John Calipari and UK staff scouting Reed Sheppard, multiple five-star recruits at Adidas event

On3 imageby:Zack Geoghegan•07/08/21•

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Photo by Chet White | UK Athletics

Calipari and company are on the recruiting trail.

The faces of the Kentucky Men’s Basketball coaching staff are currently in Birmingham, Alabama, as they take a look at a couple of important high school prospects: five-stars Chris Livingston and Keyonte George. But there is another player in particular that the staff made a point to watch in person: North Laurel’s Reed Sheppard.

The Wildcats’ head coach, John Calipari, and three of his top assistants–Orlando Antigua, Ron “Chin” Coleman, and Jai Lucas–split up at the event to watch both Livingston and George perform early on in the Adidas 3SSB event. Sheppard’s game tipped off later on in the day and all four UK coaches were in attendance.

The Herald-Leader’s Ben Roberts is down in Alabama to scope out the action and he caught a handful of pictures featuring the Kentucky coaches working the courts.

Both Livingston and George are prize recruits from the class of 2022. George is rated slightly higher by the folks over at 247 Sports, who have the 6-foot-4 guard listed as the No. 5 overall player in his class. Livingston, a 6-foot-6 wing, comes in right behind him at No. 6 overall. They are two of the most sought-after prospects in all of high school hoops, so Calipari had plenty of incentive to make the trip down south.

Livingston plays up at Buchtel High School in Akron, Ohio, and took an official visit to Kentucky back in the middle of June. He’s also being heavily recruited by Kansas, Memphis, North Carolina, among others, while considering the professional route, as well. Kentucky extended him an offer back in May and has ramped up the interest since then.

George hails from Lewisville, Texas, which plays perfectly into Jai Lucas’ Longhorn State connection. The two sides have been in contact since Lucas was on the Texas staff and the relationship between them has only grown since Lucas made his way to Lexington. George was originally expected to take an official visit to Kentucky in late June, although that never took place.

That being said, the ‘Cats are still one of his top few schools. George dropped a list of his top 5 preferred destinations back in May that included Kansas, Texas, Baylor, Oklahoma State, and UK. He told KSR in early June that he has an offer from Kentucky.

Most notably, Reed Sheppard, who is a year younger and a part of the class of 2023, is participating as a member of the Midwest Basketball Club. The Athletic’s Kyle Tucker reported that all four of Kentucky’s staff members were in attendance to watch Sheppard play. Recently, Sheppard received a bump in his overall rating from Rivals, moving up to No. 39 in the class of 2022 with four-star status.

The contact between the Kentucky coaching staff and Sheppard has been minimal thus far, but going four-deep to watch the young man play against top-tier competition is a good sign that UK is looking to get more involved in his recruitment.

A couple of other need-to-know recruits playing in Alabama are five-star forward Elijah Fisher, who reportedly received an offer from Kentucky not long ago, along with four-stars Isaiah Miranda and Taison Chatman.

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2024-04-19