Billy Richmond was the last 2024 UK basketball recruit to decommit. He has new college plans.

Billy Richmond was the final player from the 2024 Kentucky basketball recruiting class assembled by former head coach John Calipari to decommit from the UK program.

Richmond — a 6-foot-5 small forward who verbally committed to UK in late December — waited nearly a week after Calipari stepped down and several days after UK introduced new head coach Mark Pope, to publicly decommit from the Wildcats.

Now, we know where Richmond will be playing college basketball.

On Friday, Richmond committed to play at Arkansas, following Calipari to Fayetteville. He is ranked as a five-star prospect and the No. 25 overall recruit in the 2024 recruiting group by the 247Sports Composite.

Richmond took a recruiting visit to Arkansas that began Wednesday.

Richmond, who played high school basketball at Camden (New Jersey) High School, was one of five UK commits from the 2024 recruiting class who backed off that pledge after Calipari’s departure to become the head coach at Arkansas. Only in-state guard Travis Perry, the all-time leading scorer in Kentucky high school boys basketball history, is set to remain a Wildcat under Pope.

Former Kentucky commits Karter Knox and Boogie Fland have already announced their plans to follow Calipari to Arkansas.

Richmond’s connection to Calipari was evident during his Kentucky recruitment.

Originally from Memphis, Richmond played his final two high school basketball seasons at Camden, which had recently been a recruiting hotbed for Calipari and UK. As a high school junior, Richmond played there with guard D.J. Wagner and center Aaron Bradshaw, two members of the 2023-24 UK team who entered the NCAA transfer portal following Kentucky’s head coaching change.

Richmond’s father, Billy Richmond Jr., played for Calipari at Memphis in the early 2000s after transferring to the Tigers’ program from Vanderbilt.

“The reason I picked Kentucky is (a) great coaching staff. Calipari always keeps it real with me,” Richmond told NBA insider Shams Charania in December when he committed to UK. “That’s a big reason.”

During his initial recruitment, Richmond picked Kentucky from a final group of schools that also included Alabama, LSU and Memphis.

MARK POPE BUILDS HIS FIRST KENTUCKY BASKETBALL ROSTER

Pope, who previously was the head coach at BYU and Utah Valley and was a key member of Kentucky’s 1996 NCAA championship team, has essentially a blank slate to work with as he constructs his first UK basketball roster for the 2024-25 season.

Aaron Bradshaw (Ohio State), Joey Hart (Ball State) and Zvonimir Ivisic (Arkansas) are players from the 2023-24 Kentucky squad that will transfer to new schools. Additionally, Jordan Burks, Ugonna Onyenso, Adou Thiero and D.J. Wagner are still in the NCAA transfer portal.

Thiero has a return to Kentucky among his final five options. The other schools on his list are Arkansas (where he’d rejoin Calipari), Indiana, North Carolina and Pittsburgh.

Also from last season’s team, Rob Dillingham, Justin Edwards and Reed Sheppard have declared for the 2024 NBA draft. Tre Mitchell and Antonio Reeves have exhausted their college eligibility.

Currently, Pope’s first team at Kentucky has three confirmed players.

Collin Chandler, a combo guard and former BYU signee, announced he would be following Pope to Kentucky. Chandler was a four-star prospect in the 2022 recruiting class before taking a two-year mission trip.

On Sunday afternoon, Pope made his first transfer portal addition of the offseason: Former Drexel big man Amari Williams committed to UK.

Earlier this week, Perry confirmed that he will still be coming to UK.

College basketball players (including graduate transfers) have until May 1 to enter the transfer portal. The early-entry deadline for the 2024 NBA draft is April 27, and players who enter the draft with remaining NCAA eligibility will have until May 29 to remove their names from consideration and return to school.

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