John Calipari coached his dad at Memphis. Now, 2024 recruit will be a Kentucky Wildcat.

For the third straight recruiting cycle, John Calipari has gotten a commitment from the son of a player he coached at Memphis.

Following Adou Thiero in 2022 and D.J. Wagner in 2023, the Kentucky head coach has done it again.

On Thursday afternoon, UK men’s basketball received a commitment from class of 2024 wing Billy Richmond.

His commitment to the Cats came just hours before Kentucky was to tip off its annual rivalry game against Louisville, another program that had extended a scholarship offer to Richmond.

A 6-foot-5 prospect who is ranked by the Recruiting Services Consensus Index (RSCI) — which combines the rankings from the nation’s top recruiting services into one single metric — as the No. 29 overall player in the 2024 recruiting class, Richmond committed to UK from a small list of final college options that also included Alabama, LSU and Memphis.

In an interview with NBA insider Shams Charania, Richmond made his choice to come to Lexington.

“The reason I picked Kentucky is (a) great coaching staff. Calipari always keeps it real with me,” Richmond said. “That’s a big reason.”

The addition of Richmond boosts Kentucky’s 2024 recruiting class to five players: Richmond joins guards Boogie Fland and Travis Perry and centers Somto Cyril and Jayden Quaintance as incoming Wildcats for next season.

Fland, Perry, Cyril and Quaintance have all signed to play at UK next season. Richmond won’t get the chance to sign his national letter of intent to join Kentucky until April.

Richmond’s father, Billy Richmond Jr., played for Calipari at Memphis in the early 2000, after transferring to the Tigers’ program from Vanderbilt. The elder Richmond was dismissed from the Memphis team, but he remains in the city as the founder and CEO of The Wing Guru, a popular burger and wings restaurant chain.

There also doesn’t appear to be any hard feelings between Richmond and Calipari: According to The Commercial Appeal, Calipari has ordered postgame food from the restaurant for his UK teams before.

After Thiero and Wagner followed in their father’s footsteps as college players under Calipari, Richmond is set to become another.

Originally from Memphis, Richmond has played his junior and senior high school seasons at Camden (New Jersey) High School. This is the same high school that produced current Wildcats Aaron Bradshaw and the aforementioned Wagner.

Richmond was high school teammates with Bradshaw and Wagner last season, and the trio all dazzled in front of a capacity Central Kentucky crowd in February 2023 when Camden played a showcase game at the William Exum Center on the campus of Kentucky State University in Frankfort.

Richmond told Charania that this connection played a 25% role in his choice to commit to UK.

“I talked to them a little bit. I asked them how their experience (has been) going to Kentucky right now,” Richmond said. “They let me know the little things and the big things. So, it played kind of a part.”

UK offered a scholarship to Richmond — who also plays for the same Nike EYBL program, NJ Scholars, that both Bradshaw and Wagner did — in late December 2022.

That scholarship offer arrived for Richmond just before last season’s rivalry meeting between UK and U of L.

“It’s been a great experience,” Richmond said in February of his life following that UK scholarship offer. “(They) just tell me to keep working hard, because if I keep working hard, they’ll be more in touch. I just want to show them why they offered me.”

Richmond took an unofficial visit to UK in February and an official visit to Lexington in September. He was also on hand for Big Blue Madness in October.

Richmond told Charania he wants to focus on being a big guard, as well as his off-ball offensive game and keeping his motor high.

UK now has five commits in 2024 class

According to the RSCI, the Cats now have commitments from the players ranked No. 7 (Quaintance), No. 20 (Fland), No. 29 (Richmond), No. 53 (Cyril) and No. 81 (Perry) in the 2024 recruiting group.

These players also span all positions on the court, from lead ball handler to interior big man.

The quartet of Quaintance, Fland, Cyril and Perry have all signed their national letters of intent to play at UK: The school officially announced all four players as signees during the November early signing period.

Kentucky has the second-best team recruiting class for 2024, according to 247Sports. Only Duke’s class — which also features five commits, including generational talent Cooper Flagg — ranks above UK’s.

Richmond is rated by 247Sports as a four-star prospect, but the 247Sports Composite has Richmond ranked as a five-star recruit.

There’s also still a chance that Kentucky further adds to its 2024 recruiting group.

UK is one of the final four post-high school playing options for small forward Karter Knox, whose older brother, Kevin, was a one-and-done star with the Wildcats. Knox is still considering Kentucky, Louisville, South Florida and the NBA’s G-League Ignite.

Last weekend, Knox took an official visit to Louisville.

Knox is playing his final prep school season at Overtime Elite in Atlanta, where he’s teammates with Cyril, who is continuing to recruit Knox to Lexington.

UK is also still being considered by five-star shooting guard V.J. Edgecombe, who took an official visit to Kentucky in late October.

Recently, Edgecombe said that he is “leaning one way” in his recruitment, with Duke and Kentucky thought to be the leading schools.

Knox and Edgecombe are the only two players in the class of 2024 with a UK scholarship offer yet to commit or sign with a school.

John Calipari talks Somto Cyril, Boogie Fland after 2024 recruits sign with UK basketball

Why did Travis Perry commit to Kentucky basketball? ‘That dream is always there.’

What does Travis Perry’s surprise commitment mean for UK? ‘He makes his teammates better.’

What will elite center Jayden Quaintance bring to Kentucky after committing to the Wildcats?

Kentucky basketball lands commitment from top-10 national prospect out of North Carolina