John Calipari continues his Kentucky Wildcats recruiting life on the road

1 of 2

More from Kentucky Wildcats News

In case anyone thinks that John Calipari is relaxing since his Kentucky Wildcats basketball season ended, forget it. Calipari is recruiting on a furious pace and over the course of the last week, he has taken some hits. Yesterday, 2016 commit Derryk Thornton announced he was going to Duke and would reclassify into the 2015 class. Undaunted, Calipari was in Atlanta yesterday for a in home visit with 2016 Kobi Simmons. Calipari continues his recruiting this weekend, but in closer to home with events in Indianapolis, Louisville, and Lexington.

That sounds exhausting to me, but nothing like Calipari’s pace since Friday. Ben Roberts has recapped Calipari’s eight in home visits since Friday.

"Friday: In-home visit with Brandon Ingram in North Carolina. Saturday: In-home visit with Jamal Murray in Canada (Calipari and UK assistant Kenny Payne also watched three former Wildcats play in the Wizards-Raptors playoff game in Toronto). Sunday: In-home visits with Harry Giles in North Carolina and Cheick Diallo in New York. Monday: In-home visits with Malik Monk in Arkansas and Josh Langford in Alabama. Tuesday: In-home visits with Jayson Tatum in Missouri and Kobi Simmons in Georgia."

Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

This week a new name has emerged in Kentucky Wildcats basketball recruiting and that has been under the radar prospect Ebuka Izundu. From some accounts, he was in the midst of a recruiting frenzy between Kentucky, Kansas, and others, but is that really true? Is John Calipari really recruiting an under the radar recruit this late in the game?

"The answer is twofold. First, assuming so, Calipari is not alone. Second, maybe he’s not. While it’s been reported that UK is now in the mix for the 6-foot-10 Izundu, whose value is skyrocketing as fewer and fewer top prospects are left unspoken for, his high school coach at Charlotte’s Victory Christian was less definitive Tuesday. “I didn’t hear from Kentucky directly,” Aureice McCain told The Courier-Journal. “I’ve had people reach out to me and tell me that they were inquiring about Ebuka and were interested. But no one directly from their staff called me. Different scouting services we deal with and camps that my boys play in reached out to me and let me know. I haven’t had contact with anybody on Kentucky’s staff.” He’s heard through that same grapevine that the Cats’ coaches plan to watch Izundu play with his travel basketball team at an event in Atlanta this weekend, but McCain wasn’t certain of that either. He was clear on one detail: “We have absolutely no scholarship offer from Kentucky. There’s just some interest there.” Izundu has enjoyed plenty of that lately, picking up 20 new scholarship offers in the two weeks since he reopened his recruitment, McCain said. Arkansas, Boston College, Cincinnati, Clemson, Miami and Tennessee are among them."

Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

Now that the NBA regular season is over, we get a better idea of who will get the top pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. Of course, it comes down to those ping-pong balls, but the Minnesota Timberwolves have the best chance of getting the top draft pick. And according to Chad Ford, they would take former Kentucky Wildcats player Karl Anthony-Towns.

"Timberwolves’ chances of winning lottery: 25 percent While the Wolves had the worst record in the NBA, they actually have one of the brightest futures in the league. Andrew Wiggins will likely win the Rookie of the Year Award and has the talent to be a transcendent player. Zach LaVine finished the season strong and won the dunk contest. Ricky Rubio, Shabazz Muhammad and Gorgui Dieng all had their moments, and several other players such as Anthony Bennett and Adreian Payne have strong futures as well. Adding Towns to the team just makes them scarier — an athletic big man who can score inside and outside and protect the rim. In two years, this team is going to be very hard to contend with. Chad Ford has Willie Cauley-Stein joining Boogie in Sacramento with the #6 pick, Trey Lyles in Boston at #16, Devin Booker to the Bucks at #17, and Dakari Johnson joining Julius Randle in LA at #27."

Home/Kentucky Wildcats News