Kentucky basketball still in contention for top point guard, and other UK recruiting news

cameron drummond

Thu, Sep 19, 2024, 6:15 a.m.·7 min read

While the weekend conversation in UK athletics was dominated by the Kentucky football team’s near-upset of then-No. 1 Georgia at home, it’s been an active few days on the recruiting trail for the UK men’s basketball program.

Mark Pope already has the Wildcats in a strong position when it comes to the 2025 recruiting class, with the recent commitments of commonwealth natives Jasper Johnson and Malachi Moreno.

Kentucky is the only program with commitments from multiple players ranked inside the top 25 of the 2025 recruiting class by the 247Sports Composite.

But recent developments have seen clarity emerge with regard to other 2025 recruits, along with news about scholarship offers being handed out to younger prospects.

With UK fans focused on the gridiron at Kroger Field, here are some of the biggest developments with Kentucky basketball recruiting that you may have missed.

Class of 2025 college basketball recruit Caleb Wilson (right) poses with UK men’s basketball coach Mark Pope (left) during Wilson’s official visit to Kentucky last weekend.

Five-star forward Caleb Wilson completes UK basketball visit

Let’s start with the major visitor that Pope and the UK program hosted over the weekend for an official visit.

Five-star, class of 2025 forward Caleb Wilson — a 6-foot-9, 205-pound power forward who is ranked by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 5 overall player in the 2025 class — was on UK’s campus from Friday through Sunday. This was Wilson’s second visit to Lexington. He also was in town for last year’s Big Blue Madness when he was being recruited to UK by former coach John Calipari.

After a spring of relative inactivity, UK’s pursuit of Wilson under Pope gained plenty of steam over the summer months. Kentucky is now among Wilson’s list of 12 final schools, along with Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Central Florida, Duke, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Ohio State, Oregon, Southern California and Tennessee.

By all indications, Wilson’s weekend visit to Kentucky, which included time watching basketball practices, was a success.

The high school senior posted several photos and videos from his UK visit on social media, and he also had some public online interactions with Johnson, one of Kentucky’s two class of 2025 commits.

“We missed in AAU. Let’s go crazy in front of the best fans in the country. BBN. ‘KY til I Die,’” read a social media message from Johnson directed to Wilson.

With his visit to Kentucky now in the rearview mirror, Wilson is preparing to visit Central Florida later this month and Alabama in early October. Wilson is also expected to visit Auburn in late October.

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A post shared by CALEB WILSON (@c.dubbb)

Class of 2025 recruit Acaden Lewis is still considering four college options, and Kentucky is one of them.

Top point guard Acaden Lewis has UK basketball in his top four

On Saturday afternoon, one of the best point guards in the country announced he’s still considering Kentucky for his college choice.

Class of 2025 prospect Acaden Lewis — a 6-foot-2, 170-pound guard who is ranked by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 36 overall player in the 2025 class — dropped a blue blood final four list that includes Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina and two-time defending national champion UConn.

Lewis emerged as a UK basketball recruiting target this spring. He reported a UK scholarship offer in June. The left-handed Lewis took an unofficial visit to UK that same month, and he got a brief glimpse of an early UK basketball summer practice during his time in Lexington.

“He’s just a great guy. Really genuine, and he’s preaching that I can come in and play right away,” Lewis told the Herald-Leader in July of his relationship with Pope. “That’s something, obviously, everybody wants to hear going to the next level. But I really believed it, it seemed genuine.”

“The coaching staff is great,” Lewis added. “A lot of NBA expertise there.”

Lewis, who is planning to sign with a school this fall, is yet to take an official visit to Kentucky. He has two official visits lined up this fall to other finalist schools: UConn this weekend and North Carolina in early October.

UK is expected to get an official visit from Lewis.

A self-described playmaker with strong defensive and passing instincts, Lewis was a standout performer this summer on the Nike grassroots circuit with Team Durant and at the NBPA Top 100 Camp.

“I try to manipulate the game. I try to think the game more than the other team. That’s usually my goal,” Lewis said. “I’m not only playing the other team we’re playing, but I’m playing the other coach. … I’m really deceptive, great touch around the rim and I can shoot the ball.”

Class of 2025 recruit Tounde Yessoufou is no longer considering UK for college.

Tounde Yessoufou is no longer considering Kentucky

As one recruiting door opens, sometimes others close.

That proved true this week for UK basketball. On Monday afternoon, it was announced that five-star, class of 2025 small forward Tounde Yessoufou would no longer be considering Kentucky for his college choice.

Yessoufou previously had a top-six list that included Arizona State, Baylor, Kansas, Kentucky, Southern California and UConn. Now, that list has been cut in half, with Yessoufou only considering Arizona State, Baylor and Southern California moving forward.

As part of this divestment from his UK recruitment, Yessoufou canceled an upcoming official visit to Kentucky that was to include Big Blue Madness on Oct. 11.

“I just like the way that they play. I feel like they play, kind of, my style,” Yessoufou told the Herald-Leader this summer about UK. “… I’ve been talking to Mark Pope and he’s been telling me how he likes my energy. … The way that he’s been talking to me and stuff, he’s got so much energy and I can see myself in the future playing for that program.”

With Yessoufou no longer in the recruiting picture for UK, the Wildcats have a positional void when it comes to their 2025 big board.

Kentucky is still actively recruiting several class of 2025 backcourt prospects, in addition to already having Johnson’s commitment. UK is also still recruiting players viewed as frontcourt prospects in the class of 2025, in addition to having Moreno’s commitment.

But UK isn’t involved with many wing or “3” position prospects. Yessoufou was the 2025 UK recruit who most clearly aligned with this player archetype.

This means Pope and company may pivot to a new name in the 2025 class at this position, or it could become a clear positional need for the Wildcats to address in the transfer portal next offseason.

Seven players on the 2024-25 Kentucky basketball roster will be out of NCAA eligibility after this season. The UK scholarship players who will still have eligibility after this season are guards Collin Chandler, Otega Oweh and Travis Perry, forward Trent Noah and center Brandon Garrison.

UK basketball offers scholarship to Jordan Smith Jr.

Pope and the Wildcats continue to add new names to their recruiting list beyond next year’s highly regarded prospect class.

This includes five-star, class of 2026 shooting guard Jordan Smith Jr., who reported a scholarship offer from the Wildcats on Monday night.

A 6-foot-3, 195-pound prospect, Smith has been a standout player on the Nike grassroots circuit with Team Takeover, one of the most consistent programs in that league. Smith is ranked as the No. 7 overall recruit in the 2026 class by the 247Sports Composite.

Smith is now the eighth recruit in the 2026 class to hold a UK scholarship offer. The others are guards Brandon McCoy, Jason Crowe Jr. and Taylen Kinney, and forwards Tajh Ariza, Caleb Holt, Miikka Muurinen and Tyran Stokes.

An active defender, Smith has spoken about his desire to be part of a fast, up-and-down playing style in college.

This summer, the UK coaching staff was in attendance to watch Smith represent the United States and win a gold medal at the FIBA Under-17 World Cup in Turkey. Other UK targets on that American squad were Holt, McCoy, Stokes and class of 2025 center Chris Cenac.

Smith’s extensive offer list also includes the likes of Alabama, Duke, Houston, Kansas, North Carolina, Tennessee and UConn, among other schools.