The predicted next important big man in basketball, Thon Maker, will not be a part of John Calipari's Wildcats.
According to Kentucky.com, the Wildcats seem to have stopped pursuing the Sudan-born seven footer. This was confirmed by Ed Smith, Maker's guardian.
"I don't know where they are with their process, but I haven't heard anything from them," Smith said. "I think if they were recruiting him, they would be calling and so forth. So we'll see."
It was speculated that Kentucky may have taken Maker off their radar as they have a stacked frontline for 2016.
They have two international frontline players : current freshman Isaac Humphries from Australia is "too young to be eligible for next year's draft and will return for a sophomore season at UK. New Zealand power forward Tai Wynyard is joining the Cats' roster for the second half of this season and will also be back in 2016-17."
Along with Edrice "Bam" Adebayo and Sacha Killeya-Jones, two five star recruits who will join these two holdovers from the 2015 class, there might not be enough room for Maker, who wants to play a "pivotal role" right from the get-go.
"I'm not coming to sit. I'm not coming off the bench," Maker said. "I'm coming in to play and make a run, non-stop."
He might get that chance in Arizona State, Indiana or Notre Dame as these schools have been recruiting him the hardest, according to a report from Scout. "Arizona State, Indiana and Notre Dame have been the strongest," Ed Smith confided to Scout.
"I saw coach Hurley (of Arizona State) during the NCAA tournament," Smith said. "I think he has a good mind. He was a point guard at Duke and he was with Mike Brey and then there's his father. The tree he's coming from is a great basketball tree."