John Calipari has been a frequent flyer since the NCAA cleared its college basketball coaches to move about the country for the fall recruiting period, beginning last Friday morning.
And as Coach Cal noted in a Monday afternoon tweet, he has been all over America during his current recruiting tour. He is doing so to "build relationships with young people and their families," the tweet read.
But where exactly has he (and Kenny Payne) been?
Let's dial up the ol' John Calipari Flight Tracker to find out...
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8
Lexington, KY ..............✈.............. Springfield, MA
Calipari kicked off his jet setting on Thursday with a stop in Springfield for the Hall of Fame reunion and awards dinner. He and several other basketball Hall of Famers were in attendance to welcome the new class, which included Shaquille O'Neal, Allen Iverson, Yao Ming and Tom Izzo, among others.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9
Springfield, MA ..............✈.............. Philadelphia, PA
Cal landed in Philadelphia early Friday morning for the first recruiting visit of his trip. He traveled over to nearby West Chester to meet with Mohamed Bamba, a five-star power forward in the class.
|
Mohamed Bamba
Power Forward/Center| 6-11 | 210 lbs.
New York, NY | Westtown
AAU: PSA Cardinals
★★★★★ |
ESPN |
No. 3 | 2 PF |
Top247 |
No. 3 | 2 PF |
Rivals |
No. 3 | 1 PF |
Scout |
No. 2 | 2 C |
Back in August, Bamba wrote in
his USA Today blog, "I love talking to Coach Cal... He always finds a way to teach me something in our conversations. I know he’s dedicated to me getting better."
Philadelphia, PA ..............✈.............. Tampa, FL
After his Friday morning visit with Bamba, Cal flew to Tampa, Fl. to see one of the best small forwards in the class, Kevin Knox, Friday afternoon. Knox is considered a top-10 overall prospect by three of the four major recruiting services.
|
Kevin Knox
Small Forward | 6-8 | 195 lbs.
Tampa, FL | Tampa Catholic
AAU: E1T1
★★★★★ |
ESPN |
No. 7 | 2 SF |
Top247 |
No. 13 | 3 SF |
Rivals |
No. 9 | 2 SF |
Scout |
No. 7 | 2 SF |
When asked what Cal had to say during last week's visit, Knox
told SNY.tv, "Basically saying I'm a priority and I could thrive in his system."
Knox also trimmed his list on Friday, narrowing it down to five schools: Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, Kansas and Florida State.
Tampa, FL ..............✈.............. Huntsville, AL
Cal landed in Huntsville, Al. around dinnertime Friday evening for an in-home visit with John Petty. Petty has slipped down the rankings since he received his Kentucky offer back in May of last year, but he is still a priority for the Cats, as Friday's visit confirmed.
|
John Petty
Shooting Guard/Small Forward | 6-7 | 180 lbs.
Huntsville, AL | J.O. Johnson
AAU: Team Penny
★★★★★ |
ESPN |
No. 25 | 7 SG |
Top247 |
No. 28 | 8 SF |
Rivals |
No. 30 | - SG |
Scout |
No. 44 | 9 SG |
There was a time when Petty was expected to be the first to commit to UK from the 2017 class; that may still be the case, though Alabama is putting up a fight for its in-state star.
Huntsville, AL ..............✈.............. Norman, OK
Cal traveled from Huntsville to Norman, Ok. late Friday night to rest up for a Saturday visit with his top point guard priority in the class.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10
Saturday was a big day for recruiting as Cal visited Trae Young, his favorite point guard in 2017. Young is also considering his hometown Oklahoma Sooners, as well as Kansas and a couple of other schools.
|
Trae Young
Point Guard | 6-1 | 170 lbs.
Norman, OK | Norman North
AAU: Mokan Elite
★★★★★ |
ESPN |
No. 15 | 2 PG |
Top247 |
No. 22 | 3 PG |
Rivals |
No. 14 | 3 PG |
Scout |
No. 22 | 3 PG |
Following the visit, Young tweeted, "My In Home visit with Coach Cal and KP from Kentucky went Great, Really looking forward to getting up to Lexington Soonâ€¼ï¸ #BBN"
Young's dad, Ray Young, also said the visit went great. He
told Rivals.com, "It's the point and time where we're asking the tough questions and they're giving us answers. It's getting close to commitment time and with that being said the whole meeting being great. It went from a one hour scheduled meeting to two hours. It was good, it was good. We had a lot of good questions answered that we were inquiring about."
