Kentucky Wildcats Recruiting

More UK buzz for James Wiseman; decision timelines for other targets

Many of UK’s top targets may wait until the spring to decide.

By Jason Marcum@marcum89 Jun 12, 2018, 6:55am EDT

The battle for James Wiseman is easily the biggest recruiting storyline for UK in the 2019 class.

Arguably the best 2019 has to offer, Wiseman is still keeping his options open going into the summer, and it’s looking like this won’t end until the November signing period at the earliest.

Wiseman has stated he’s open to schools not named Memphis or UK, and he hopes to take several official visits before making his decision.

But while he may want us to believe there are 4-5 schools in the running, this is still widely expected to come down to the Wildcats and Tigers.

And while Memphis has gotten a lot of buzz since hiring Penny Hardaway, UK continues to be in a good spot for the top-ranked recruit, according to Ben Roberts of the Herald-Leader.

Of note: There was more UK buzz at USA Basketball U18 camp last week than Memphis buzz among those who spoke to the Herald-Leader about Wiseman’s recruitment. Wiseman was not at that camp and will play with the U17 team later this month.

In that same piece, Roberts wrote about the potential decision timelines for most of UK’s targets in 2019.

Five-star point guard Cole Anthony, who UK is starting to make a bigger push for (though no offer has come yet), is on pace to make his decision sometime in the spring.

Five-star wing Keion Brooks, who recently cut his list, is also on pace to decide sometime in the spring. That probably isn’t great news for UK, who seems to have a lot of momentum in this recruitment right now, so a fall decision could be the best-case scenario for John Calipari.

Five-star wing Scottie Lewis, who also just trimmed his list, is also trending toward a spring decision.

Five-star forward Matthew Hurt, who is currently playing with Bill Self and the USA U18 Team, is planning a fall decision. Kansas has the momentum in this recruitment, and Hurt playing with Self this summer will only reinforce that.

Be sure to read Roberts’ full report for more updates on various UK targets.

Then, check out some fresh highlights of Wiseman in action: