Big Blue Madness is back. Here are the basketball recruits who will be visiting Kentucky.

One of the biggest days on the Kentucky men’s basketball calendar is here.

And it’s also one of the biggest days from a recruiting perspective for the Wildcats.

Big Blue Madness — the kickoff event to the 2023-24 UK men’s and women’s basketball seasons — will take place Friday night in Rupp Arena.

While the on-court focus will be on UK’s top-ranked recruiting class on the men’s side, as well as experienced players Tre Mitchell and Antonio Reeves and the long-awaited arrival of Zvonimir Ivišić, there will also be plenty of intrigue in the Rupp Arena stands.

Some potential future Wildcats will be on hand, as Big Blue Madness always functions as a key opportunity for Kentucky to bring some of their most coveted recruits to Lexington.

While this list can still fluctuate, here’s a look at some of the recruits currently set to be inside Rupp Arena for Big Blue Madness, and where their recruitments stand with UK.

Some of the other players reportedly coming to Big Blue Madness include class of 2024 small forward Billy Richmond (who recently included UK in his top four schools), class of 2024 center Malachi Moreno (who plays at Great Crossing High School in Georgetown) and class of 2026 backcourt prospects Jayden Johnson (who plays at Trinity High School in Louisville) and Tay Kinney (who plays at Newport High School in Newport).

Travis Perry

The all-time leading scorer in Kentucky high school boys basketball history will be returning to the spot where he broke one of the state’s most prestigious sporting records.

In March, class of 2024 point guard Travis Perry broke “King” Kelly Coleman’s all-time scoring mark. Perry did so while playing for Lyon County High School in its first game of the 2023 Boys’ Sweet 16 state basketball tournament.

While Lyon County ultimately lost in the tournament quarterfinals, Perry was cemented as a commonwealth sports legend, and he did so with his senior season still to go.

To this point, Perry seems ready to finalize his college recruitment before his senior season starts at Lyon County.

One of the final pieces of this recruitment puzzle for Perry will be a visit to Kentucky for Big Blue Madness. Perry intends to make his college commitment prior to the early signing period, which begins Nov. 8.

September was a particularly busy month for Perry on the recruiting front, with visits taken to Purdue, Missouri and Ole Miss. He’s also planning to visit Cincinnati and Michigan before making his college choice.

In addition to his visit to Lexington for Big Blue Madness, Perry has been a visitor to several UK men’s basketball practices.

The 6-foot-2 Perry is ranked by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 76 overall player in the 2024 class.

Darius Acuff

One of Kentucky’s top recruits for 2025, Acuff is ranked by the 247Sports Composite as a five-star prospect and the No. 11 overall player in his class.

He recently made a major change in his basketball trajectory: Acuff transferred this summer from Cass Tech High School in Detroit to IMG Academy in Florida.

Acuff’s visit to Kentucky will be an official visit, making it even more important for the Wildcats to make a good impression on the 6-2 guard.

Most of the recruiting world took notice of Acuff when he played up an age level this past summer on the Nike EYBL circuit, and he figures to be a decent case study in UK head coach John Calipari’s newfound recruiting approach: Acuff picked up a Kentucky scholarship offer in April 2023, when he was still a high school sophomore.

Acuff was one of a select few players spanning the 2024 through the 2027 recruiting classes who spent last weekend participating in a USA Basketball junior national team minicamp in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The Herald-Leader attended the minicamp and spoke with Acuff about his upcoming visit to Big Blue Madness and his recruitment by the Wildcats.

“They’re talking about the next level,” Acuff told the Herald-Leader about Kentucky’s messaging to him.

“I just want to learn about college more, like practices and all of that. I just want to go down there and get the college experience. Hopefully it will be great.”

Acuff has already taken an official visit to Michigan and has an official visit to Rutgers set for February.

Darryn Peterson

In August 2022, Darryn Peterson became the first class of 2025 prospect to earn a scholarship offer from Kentucky.

