John Calipari set to visit 5-star '25 SG Meleek Thomas, per report
Kentucky men’s basketball head coach John Calipari is going all-in on one of the country’s top shooting guards.
According to high school basketball insider Andrew Slater, Calipari is set to visit class of 2025 five-star Meleek Thomas on Wednesday. The 6-foot-3 Thomas is considered the No. 5 overall high school junior by the On3 Industry Ranking. Kentucky cracked his group of 12 finalists earlier this month after having offered him in April. This will be the second time this month that Calipari has paid a visit to Thomas.
Slater also adds that Thomas has met with coaches from Kansas and Auburn in the last two days. He was originally scheduled to take an official visit to Auburn this weekend, although that trip is no longer on the docket.
Joining Kentucky in Thomas’ top 12 are Kansas State, Indiana, Kansas, Duke, Auburn, Tennessee, UConn, Pittsburgh, Michigan, Miami (FL), and Villanova. He’s taken one official visit so far, which was to Michigan at the beginning of September. Thomas is expected to be at Penn State this weekend, even though the Nittany Lions were not among his initial finalists.
The Pittsburgh (PA) Lincoln Park Performing Arts product has still yet to visit Kentucky, but a trip is in the works and will likely happen sometime this fall.
“They doing a good job of recruiting me,” Thomas told KSR in July about UK. “They don’t try to bother me — I’d say that’s the word for it. I know what Kentucky is and they let me know that there’s a spot there, they want me there, I’m wanted there. You feel that from the head coach and the assistant coach. I talk to (Orlando) Antigua, I talk to Cal. When you hear that from two coaches, you know it’s real. When they both show up to games and they came to my state (championship) game. Things like that, it’s love.”
Over the summer, Thomas suited up for the 17U New Heights Lightning on the Nike EYBL circuit where the Kentucky staff was a constant shadow on the sidelines. The 6-foot-3, 175-pound guard averaged 13.5 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.2 assists in 24.4 minutes per game on shooting splits of 48.9/36.5/74.3 while playing up a year in competition. He also competed in the Nike World Basketball Festival Championship in New York a couple of weeks ago.
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