Calipari offers fast-rising five-star forward Kahlil Whitney
On Friday afternoon there were reports that Kentucky has offered Kahlil Whitney.
The first report came from Scott Burgess of Prep Hoops Illinois.
Whitney, a 6'6, 185-pound small forward from Roselle Catholic in N.J., has been a fast-rising prospect of late. Whitney told Rivals.com's Eric Bossi this week that his improvement can be attributed to a simple decision that he "wants to be one of those guys." Cue the improvement. Enter Kentucky.
On Kentucky, Whitney told Bossi, "I talked to coach (John) Calipari once and he talked to my family and I have talked to them about it. He said that he would love to have me on campus. I don't know when I want to take an official or an unofficial, I'm not sure. But, I'll be talking to my parents about that."
That was before news of Kentucky's offer, which, safe to say, probably makes a visit a little more likely.
Whitney visited Illinois last month. That's where his former teammate, Ayo Dosunmu, currently is. The connection is helping the Illini on some level.
According to Bossi, comfort with coaches is going to be an overriding and potentially decisive factor in Whitney's decision, so Kentucky's offer alone won't radically change things. But it's a start.
Louisville, Syracuse, Virginia, Pitt, Oregon, Georgetown and Florida State are among the others in play for the nation's No. 23 prospect.
Kentucky's offer didn't come out of the blue.
Several days ago Whitney said he will be releasing his list of eight top schools. That should happen sometime in the next several days.
Earlier this week, Bossi wrote, "I'm glad that we moved Kahlil Whitney to five-star status during the update to our 2019 rankings at the beginning of the month. But, he could still go a little higher. No, there's no such thing as a sixth star or anything like that, but he could legitimately compete for the national top 15 by summer's end. The way he's raised his level of play since the end of the high school season is equal parts getting to be the main man and getting in the gym and working. His athleticism and strength remain his calling card, but his jumper and handle are improving. Illinois, Florida State, Oregon, Syracuse, St. John's, Oregon, Pittsburgh, LSU, Louisville and many others have been mentioned with him but Kentucky's John Calipari was in to see him on Wednesday night and I wouldn't be surprised to see Kansas look to get involved."