Kentucky Basketball 2014 Recruiting Big Board
COMMITTED
Karl Towns
Center
7’1″, 235 lbs.
Metuchen, New Jersey (St. Joeseph)
Rivals: 11
ESPN: 5
Scout: 8
Committed to Kentucky on 12/04/2012
TARGETS OFFERED
Tyus Jones
Point guard
6’1″, 171 lbs.
Apple Valley, Minnesota (Apple Valley)
Rivals: 3
ESPN: 2
Scout: 2
Schools offered: Baylor, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State
Visited UK: Yes, came to the Kentucky/Texas A&M game on 1/12/2013
Visit from Cal: 9/10/2012, 11/27/2012, 12/08/2012, 3/20/2013
Fun fact: Had a granny recruit him to UK during his visit
Jahlil Okafor
Center
6’10”, 280 lbs.
Chicago, Illinois (Whitney Young)
Rivals: 1
ESPN: 1
Scout: 1
Schools offered: Arizona, Arkansas, DePaul, Duke, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan State, North Carolina, Ohio State, Wisconsin
Visited UK: Not yet
Visit from Cal: 9/28/2012
Fun Fact: Has said he wants to be a package deal with Tyus Jones
Devin Booker
Shooting guard
6’3″, 180 lbs.
Moss Point, Mississippi (Moss Point)
Rivals: 23
ESPN: 19
Scout: 23
Schools offered: Duke, Michigan, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Ole Miss
Visited UK: Not yet
Visit from Cal: 4/23/2013
Fun fact: Has been compared to Steph Curry
Emmanuel Mudiay
Point guard
6’4″, 185 lbs.
Arlington, Texas (Prime Prep Academy)
Rivals: 2
ESPN: 3
Scout: 3
Schools offered: Arizona, Baylor, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, NC State, Oklahoma State, SMU, St. John’s, Texas
Visited UK: Not yet
Visit from Cal: 9/10/2012, 1/04/2013
Fun fact: Kentucky is considered his favorite
Stanley Johnson
Small forward
6’6″, 200 lbs.
Santa Ana, California (Mater Dei)
Rivals: 12
ESPN: 15
Scout: 17
Schools offered: Arizona, Kentucky, Florida, Oregon, Duke, UCLA, and USC
Visited UK: Not yet
Visit from Cal: 9/11/2012
Fun fact: Plays on the same AAU team as Aaron Gordon
Trey Lyles
Power forward
6’10”, 245 lbs.
Indianapolis, Indiana (Arsenal Technical)
Rivals: 4
ESPN: 4
Scout: 4
Schools offered: Butler, Duke, Florida, Kentucky, Louisville, UCLA
Visited UK: 10/13/2012 for Big Blue Madness; 2/09/2013 for UK vs. Auburn; 3/09/2013 for UK vs. Florida
Visit from Cal: 9/10/2012, 12/08/2012, 12/16/2012 (Antigua)
Fun fact: Used to be committed to Indiana but wised up
Rashad Vaughn
Shooting guard
6’6″, 200 lbs.
Minneapolis, Minnesota (Robbinsdale Cooper)
Rivals: 6
ESPN: 9
Scout: 13
Schools offered: Baylor, Duke, Florida, Florida State, Illinois, Iowa State, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, Syracuse, Texas
Visited UK: Not yet
Visit from Cal: 9/21/2012
Fun fact: Thinks Andrew Wiggins will end up choosing between Kentucky and North Carolina (everyone has an opinion!)
Cliff Alexander
Center/Power forward
6’8″, 240 lbs.
Chicago, Illinois (Curie)
Rivals: 5
ESPN: 8
Scout: 5
Schools offered: Kentucky, Michigan State, DePaul, Florida State, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisville, Memphis, Michigan, Ohio State, Purdue, Tennessee, Wisconsin
Visited UK: 10/13/2012 for Big Blue Madness
Visit from Cal: 11/30/2012, 12/16/2012 (Antigua), 4/22/2013
Fun fact: Michigan State and Kentucky considered the favorites
OF INTEREST
Ryan Skovranko
Small forward, 6’8″, 200 lbs.
Not rated
Midland, Pennsylvania (Lincoln Park)
UK activity: Cal visited him on 2/25/2013 and invited him and his team to watch UK practice in Pittsburgh on 3/18/2013
Jalen Lindsey
Small forward, 6’6″, 180 lbs.
Rivals: 30; ESPN: 17; Scout: 25
Nashville, Tennessee (Christ Presbyterian)
UK activity: Has mentioned interest in UK and is a friend of Alex Poythress
D’Angelo Russell
Shooting guard, 6’4″, 185 lbs.
Rivals: 22; ESPN: 24; Scout: 11
Louisville, Kentucky (Montverde Academy)
UK activity: Visited UK on 6/25/2012, teammates with Dakari Johnson
Isaiah Whitehead
Shooting guard, 6’4″ 170 lbs.
Rivals: 19; ESPN: 46; Scout: 43
Brooklyn, New York (Lincoln)
UK activity: Cal visited him on 3/22/2013, has said Kentucky is his dream school
Goodluck Okonoboh
Center, 6’9″ 220 lbs.
Rivals: 34; ESPN: 20; Scout: 37
Wilbraham, Massachusetts (Wilbraham and Monson Academy)
UK activity: Cal visited him on 10/03/2012, was the one to tell Nerlens to grow a flat top
Craig Victor
Power forward, 6’8″ 200 lbs.
Rivals: 24; ESPN: 44; Scout: 19
New Orleans, Louisiana (Saint Augustine)
UK activity: Cal visited on 3/28/2013
Leron Black
Power forward, 6’7″ 215 lbs.
