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Multiple Five-Star Recruits Schedule Visits to Kentucky

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Top Ranked Recruits Darius Acuff, Boogie Fland, Billy Richmond, and Caleb Wilson have scheduled visits to Kentucky.
Yahoo Sports (Acuff)/The Black Cager (Richmond)/Pangos All America (Fland)

Now that the Grassroots AAU season is over, recruits from across the country are scheduling visits. Kentucky has picked up some scheduled visits for the fall, with a couple of Big Blue Madness visits already in order.

Boogie Fland

The top guard in 2024, Fland is now starting to set up his visits, as he has really taken his recruitment slow. He will take a visit to Kentucky on September 8th, while also taking visits to Michigan, Alabama, and UNC later in September, he told On3’s Joe Tipton.

He’s taking his recruitment slow, so there’s not much movement with momentum, but recent intel suggests Alabama, UConn, and Michigan seem to be the presumed leaders currently. Kentucky is making a strong push, so keep in mind he still has visits to take.

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Caleb Wilson

A Top-5 player in 2025, Wilson is really into the Blue Bloods, with Duke, Kentucky and North Carolina all heavily involved. He will be taking a visit to Kentucky for Big Blue Madness on October 14th, he told Travis Graf of MADE Hoops.

Wilson is starting to ramp up his recruitment, with scheduling additional visits to Tennessee and Alabama as well in the near future.

Billy Richmond

Richmond is a Top-35 player in the class of 2025, and recently released his Top-8 schools, while also scheduling a handful of upcoming visits, and he will take on to Kentucky on September 15th.

He will also be visiting Memphis, LSU, Kansas, and Alabama in the near future. His Top-8 schools list includes Kentucky, Memphis, Louisville, Alabama, Kansas, LSU, Miami, and Texas.

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Kentucky seems to be the favorite in this recruitment, with Memphis and Louisville lurking behind.

Darius Acuff

One of the biggest stock-risers in 2025, Acuff is the top-ranked point guard in the class, and now is beginning to set up visits. He will take a visit to Kentucky on October 14th for Big Blue Madness.

No other visits have been set up yet besides one to Michigan in the near future, but back in July at Peach Jam, Acuff told KY Insider that Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Houston, and Pitt, among others, were schools he is looking to visit in the fall.

Kentucky, Indiana, Houston, Michigan, and Michigan State are among those recruiting him the hardest, he told KY Insider in July at Peach Jam.

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Fall visits are starting to be scheduled for the near future among many of the top recruits in the country, and Kentucky is beginning to get some of those, and plenty more will be scheduled soon.

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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