CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Two years ago, John Calipari took time out of his schedule to check out a freshman phenom from his old hometown — Memphis forward Leron Black.
Ever since, Black’s name has been consistently mentioned as a possible UK target for 2014. But don’t expect to see him in Lexington next fall.
Black mentioned almost a dozen schools Thursday when he was asked about his recruitment, and Kentucky wasn’t on the list.
Class of 2014 center Jahlil Okafor has narrowed his list to eight schools, including Kentucky.
Photo: USA Basketball
ESPN released its new batch of 2014 player rankings Wednesday, and it was no surprise to see several Kentucky targets at the top of the list.
You can check out the entire Top 100 right here.
Here’s a look at the players UK is targeting …
1. Jahlil Okafor (UK offer)
2. Cliff Alexander (UK offer)
3. Tyus Jones (UK offer)
4. Trey Lyles (UK offer)
5. Emmanuel Mudiay (UK offer)
6. Karl Towns (UK commitment)
11. Rashad Vaughn (UK offer)
12. Stanley Johnson (UK offer)
16. Devin Booker (UK offer)
19. Goodluck Okonoboh (No offer yet)
24. Josh Perkins (No offer yet)
31. Craig Victor (No offer yet)
32. Jalen Lindsey (No offer yet)
35. Isaiah Whitehead (No offer yet)
44. Abdul-Mailk Abu (No offer yet)
75. Zylan Cheatham (No offer yet)
UK commitment Karl Towns will participate in the NBPA Top 100 camp later this week.
Photo: Newark Star-Ledger
The roster for the annual NBPA Top 100 camp was released Monday night, and the lineup will once again include several Kentucky targets.
UK commitment Karl Towns headlines the list of players who will take part in the Top 100 camp Thursday-Saturday at the University of Virginia. Other prospects with UK offers who will attend the camp include Rashad Vaughn, Devin Booker and Skal Labissiere.
Louisville natives Quentin Snider and D’Angelo Russell are the only Kentuckians invited to the event. Snider, a U of L commitment, and Russell, an Ohio State commitment, are both considered five-star players in the class of 2014. U of L’s other 2014 commitment, Shaqquan Aaron, will also attend.
Several of UK’s top recruiting targets have been participating in the Pangos All-American Camp in California this weekend. Here’s a quick look at what some top analysts tweeted about them Saturday:
Stanley Johnson is one of UK’s biggest recruiting targets in the class of 2014. He won the Peach Jam title last year with the Oakland Soldiers.
Photo: Orange County Register
John Calipari and his assistant coaches will have plenty of prospects to keep an eye on when they travel to the Nike Peach Jam later this summer.
The EYBL regular season wrapped up Monday, and several teams featuring UK recruiting targets qualified for the event, which will take place July 10-14 in North Augusta, S.C.
Here’s a look at some of the players Calipari and company are sure to be watching:
Players with UK offers …
Stanley Johnson, Oakland Soldiers: 2014 small forward will try to lead the Soldiers to back-to-back Peach Jam titles. He teamed up with Aaron Gordon last year to defeat Andrew Wiggins and CIA Bounce in the championship game. Johnson has a list of seven schools: UK, Arizona, Florida, Oregon, Duke, UCLA and Southern Cal. Kansas is also trying to get in on his recruitment.
The Nike EYBL regular season wraps up this weekend in Minneapolis, and the Kentucky-based Travelers still have a good shot of advancing to the Nike Peach Jam tournament later this summer.
The Travelers take a 7-6 record into the Minneapolis session, which will include five games to sort out the 24 teams that qualify for the Peach Jam. The top five teams from each of the four divisions will automatically qualify, along with four wild cards which will be chosen based on best overall record.
Florida-based Each 1 Teach 1 currently has a two-game lead in Division D, where the Travelers are in a four-way tie for second place.
