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Big Recruiting Weekend for Kentucky Basketball

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Reeves (Left) via ISU Athletics, Miller (Right) via ProInsight

This weekend is a big one for the Kentucky men’s basketball program, specifically to help shape next year’s roster.

Top transfer target, Antonio Reeves, and five-star recruit, Leonard Miller, will both be in Lexington taking visits.

Antonio Reeves

Averaging 20.1 points, Antonio Reeves is the highest scorer in the transfer portal and is one of the hottest names in the portal period, ranked as a top 25 transfer by both ESPN and The Athletic.

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Reeves, a junior transfer from Illinois State, stands 6-foot-6 and 185 pounds and is a scoring specialist.

As previously mentioned, Reeves averages 20.1 points, but scores his points efficiently, shooting 46.9 percent from the field, 39 percent from 3-point range, and 81.8 percent from the free-throw line

Kentucky will be Reeves’ only second visit since entering the portal, previously visiting Nebraska. However, he has received interest from the likes of Duke, Texas Tech, and North Carolina among others.

Reeves, originally from Chicago, is being recruited by UK assistant and fellow Chicago native Chin Coleman. Coleman’s recruiting ties within the city are well known, with him even being the former director of Mac Irvin Fire, Reeves’ former AAU program.

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Calipari and Co. have seemingly embraced the transfer portal, building this past season’s team with three key transfers that started.

Considering UK’s embracing of the transfer portal and the ties to Coleman, this should put Kentucky atop of Reeves’ list

Leonard Miller

Leonard Miller has seen his stock skyrocket in recent months, going from relatively unknown to ranked 11th in the On3 recruiting rankings, and now arguably the best remaining prospect in the 2022 class.

Thanks to a six-inch growth spurt, the lanky forward from Canada now stands 6-foot-10 with a 7-foot-3 wingspan but has shown impressive shooting touch and guard skills for his size.

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According to Jamie Shaw of On3, this past season, Miller initiated 90% of his team’s offense. Averaging 32 points per game and shooting over 40% from three.

In an interview with Travis Graf of Rivals, Miller called Kentucky a “dream school”, which is something Kentucky fans have heard a thousand times before, but it does seem that he does like what Kentucky has to offer.

“That’s been a dream school of mine since I’ve been growing up. I like the culture that they have and what they bring to the table. They have a record of producing and having good results with their guys. Just the whole gig in general, I like it.”

Miller just named his final three on Thursday, including Arizona, G-League, and Kentucky

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The popular belief that it is primarily down to Kentucky and the G-League, those being his only two visits, and considering Arizona has not been mentioned until recently.

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BB Recruiting

Kentucky Earns Commitment From European Big Andrija Jelavic

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ABA League j.t.d./Dragana Stjepanovic

Earlier today, Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats received the commitment from Andrija Jelavic, a 6-foot-11 big from Croatia.

As first reported by ESPN’s Jonathan Givony, Jelavic is one of the most highly regarded European prospects that is taking his talent to the NCAA.

Soon to be 21 years old, Jelavic averaged 10.8 points per game on 60% shooting from the field to go along with 7.4 rebounds per game for Mega Superbet, the same club that NBA Champion and three-time MVP Nikola Jokic played for.

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As a shock to most, who were expecting Pope’s next commit to be a guard of some sorts, international players can now sign lucrative NIL deals. Kentucky, along with several of the elite colleges, are now in the European market. 

Jelavic, with shades of current European big men, can do just about everything on the court. He can shoot, dribble, pass, finish at the rim, etc. With a very relevant comparison, Jelavic plays almost perfectly in the replacement role of Andrew Carr. 

His commitment now makes him the fifth member of Pope’s additions this offseason, joining Kam Williams, Jaland Lowe, Mouhamed Dioubate and Jayden Quaintance. 

With a 7’2” wingspan, joining an already impressive Kentucky frontcourt, it’s safe to say for certain that this new team will not lack in that department. 

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Next year’s roster was loaded with talent already, but now with the addition of Jelavic, lots of questions are arising: Who will start? How many more players is Pope going to add? What will happen with the walk-ons? 

There’s plenty to think about for Pope and his staff before the season starts, but like he said back when he introduced himself to Big Blue Nation, “We’re here to win banners.” He’s going to make the moves he thinks will do just that for the Wildcats. 

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Four-Star Guard Acaden Lewis Suddenly Decommits from Kentucky

Amidst a recent wave of positive recruiting news for Kentucky, the surprising decommitment of Acaden Lewis is an unfortunate wrench.

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2025 four-star point guard prospect Acaden Lewis has decommited from Kentucky.
UK Athletics

In a shocking, late at night turn of events, four-star freshman Acaden Lewis has decommitted from Kentucky.

Lewis, a 6’3” point guard out of Washington, D.C. first committed to the blue and white in November of last year, following an in-person visit with Mark Pope in his hometown.

Since then, he’s made multiple appearances in Rupp Arena, been featured in photo shoots with his fellow incoming recruits, and spoken on multiple occasions about his excitement to join the team for the 2025-26’ season.

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To say this development is surprising would be a serious understatement.

Lewis released a statement following the announcement, “This was an incredibly difficult decision, but I have to do what’s best for my future,” he said. “Thank you to Coach Pope and the whole Kentucky staff for all they’ve done for me so far.”

While the loss of Lewis is certainly disappointing, there is still much to look forward to next season for Kentucky, who maintain one of the highest rated transfer classes in the nation – and it likely isn’t finished.

To that point, if any reason can be derived immediately for Lewis’ decommitment, it may be found in the same place that Mark Pope and staff will be going to look for answers: the transfer portal.

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Top 10 Transfer Prospect, Former Wildcat Recruit Jayden Quaintance Commits to Kentucky

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2024 five-star big man Jayden Quaintance has commmitted to play basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats
UK Athletics

Two days into the week and two booms for the Kentucky Wildcats as Jayden Quaintance announced his commitment to Kentucky on Tuesday morning.

If the Quaintance name sounds familiar, it should. He was originally committed to play for the Cats out of high school last season as a five-star recruit. While he was interested in staying at Kentucky following John Calipari’s departure, even meeting with Mark Pope, he elected to play for Arizona State.

In his one season with the Sun Devils, Quaintance averaged 9.4 PPG, 7.9 RPG, and 2.6 BPG, and earned Big 12 All-Freshman and All-Defensive honors.

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The one concern for Quaintance is that he had surgery to repair a torn ACL, which could keep him out for the entire offseason and potentially into the season. That said, the expectation for a return is September, and at just 17 years old, there is so much untapped potential.

Get to know the newest Wildcat commit!

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