Kentucky Wildcats Basketball Recruiting Update: Top 2012 Prospects (Fringe Prospects)

Today we will touch on a few fringe prospects that UK seems to have made contact with over the last couple of months. While Cal likes to cast a wide net on prospects, these guys seem to be actively recruited by UK and have a chance of suiting up in the Blue and White soon.

Elijah Macon
Columbus, OH
Marion-Franklin High School
6’8″ 210 LBS PF
ESPN ****(94)
Scout ****
Rivals ****

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Macon is a long athletic post with great mobility and runs the floor well. He prides himself on beating his man to the basket off of his quickness. He rebounds the ball well in traffic and has a decent touch to the free-throw line. At this point Elijah is a little small to play the post at a high major, but has time to add bulk. He sometimes shies away from contact and tries to rely on athleticism by outjumping instead of using proper mechanics when rebounding and defending. He needs to get an edge about him before coming to college.
Macon was once committed to Bob Huggins and West Virginia before opening it back up to explore his options. At this point it doesn’t appear that Macon has received a scholarship offer from Coach Cal, a couple of sources say Coach O and Kenny Payne have seen him play. It will be interesting to see if his recruitment develops into something more as he seems to have a lot of upside that could fit well into the DDMO.

Nino Jackson
Ardmore, OK
Ardmore High
6’0” 175 LBS PG
ESPN ****(95)
Scout **** Rivals ****

Nino probably host one of the best names in 2012 and I like him already because of that. I can Jimmy Dykes hammering home the El Nino references over and over with him. Jackson is listed as both a PG and SG on multiple sites so I feel comfortable calling him a combo guard (Kinda like Brandon Knight). He is thin and has a small frame, but plays very tough despite his size. Nino has a great driving game going to his right and solid mid-range jump shot. He does struggle from the arc where he can get streaky, but plans on developing his shot more in high school. He must work on going left before he hits the college ranks and work on his handle to become a true PG at the next level. Bottom line is he can score in bunches and loves to attack the basket and keep his defenders on their heels.
Since Nino is planted right in the heart of Big 12 country, most of his offers comes from the likes of Kansas, Baylor, Texas and Oklahoma, but that doesn’t seem to deter the UK staff. Not sure if he has received an offer at this point, but as we know Cal likes to hand these out late. We’ll see how much the Cats get involved with Jackson through the summer.

Jordan Hare
Saginaw, MI
Arthur Hill High
6’9” 205 PF/C
ESPN ****(93)
Scout ****
Rivals ****

First off I challenge you to google this recruits name and not come up with a picture of a stadium. Like most Cal recruits Jordan is long and lanky with great bounce and uses that ability to control the game. He is very raw offensively and scores most of his points in transition and off garbage put backs. The thing I like about him is that he tries to dunk EVERYTHING (please take note Josh Harrellson) he is a great shot blocker and impacts the defensive end as well. He needs, like many 2012 recruits, to add bulk and strength and work on his post game. Obviously he has great upside based off his potential suitors.
Kentucky is definitely involved with Hare as all publications show UK with interest but with no offer to date. he does hold offers from UConn, Michigan, Michigan St and Alabama at this point, so you can see his recruiters are big time schools. It looks as if he is looking to decide before his senior year of high school so look to see if he schedules a visit to UK this fall.
Here is an youtube video of Hare (he’s #4 in white)

So these are a few fringe prospects on UK radar that might become big targets down the road. UK is definitely keeping tabs on these guys, so you should to.

As always:
Go Cats!

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