Rivals' basketball recruiting predictions aren't pretty for UK

by:TJ Walker•09/11/18

Kentucky already has commitments from Tyrese Maxey, Dontaie Allen and Kahlil Whitney, but there may just be one or two players left for the Cats according to Rivals' four national recruiting analysts. Dan McDonald thinks UK will land Vernon Carey. Krysten Peek thinks the Cats will land Matthew Hurt. Eric Bossi and Corey Evans think Kentucky will earn a commitment from Oscar Tshiebwe. That's it. That's a wrap for five-star prospects in 2019 according to the Rivals' staff. No recruiting analyst picked UK to land two remaining five-stars and no one picked Kentucky targets James Wiseman, Cole Anthony or Scottie Lewis to UK. That's not good news, folks. But let's remember a few things:

It's a guessing game. While these analysts may have inside information on some recruitments, they're guessing on most.
It didn't include predictions for Aidan Igiehon or Zeke Nnaji, who aren't five-star players but both are strongly considering UK.
Half the analysts thinking UK will land Tshiebwe is great news.
Let's hope McDonald is correct about Carey, Peek about Hurt and Evans/Bossi about Tshiebwe. Boom. Dominant class.

In all seriousness, I wouldn't get too worked up about these predictions. Wiseman, Anthony and Carey will all decide in the spring, and it's unclear when exactly Hurt will pull the plug. They will certainly do a similar article like this in a few months and their predictions may change. All four do great work but you can't be plugged in on every single recruitment. I would put some stock in Evans picking UK for Tshiebwe. He's been doing a great job covering that recruitment and seems to have solid feel on where things are going. You can read all their predictions HERE. Also, the fine folks at Rivals updated their 2019 rankings. Kentucky has two players in the top 10 with Kahlil Whitney jumping up to No. 7. Despite a 16 spot bump, Whitney isn't satisfied. You have to love his confidence.