Stanley Johnson cuts list to five, is glad Tyler Ulis committed to Kentucky Wildcats Basketball

Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Stanley Johnson is one of John Calipari’s biggest targets for the 2014 class and yesterday he made a big step cutting his list to five teams. Johnson cut Kansas and UCLA from his list and now has a final five of Kentucky, Arizona, Southern Cal, Oregon and Florida. Johnson was in Arizona for a visit this last weekend and will be attending BBM on October 18 and Florida on November 30. Johnson has said earlier that he expects to be blown away at BBM:

"“I expect the red carpet to be out,” Johnson told the Herald-Leader in July. “That’s them at their best. And if that’s them at their best I want to see a lot of good things happen. I’m already excited about it because I heard all the fans come out and all the players are juiced. There won’t be any opposing fans there so it’ll be all love. I’m excited to see what happens.”"

Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

The commitment of Tyler Ulis on Friday may have gone towards helping UK’s chances with Johnson. Cats Illustrated talked to Johnson’s AAU coach Jules Milstead shortly after Ulis committed to UK:

"Coincidentally, Calipari’s visit with Johnson also occurred just hours before four-star point guard Tyler Ulis committed to the Wildcats. With the addition of Ulis, the Wildcats could gain some ground with Johnson, as not only does Ulis represent the distributor of the future that could make the game easier for a scorer like Johnson, but Ulis is also a guard that Johnson has gone on record in the past to say that he really admires. “Stan was really excited about the (commitment) of Tyler Ulis,” Milstead said. “He likes playing with unselfish guards, and he thinks that Ulis is one of the best passing point guards in the country.” That unselfishness goes hand in hand with Calipari’s main message to Johnson during their visit, which was that if he were to come to Kentucky the stage would be set for Johnson to dominate, but that Calipari would also ask him to do a variety of things on the court. “Basically the role that UK wants Stanley to play would be to come in and be a man,” Milstead said. “Calipari told him that they recruit the best and that Stanley is good enough but that it would be up for him to come in and perform at a high level. In terms of a specific role there really isn’t one, they want him to come in and try some different things and see what works.”"

Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Stanley Johnson is listed by most pundits as the second best in the 2014 class while Kelly Oubre is also a top five prospect. Last night, a couple of CBS analysts think that Kentucky is the favorite for Oubre.

"Sounding more and more like a two-horse race between Kentucky and Kansas for Kelly Oubre. At this moment, I might lean toward Kentucky."

— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) September 17, 2013