John Calipari visiting Adem Bona ahead of Dereck Lively decision

UPDATE

As Dereck Lively continues trending toward the Duke Blue Devils, Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari will visit Adem Bona today.

If Lively picks Duke, look for Kentucky to go all-in on getting Bona, who is ranked as high as 10th overall by 247 Sports in the Class of 2022. Kentucky was hoping to get both Bona and Lively, but that was always a longshot.

Just a day after landing his third 5-star commitment of 2022, Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari will be paying an in-home visit to another 5-star recruit Thursday.

Per a report from Joseph Tipton of Tipton Edits and On3sports, Calipari will visit the home of five-star center Adem Bona on Thursday.

Bona, who currently attends Prolific Prep in Napa (CA), is 247 Sports’ 19th-best player in 2022, fifth-best center and third-best player from California, trailing only UCLA commit Amari Bailey and Oregon pledge Dior Johnson.

All six 247 Crystal Ball projections for Bona favor Calipari and the Wildcats despite a top eight list that the 6-foot-9 center is still considering that includes former UK assistant Joel Justus and Arizona State, Baylor, Kansas, the Australian NBL, Miami, UCLA and USC.

If Bona were to commit, he’d join an already stacked Kentucky 2022 class that includes the nation’s top overall recruit in shooting guard Shaedon Sharpe, the sixth-ranked recruit in small forward Chris Livingston, and the 17th-ranked prospect in point guard Skyy Clark.

There’s also a chance Bona could join fellow five-star prospects Derrick Lively II and Cason Wallace, who are both top-10 prospects and considered Kentucky leans.

One thing is for sure, the return of Orlando Antigua, the addition of Chin Coleman, and the growth of Jai Lucas combined with Calipari’s long track record of success has Kentucky back in the race for every top prospect on the board, unlike in recent years.

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