A 6-5 shooting guard, Peterson is a consensus five-star recruit and is ranked as the No. 3 overall recruit in the 2025 class, according to the 247Sports Composite.

Peterson’s visit to Big Blue Madness is expected to be an unofficial visit.

This Big Blue Madness visit for Peterson will come just a few weeks after he took the next step in his college recruitment.

Peterson released a list of his top 16 schools last month, with Louisville and UK both making the cut, among others.

Peterson is also another top college basketball prospect who shifted high schools over the summer.

He transferred from Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy in Ohio to Huntington Prep in West Virginia, which counts Andrew Wiggins (Kansas), Thomas Bryant (Indiana) and Keldon Johnson (Kentucky) among its alums.

Huntington Prep is also just a two-hour drive from Lexington.

Caleb Wilson

Another class of 2025 recruit set to be in Lexington on Friday night is Caleb Wilson, a 6-foot-10 forward who is ranked as the No. 5 overall player in the 2025 class by the 247Sports Composite.

Wilson picked up a scholarship offer from Kentucky in June, and is on a run of recruiting visits.

After already taking unofficial visits to Alabama and Tennessee, Wilson will follow his Big Blue Madness stay with official visits to both Auburn and Stanford later in October.

Wilson earned a scholarship offer from UK in June and the Herald-Leader got an up-close look at the Atlanta-based prospect when the city hosted the Under Armour Next Elite 24 event this summer.

“I describe myself as a playmaker, I like to make the right play, make winning plays, get my team a win, which is really my best skill,” Wilson told the Herald-Leader. “I’m a good passer, a good facilitator and I get guys open.”

Wilson — who is not expected to cut his list of schools until the spring — also impressed at last weekend’s USA Basketball junior national team camp.

Jasper Johnson

Perhaps the most anticipated visitor for Big Blue Madness is Jasper Johnson, the former in-state standout at Woodford County High School.

Johnson — a class of 2025 guard who checks in as the No. 13 overall recruit in the 2025 class according to the 247Sports Composite — led the Yellow Jackets to the semifinals of this year’s Sweet 16 state tournament.

But Woodford County’s state semifinal loss would prove to be Johnson’s final game with the Yellow Jackets.

He made the move over the summer to Link Academy, a top prep school in Missouri that won the 2023 GEICO Nationals championship in April.

This put Johnson on the same team with the likes of Tre Johnson (a five-star recruit in the 2024 class who recently dropped UK from consideration) and Labaron Philon (a class of 2024 Kansas commit).

Jasper Johnson was another player who performed well last weekend at the USA Basketball camp in Colorado, and he spoke extensively with the Herald-Leader while there about his development as a basketball player and his recruitment.

“Definitely the level of competition, each and every day. ... Practice, that was one of the big pushes for me to go to Link,” Johnson told the Herald-Leader about his decision to go the prep school route.

Another reason for excitement with Johnson is his preexisting ties to the Wildcats.

Johnson’s father is Dennis Johnson, the former Harrodsburg, UK and NFL football player who serves as the head football coach and athletics director at Woodford County.

Given this, as well as his close proximity to Lexington, Johnson has made plenty of trips to Rupp Arena in the past.

“Coach Orlando (Antigua), he’s been looking at me since I was at Woodford,” Johnson said, adding that both Antigua, the UK associate coach, and Calipari recently came to Link Academy to visit him.

“They text me every day talking about different things, sending me different clips of different offensive positions and stuff that they would see me playing. They’re definitely making a push.”

Gabe Weis

Weis is likely to become a prominent basketball name in the commonwealth in just a few years’ time.

A class of 2026 recruit from Washington County High School in Springfield, Weis blew up on the Adidas 3SSB circuit this summer.

His strong showing playing grassroots basketball landed him an impressive array of scholarship offers, including Cincinnati, Illinois, LSU and Texas A&M.

The 6-foot-7 Weis will break into the class of 2026 recruiting rankings for major services when those are next updated.

Weis has also been in recently to watch Kentucky practice. He does not yet hold a UK scholarship offer.

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