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DJ Wagner Changes Tone on Louisville, Is Kentucky Still the Favorite?

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Jon Lopez/Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame

DJ Wagner, the prized No.1 recruit in the class of 2023, has been long considered to be a presumed lock to Kentucky. This is due to the connection between his father Dajuan Wagner, and John Calipari, who Dajuan has said multiple times that he owes his career to.

Dajuan played for Calipari at Memphis and pushed him to leave after one season, being drafted sixth in the 2002 NBA Draft before his career was derailed by injuries. This left Dajuan with a lasting impression of Calipari, as he pushed him to do what was best for himself and his family.

With that said, one could easily see the connection and see why DJ would almost certainly be a Wildcat. Well, that is until recently.

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When Kenny Payne was hired as the head coach for the Louisville Cardinals, another connection was made. That connection? DJ’s grandfather, Milt Wagner, who was Payne’s college teammate and remains a close friend.

Speculation began immediately that Payne would hire Milt onto the staff as an assistant coach to help lure DJ to Louisville. However, on Wednesday Payne finalized his staff, and Milt was not hired.

This should leave Kentucky fans pretty confident, as Kentucky has the two of the closest connections to DJ, his father Dajuan (previously mentioned), and stepbrother, UK walk-on Kareem Watkins, who DJ has called his “best friend” and “blood brother”.

Or should it?

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In the last month, DJ has talked about Louisville and Kenny Payne, giving two very different answers just weeks apart from each other.

April 4th in an interview with 247Sports’ Travis Branham: “Not really, not too much, not a lot but he is definitely a great coach. I know that he was a great coach at Kentucky and I know that he will do a great job but I don’t have a super personal connection.”

April 22nd during EYBL in Indianapolis: “That’s like family. We have always been family since I was young.”

Make of the comments what you will, but if you are one to put stock into the 247 Crystal Ball predictions, Kentucky and Louisville are now even at 50%.

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Given the connections, I would side with Kentucky still being the favorite, but it is shaping up to be a heated rivalry battle for the Nation’s top recruit. For Kentucky’s sake, one can hope this is not another tale of misfortune for the No. 1 recruit, such as the likes of James Wiseman, Cade Cunningham, and Shaedon Sharpe.

BB Recruiting

Kentucky Earns Commitment From European Big Andrija Jelavic

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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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