Three wins in five games should be enough for the Travelers to make it to the Peach Jam Finals. Their first game will be Saturday morning against Louisville commitment Shaqquan Aaron and Seattle Rotary (2-11). On Saturday afternoon, they face No. 1 point guard Tyus Jones and Howard Pulley (7-6). Sunday’s matchups are Team United (1-12) and All Ohio Red (7-6). The Travelers will close the session Monday with Toronto-based CIA Bounce (6-7), which could end up being a win-and-you’re-in contest.
Tyus Jones is leading the EYBL with 7.7 assists and 2.9 steals per game.
Photo: Sherri LaRose-Chiglo/Pioneer Press
Updated stats for Kentucky recruiting targets after two sessions of EYBL play:
Emmanuel Mudiay (2014)
16.6 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 5.9 apg
Tyus Jones (2014)
22.1 ppg, 7.7 apg, 2.9 spg, 41.4% threes
Stanley Johnson (2014)
18.8 ppg, 11.6 rpg, 2.6 spg
Cliff Alexander (2014)
14.6 ppg, 12.0 rpg, 60.2 FG%
Rashad Vaughn (2014)
20.2 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 29.6% threes
HAMPTON, Va. — Roundup of Sunday’s EYBL games featuring players with UK offers:
Tyus Jones (Howard Pulley Panthers)
27 points, 10 assists in 82-79 win over Texas Elite
23 points, 5 assists in 85-75 win over Nike Team Louisiana
Note: Jones was 21-for-22 on free throws Sunday
Emmanuel Mudiay (Texas Pro)
19 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists in 57-52 win over Alabama Challenge
27 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists in 78-76 loss to Cal Supreme
Stanley Johnson (Oakland Soliders)
10 points, 14 rebounds, 4 steals in 63-60 loss to Team Takeover
23 points, 10 rebounds in 57-54 loss to Meanstreets
Tyus Joneshad two 20-plus point games in front of John Calipari on Saturday.
Photo: Pioneer Press
HAMPTON, Va. — Roundup of Saturday’s EYBL games featuring players with UK offers:
In possibly the most anticipated matchup of the day, Tyus Jones had 23 points, 10 assists and four steals to lead Howard Pulley to an 84-83 overtime victory over fellow Minnesotan Rashad Vaughn and Playground Elite. Vaughn had 21 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. Five coaches who have won national championships were present for the game: John Calipari, Rick Pitino, Mike Krzyzewski, Tom Izzo and Roy Williams.
Later Saturday, Jones had 22 points and four rebounds in a 58-53 victory over Team Penny and Skal Labissiere, who turned in seven points and nine rebounds in 13 minutes. Calipari, Izzo and Coach K also watched that game.
Vaughn was scorless in the first half of his night game, a 67-52 loss to CIA Bounce. He ended up with 12 points.
HAMPTON, Va. — Stay tuned to this blog throughout the weekend for updates on several UK recruiting targets who will be playing in the Nike EYBL event in Hampton, Va. Seven 2014 prospects with UK scholarship offers — Jahlil Okafor, Cliff Alexander, Tyus Jones, Emmanuel Mudiay, Rashad Vaughn, Devin Booker and Stanley Johnson — are expected to be in action.
Trey Lyles, the other 2014 recruit with a confirmed offer from the Cats, will not play as he continues to recover from a knee injury. Other players on UK’s radar who will be in Hampton this weekend include Jalen Lindsey, Isaiah Whitehead, D’Angelo Russell, Zylan Cheatham, Skal Labissiere, Malik Newman, Elijah Thomas and Charles Matthews.
The Lexington-based Travelers will play five games this weekend. Lafayette star Jackson Davis did not make the trip after injuring his back during the first EYBL session last week in Los Angeles. Davis is hoping to return for the next round of games in Dallas on May 10-12, his family told the Herald-Leader.
You can also follow this weeekend’s EYBL coverage on Twitter.
To learn more about many of these players, check out our “2014 Recruits” page.
