Take Two: With Kennedy Chandler to Tennessee what's next for UK?
John Calipari hasn't extended many offers to prospects from the Class of 2021 and there's some question as to the overall depth of talent in the class beyond the top tier.
On Friday, five-star prospect and No. 1 point guard Kennedy Chandler gave his verbal commitment to Rick Barnes and Tennessee.
What does that mean for Kentucky and where do the Wildcats turn to address the potential need from here?
Cats Illustrated basketball recruiting gurus David Sisk and Travis Graf accept the challenge of answering that question as part of our regular Take Two series.
David Sisk: I don’t think it means a lot if we’re just talking about Kennedy. He’s been considered a strong lean to Tennessee for months and a lock for weeks. If he would have picked another school he would have had to be flipped. If it had been Kentucky I would have been very surprised. I spoke with his father a few days ago, and it seemed there wasn’t a ton of contact lately between the staff and Kennedy. I think the coaches knew what was coming.
As far as the point guard role goes, you'd have to hope Devin Askew returns for his sophomore season. If that happens the Cats should be solid. I expect Skyy Clark to come to Kentucky, so his recent announcement to stay 2022 makes things more interesting. His father basically said afterwards to never say never, so I don’t think the door is shut on that one.
The next question will be what impact does this have on Paolo Banchero. Everyone knows the buzz about the duo possibly wanting to play together. I don’t think anybody knows where that stands at the present. Both schools along with several others would desperately like to add this top five talent. Look for John Calipari and Rick Barnes to amp up the attention towards Seattle beginning immediately.
Travis Graf: Honestly, the writing on the wall for Chandler to Tennessee has been there for quite some time. In David’s recent interview with Chandler’s father, he said that even Kentucky’s staff had taken the foot off the gas with the Zoom meetings. Now, they’ll hope two of three things happen: Devin Askew returns for a sophomore season, Skyy Clark reclassifies to 2021 and Hunter Sallis becomes a legit option. If two of those things happen, Kentucky is in good shape at the lead guard position. The ‘Cats could also find themselves perusing through the transfer market, if all else fails. The staff hasn’t really expected that they’d land Chandler for the last part of the recruitment, knowing they were running in second place.