NCAA Basketball Recruiting: Analyzing 2021 Paolo Banchero’s final 6 teams

Kentucky Wildcats

If there was a perceived “favorite” for Banchero, it would have to be the Kentucky Wildcats. In fact, there were talks of him potentially reclassifying to play this upcoming season, joining the already No. 1 overall class of 2020 group. The prospect has been adamant that it won’t happen, meaning that the fans will have to wait another year.

The reason why Kentucky wanted him to move up is that they have no true center on the projected roster. They lost all of their centers from this past season, including Nick Richards and EJ Montgomery. The Wildcats have multiple power forwards but no true center. And they missed out on Purdue grad transfer Matt Haarms over a week ago.

They are going after a number of bigs from the 2021 class, including Moussa Cisse, Efton Reid among others. It likely won’t have an impact on what Banchero does but one player who may is Kennedy Chandler, a five-star in the 2021 class who are close friends with one another. There’s talk that these two could play together and Kentucky would be an ideal option if that were to happen.

So in a way, what happens on the perimeter could create a domino effect for Banchero. Guards, particularly those who aspire to be lead ball-handlers don’t want to commit to crowded backcourts. And depending on what draft and other decisions are made, Chandler may find another program more alluring. Still, that doesn’t mean that Banchero won’t simply come to Lexington on his own and become another future 1st round draft pick for Coach Calipari.