Kyle Tucker of the Courier Journal spoke with Scout.com’s Evan Daniels about Kentucky Basketball’s top 2016 recruiting targets.
Cal has some work to do with some and is in good shape with others.
Five top-25 prospects in the class of 2016 with offers from the Wildcats will be at Peach Jam. In order of their Scout.com ranking, they are: No. 1 Harry Giles (6-10 PF), No. 3 Jayson Tatum (6-8 SF), No. 6 Marques Bolden (6-9 C), No. 7 Malik Monk (6-4 SG) and No. 25 Miles Bridges (6-7 SF).
Kentucky is well-positioned with three of those – and with No. 5 Kobi Simmons (6-5 PG), who’ll be at the Atlanta event, and No. 48 Sacha Killeya-Jones (6-10 PF), who is in Charlotte – but has work to do with Giles and Tatum and the second-ranked player in the class, Josh Jackson (6-7 SF), who is at the Under Armour camp this week.
“I would not consider them favorites,” Scout.com national recruiting analyst Evan Daniels said. “In fact, I’d probably consider them on the outside looking in. But I do think that they’re right there in the mix and have a legitimate possibility of getting Monk. I think Kentucky and Arkansas are really the top tier (among his suitors). Obviously he’s from Arkansas, so he could be tough to pull from there, but I think Kentucky’s put a lot of time and effort in with him.
“I think they’ve put a ton of effort into Kobi Simmons, too, and I think they’re right there with him. So that’s two of the top six, but I don’t seem them getting the Big Three (Giles, Jackson, Tatum) at this point.”
Recruiting never stops and it gets hot and heavy this week.
