AJ Griffin a new name to watch for Kentucky

AJ Griffin is the No. 8 prospect in the 2021 class, and in the last few weeks he had seen a dramatic change in his recruitment.

After helping his USA Basketball U16 team win a gold medal in Brazil a few weeks ago, Griffin picked up offers from Duke, UCLA, Kansas, Michigan, Vanderbilt, and Villanova.

But what about Kentucky?

While Griffin has not received an official scholarship offer from Kentucky — John Calipari likes to do that face-to-face — he recently told Adam Zagoria ZAGSBLOG that he has heard from them.

“I’m really interested in them so it would be nice to see them,” Griffin said of Kentucky, touting Calipari’s ability to make develop players into pros. “That’s one of the things I like about them, is that they get them ready for the NBA the first year. That’s something I look forward to trying to do and just improve my game.”

It seems Griffin will certainly be hearing more from Calipari. He scored 18 points in the U16 gold medal game, averaging 13.5 points and 4.3 points for the tournament. He is a player on the rise that will be a top target in 2021.

Unfortunately, Griffin strained his back in the gold medal game against Canada and will miss the next several weeks of AAU competition, including the major showcase event Peach Jam. He will be back at full strength before the high school season rolls back around, and you can expect an offer from Kentucky to come before the year is out.

Calipari has currently only offered three players in the 2021 class: Terrence Clarke, Jonathan Kuminga, and Paolo Banchero. Griffin could be added to that list sooner rather than later.

Read all of Griffin’s comments to ZAGSBLOG about his recruitment here.

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