Another bad news hit Kentucky Basketball: the head coach of the Vancouver Canucks shed tears as four of his star players made a final decision to terminate their huge contracts.
There has been a fifth, and probably last, decommitment in the Kentucky basketball team’s 2024 recruiting class.
Billy Richmond, a small forward, resumed accepting applications on Tuesday, according to On3.
The five-foot-five Earlier, Richmond had verbally committed to Kentucky. In late December, Richmond selected UK from a final set of universities that also included Memphis, Alabama, and LSU.
Richmond is rated by 247Sports Composite as a five-star talent and the No. 24 overall recruit in the 2024 recruiting class.
Following Richmond’s withdrawal, Kentucky has now lost five players from the six players that previous head coach John Calipari—who is currently at Arkansas—assembled in his 2024 recruiting class.
Following Calipari’s resignation from the position he held for 15 seasons, centers Somto Cyril and Jayden Quaintance (both signees) and small forward Karter Knox (verbal commit) all decommitted from the Wildcats last week.
This week, guard Boogie Fland (signee) and Richmond both reopened their college recruitments in the wake of Mark Pope’s appointment as Kentucky’s new head coach.
“I chose Kentucky because they have a fantastic coaching staff.” When Richmond committed to the UK, he told NBA insider Shams Charania, “Calipari always keeps it real with me.” “That’s a major factor.”
The newest connection between Camden (New Jersey) High School and Kentucky was scheduled to be in Richmond. Originally from Memphis, Richmond attended Camden for his final two years of high school basketball. Guard D.J. Wagner and center Aaron Bradshaw, two players on the 2023–24 UK squad who have registered on the NCAA transfer portal since Kentucky’s head coaching change, were teammates when Richmond was a junior in high school.
On Monday, Bradshaw declared his transfer to Ohio State.
I briefly spoke with them. When Richmond committed, he stated, “I asked them how their experience has been going to Kentucky right now.” They inform me of both significant and minor details. Thus, it had some bearing.
Billy Richmond Jr., the father of Richmond, transferred from Vanderbilt to play for Calipari at Memphis in the early 2000s.
The all-time top scorer in Kentucky high school boys basketball history, in-state guard Travis Perry, is the lone member of Calipari’s 2024 UK recruiting class who hasn’t abandoned the Cats.
Wearing Kentucky attire, Perry, along with his father and high school coach Ryan, attended Pope’s inauguration as UK head coach on Sunday at Rupp Arena. Following that, they both gave a lengthy interview to the Herald-Leader regarding Perry’s recruiting and his college plans.
Only Quaintance, one of the five decommitments from Kentucky’s 2024 recruiting class, has been the subject of substantial fresh recruiting activity. Quaintance, a 6-foot-9 center who won’t be able to enter the NBA draft until 2026, will be paying Louisville an official visit.
On Tuesday morning, Pope, the former head coach of Utah Valley and BYU, signed his first recruit at Kentucky. A combo guard and former BYU signee, Collin Chandler, declared he would be going to Lexington with Pope.
Chandler was BYU’s highest-ranked recruit in almost ten years and a four-star talent in the 2022 recruiting class. After completing a two-year mission tour, he fulfilled his pledge, and the next season would mark his collegiate basketball debut with the Wildcats.
All things considered, Pope’s initial Kentucky lineup for the 2024–25 campaign will be very different from Calipari’s 2023–24 squad.
Two players from the UK’s 2023–24 roster, Bradshaw (Ohio State) and Zvonimir Ivisic (Arkansas), will be transferring to new universities. Furthermore, D.J. Wagner, Adou Thiero, and Joey Hart are still accessible through the NCAA transfer portal.
Three players from the same team as last season—Rob Dillingham, Justin Edwards, and Ugonna Onyenso—have already submitted their NBA draft declarations for 2024. Tre Mitchell and Antonio Reeves are no longer eligible to attend college.
Next week, Pope has scheduled Amari Williams, a former big man for Drexel, as a transfer portal guest. Aly Khalifa, a former center for BYU, is considering Kentucky, Louisville, and a return to BYU. According to the transfer portal, the UK is in the top three for him.
College basketball players can access the transfer site until May 1st. The 2024 NBA draft has an early-entry date of April 27, and players who want to enter the draft while still having NCAA eligibility have until May 29 to withdraw from consideration and return to their home institution.
