech grad transfer Kerry Blackshear Jr. Getting him would easily be as good as getting another top-10 recruit in this class.

Here is a look at the entire Rivals top 10:

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