Kentucky coach John Calipari is awaiting the final word from heralded recruit Marques Bolden but hasn’t been spending his time waiting for a call from the 5-star prospect, who has yet to announce his college choice.
Bolden has narrowed his choices to Duke and Kentucky but is taking his time making a final decision. Calipari is anxious to hear from Bolden but also is busy laying the foundation for 2017.
Calipari spent last weekend at the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League event in Indianapolis and caught a glimpse of Kevin Knox II, one of the top power forwards in the current junior class. Knox, son of former Florida State football standout Kevin Knox, who played on the Seminoles’ 1993 national championship team, was a star quarterback at Tampa Catholic High School, before giving up the sport to devote his career to basketball.
“Football, I was really good at it,” Knox told the Louisville Courier-Journal. “But I needed to work on basketball because that’s what I want to do in the future.”
Calipari also has his eyes on Trae Young and Michael Porter Jr., also highly-ranked prospects in the junior class. Young and Porter currently play for the Moken Elite team based in Kansas and could be a package deal for the Wildcats or any other elite program that lands the talented duo.
“You have to do what’s best for you, but we really, really want to play together at the next level and that’s a really high possibility,” Young told the Courier-Journal. “We benefit from each other. I make him look good (and) he makes me look really good. With him on the wing and me at the lead guard, I feel like we can do really big things at the next level, too.”
Draft Day
The NFL Draft is set for Thursday-Saturday and at least one instate player — Eastern Kentucky University’s Noah Spence — is expected to be selected in the first round.
Spence is projected to go as high as No. 4 in the draft and is ranked fourth nationally in tackles lost per game last season (2 per game), fifth in sacks (1.5 per game). Spence, an All-American defensive end, finished the season with 22.5 tackles for a loss and 11.5 sacks, fourth most in EKU history. Spence played at Ohio State before transferring to Eastern.
As many as 15 players from Ohio State are expected to be selected in the three-day event.
Kentucky linebacker Josh Forrest also hopes his name is called this week and ranks among UK’s top draft prospects. A.J. Stamps, Landon Foster, Melvin Lewis and Jordan Swindle also are draft possibilities for the Wildcats.
Pelphrey back on sidelines
Former Kentucky standout John Pelphrey returned to the sidelines last week after spending one year in television. Pelphrey joined Avery Johnson’s staff as associate head coach at Alabama.
Pelphrey was a head coach at South Alabama and Arkansas and spent several seasons as Billy Donovan’s assistant at the University of Florida. Pelphrey admitted the year away from coaching provided him an opportunity to spend more time with his family.
“I didn’t really miss coaching when I was out of it because I was completely consumed with making sure I was being a champion with some of the things I needed to get addressed in my life,” he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I think we did that.”
Former EKU player, coach gets job at Nicholls State
Former Eastern Kentucky player and assistant coach Richie Riley has been named head men’s basketball coach at Nicholls State.
Riley has spent the past two seasons at Clemson under coach Brad Brownwell. He began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Pikeville College (2006-09).
“Richie Riley is an outstanding young coach with a proven track record of success,” Brownell said on the team’s web site. “He has worked his way up the coaching ladder and has a tremendous passion for the game of basketball. This is best shown in the way he recruits and builds relationships with student-athletes and coaches. He has a very bright future in this business.”
Keith Taylor is a senior sports writer for KyForward, where he primarily covers University of Kentucky sports. Reach him at keith.taylor@kyforward.com or @keithtaylor21 on Twitter