Rivals: 16; ESPN: 11; Scout: 20
Memphis, Tennessee (White Station)
UK activity: Decommitted from Baylor on 1/03/2013, has said he “loves” UK and Coach Cal
28 Comments for Kentucky Basketball 2014 Recruiting Big Board
Holy crap! we could scrap all of next years team and completely rebuild for 8-9 more recruits!
Does anybody know if Coach Cal is going after the Exum kid that played on the world team in the hoop summit? The kid REALLY impressed me as well as everyone else watching the game! Anybody know?
Thanks Tyler, I love this type of post. It saves a lot of time and effort for the fans. Much appreciated.
I wonder how the commitment from Karl Towns affects the decision of Jahlil Okafor and thus Tyus Jones. Any opinions?
I now know what a rich kid feels like at Christmas right before he opens his presents.
i wish MY name was Goodluck
#2 I think Cal would be interested but it looks like Exum will enroll in December and we wouldn’t have room, so that cuts UK. People have said IU and UofL are the favorites. Yuck
#3 Okafor has publicly said Towns commitment has made UK more attractive, Dakari’s commitment too. Towns has expressed interest in playing together too. We shall see. Personally, I think we get Lyles, Mudiay, Johnson and hopefully Vaughn and Alexander.
#2 – Totally agree. There were moments during that game where he looked like the best player on the floor and pretty much unguardable. Reminds me of a young Russell Westbrook.
My favorite class from this post would be:
PG – Emmanuel Mudiay
SG – Rashad Vaughn
SF – Stanley Johnson
PF – Trey Lyles
C – Karl Towns, Jr.
SG – Devin Booker
I think Dakari, Marcus, Wiltjer and of course Willis will be back so I doubt Cal takes more than two commitments from big guys. Plus, with Hawkins coming back (and possibly Young, but not holding my breath) our back court depth is good. Yet again we’d be a favorite to win the title (hopefully our 10th!)
I leave off Jones and Okafor because I simply don’t think it’s going to happen. From what I’ve read, Lyles is a UK lean and more likely to commit than Okafor and therefore that means Jones won’t be coming either.
Okafor and Jones will wear the dark blue, only it will have DUKE written across the chest. I agree with Clint and think that UK gets Lyles and probably Mudiay.
I LOOOOOOVVE RASHAD VAUGHN!!!
I agree with 6 Linda. I did hear that Towns is pretty good friends with Okafor, but I also think Okafor is good friends with Jabari Parker, and if he sticks around 1 more year at Duke you may see Jones, Okafor, and Parker together. If we have Towns, Mudiay, Lyles, and a couple of the other’s on this list we’ll be fine. Especially if a few guys stick around from this class. Hopefully watching this year’s squad has a good impact on some of these recruits.
This is an odd comparison but Towns reminds me of Kyle Wiltjer mixed with Kevin Durant.
Linda in my opinion I think Karl towns and jahlil okafor would be a good front court becuz karl towns is athletic and if YU ever saw him play YU KNO hes gonna shed all his baby fat and tyus jones WULD play with both also Karl tends to drift out sometimes so THT wuld help tyus and jahlil’s decision
Thanks guys.
I love Emmanuel size but tyus jones this kid jus has IT he’s special coach cal will cater to his play trust becuz tyus is another rare pg. once I see him in college and he has a consistent move his uses for a pull up jumper this kid is top 10 pick
So, is Booker a 4star or a 5star?
I think Stanley Johnson and Trey lyles have been locks for awhile. I’d like to see Cliff Alexander and Mudiay also. Throw in another wing and that’s your class. Just my opinion.
I don’t think I could read any sports articles or listen to any broadcasts during Goodluck’s tenure at UK. Imagine Bill Raftery or Clark Kellogg with that kind of straight line.
Tyler,
Really enjoyed Big Board Recruiting information…never tire of UK Basketball recruiting news/
projections.
I believe you would fit in beautifully at Ohio’s UK Convention on July 20, ’13 in Franklin,OH.
Consider this an invitation.
Jim Porter, Director
Looks like UK will get Lyles.
Johnson is a strong lean for Arizona. He talks about it on his tweeter.
One of the twins will be back as well as James Young so, dont see a SG coming.
Dakari Johnson will not start and will be back for his Soph year.
So center is good for next year.
I’d like to see a class of Exum, Mudiay, Towns, Vaughn, Lyles, and Alexander. Add that to possibly Young, Lee, Johnson, and maybe Aaron Harrison and we will repeat as champions.
21- you’re stupid to think a twin will be back AND young….both are lottery picks….
It seems to me that the best of all worlds would be to make the Walls/Bledsoe combination pitch (i.e., we have a track record of successfully playing two great PGs together) to try to get both Jones and Mudiay but maybe that is too much to ask for or otherwise a bad mix. Towns ability to shoot and play on the outside opens things up inside offensively for Okafor but I suppose the likely returning inside players (Dakari, et.al.) may be a bit more problematic in making the best case for him. I see above that Okafor wants the package with Jones is that mutual from Jones of wanting a package deal?
If one of the twins leaves for the NBA, the othe rone will as well. I dont see them splitting up unless theyre both at the pro level
Tyus Jones isn’t even that good. Jalil Okafor can’t do anything Town’s can do. Mudiay is a prime time player. Cliff Alexander is pretty powerful, Stanley Johnson can really play too
coach cal is considered a slime bag for going after one and dones. anybody notice that coach k is recruiting the same kids. the only difference is, cal gets them.
Alexander will go to Mich St.