Norman, OK ..............✈.............. Las Vegas, NV
The private jet left the Sooner State just as the Kentucky football team was kicking off in Gainesville on Saturday afternoon. Hopefully Coach Cal did not watch that game on his two-hour flight to Las Vegas, where he visited Findlay Prep's P.J. Washington.
|
P.J. Washington
Power Forward| 6-7 | 225 lbs.
Dallas, TX | Findlay Prep
AAU: Team Penny
★★★★★ |
ESPN |
No. 16 | 4 PF |
Top247 |
No. 16 | 6 PF |
Rivals |
No. 23 | 5 PF |
Scout |
No. 14 | 1 PF |
Washington, a five-star power forward, will turn around and take his official visit to Kentucky this coming weekend.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11
Las Vegas, NV ..............✈.............. Ocean County, NJ
Sunday was a travel day as Coach Cal spent the afternoon and evening flying across the country so he could get back to recruiting on the East Coast.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12
Ocean County, NJ ..............✈.............. Worcester, MA
It was back to the grind on Monday with a trip to Putnam Science Academy in northeast Connecticut, just a short drive south of Worcester Regional Airport, to see Hamidou Diallo.
Diallo, a Queens native, is one of the best scoring guards in the class.
|
Hamidou Diallo
Shooting Guard | 6-4 | 170 lbs.
Queens Village, NY | Putnam Science Academy
AAU: New York Rens
★★★★★ |
ESPN |
No. 11 | 3 SG |
Top247 |
No. 7 | 1 SG |
Rivals |
No. 10 | 3 SG |
Scout |
No. 10 | 1 SG |
UK assistant Tony Barbee visited Diallo on Friday, the first day of the recruiting period.
Worcester, MA ..............✈.............. Ocean County, NJ
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13
Ocean County, NJ ..............✈.............. Reading, PA
Tuesday was Lonnie Walker's day to meet with John Calipari in Pennsylvania. The five-star shooting guard met with Calipari in a local barbershop, which made headlines when
Cal tweeted a photo from the visit.
|
Lonnie Walker
Shooting Guard | 6-5 | 195 lbs.
Reading, PA | Reading
AAU: Team Final
★★★★★ |
ESPN |
No. 14 | 3 SG |
Top247 |
No. 23 | 4 SG |
Rivals |
No. 20 | - SG |
Scout |
No. 23 | 3 SF |
Lonnie Walker included Kentucky when he announced his top five schools: Syracuse, Villanova, Arizona, Miami, and the Cats.
Reading, PA ..............✈.............. New Haven, CT
After chatting it up with Walker in the barbershop, Cal flew over to meet with Tremont Waters, a backup point guard option, in New Haven, Ct.
|
Tremont Waters
Point Guard | 5-11 | 160 lbs.
New Haven, CT | Notre Dame
AAU: Expressions Elite
★★★★★ |
ESPN |
No. 32 | 7 PG |
Top247 |
No. 58 | 11 PG |
Rivals |
No. 36 | - PG |
Scout |
No. 36 | 10 PG |
Duke is Waters' dream school, but he is open to the idea of becoming a Wildcat, too.
Reading, PA ..............✈.............. Ocean County, NJ
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14
Ocean County, NJ ..............✈.............. Philadelphia, PA
Another point guard target was paid a visit on Wednesday when Cal flew to Philly to see Quade Green.
|
Quade Green
Point Guard| 6-1 | 172 lbs.
Philadelphia, PA | Neumann Goretti
AAU: PSA Cardinals
★★★★ |
ESPN |
No. 22 | 3 PG |
Top247 |
No. 31 | 7 PG |
Rivals |
No. 23 | - PG |
Scout |
No. 25 | 4 PG |
Green is likely headed to Duke or Syracuse, but Cal is keeping him on the board in case things were to go south with Trae Young.
Philadelphia, PA ..............✈.............. Ocean County, NJ
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15
Calipari scheduled to visit Nick Richards.
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