Recruiting notebook: Five-star center finishes UK visit; new recruiting rankings released

One of the top big man recruiting prospects in the 2024 class has just finished an official visit to Kentucky.

Patrick Ngongba II — a 6-foot-11, 235-pound center from St. Paul VI Catholic High School in Chantilly, Virginia — was in Lexington for a visit over the weekend as his college recruitment nears a decision.

Ngongba, who is ranked as a five-star recruit by the 247Sports Composite and as the No. 25 player nationally in his class by the same service, released a list of his top eight schools over the summer.

Kentucky made the cut, along with Connecticut, Duke, Indiana, Kansas, Kansas State, Michigan and Providence.

While an official scholarship offer from UK didn’t arrive until July 10, Ngongba’s interest in the Wildcats was cemented when they made the cut for his list just one day later.

During his visit to Lexington last weekend, Ngongba spent time with UK assistant coach Chin Coleman as well as former UK star Tyler Ulis, who joined the Cats as a student assistant coach last season.

Ngongba was also on hand for Kentucky football’s dominant home win against Florida.

A breakout prospect following strong performances on the summer travel basketball circuit, Ngongba’s Team Takeover squad won the prestigious Peach Jam tournament to cap the Nike EYBL season in July.

In that championship game win, Ngongba had 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting from the field, along with five rebounds, three assists and two blocks.

With that title-winning summer behind him, Ngongba’s college recruitment is now coming into clear focus.

In addition to UK, he’s already taken visits to Duke and Kansas State, among other schools. The trio of Duke, Kansas State and Kentucky are thought of as the leading schools in his recruitment.

Later this month, Ngongba is scheduled to make return trips to both Duke and K-State.

According to On3’s Joe Tipton in July, Ngongba is expected to make his college commitment sometime before the early signing period in November.

Of key importance in Ngongba’s recruitment by Kentucky is that it already has a big man committed in the 2024 class.

Center Somto Cyril of the Atlanta-based Overtime Elite program picked Kentucky in late June, and Cyril remains the only class of 2024 recruit that has pledged to come to Lexington.

Of course, September marked a major month for Kentucky in terms of trying to expand that 2024 recruiting class.

Prior to Ngongba, the Wildcats hosted guard Boogie Fland and wing Billy Richmond on recruiting visits.

Fland recently announced that Kentucky has made his top three, along with Alabama and Indiana, and a commitment is thought to be coming sooner rather than later for the five-star backcourt player out of New York state.

Kentucky head coach John Calipari (along with several assistant coaches) and Alabama head coach Nate Oats are both visiting Fland this week.

New RSCI rankings released for 2024 recruits

Fland, Ngongba and Richmond were among the players featured recently with the release of new RSCI recruiting rankings for class of 2024 players.

A new edition of the RSCI (Recruiting Services Consensus Index) came out Sunday, with all of the rankings from the nation’s top recruiting services (ESPN, On3, Rivals and 247Sports) combined into one single metric to get a composite of the top 100 players in the 2024 men’s college basketball recruiting class.

The following players with a Kentucky scholarship offer — and who are still considering UK — appear in the rankings:

▪ No. 4: shooting guard Tre Johnson.

▪ No. 6: small forward V.J. Edgecombe.

▪ No. 7: center Jayden Quaintance.

▪ No. 11: small forward Karter Knox.

▪ No. 20: guard Boogie Fland.

▪ No. 24: center Patrick Ngongba.

▪ No. 29: small forward Billy Richmond.

▪ No. 53: center Somto Cyril.

▪ No. 61: small forward Amier Ali.

▪ No. 81: guard Travis Perry.

Small forward Cooper Flagg — who reclassified this summer from the 2025 to the 2024 recruiting group — checked in at No. 1 in the RSCI rankings. Flagg is ranked as the top prospect in the recruiting class by each national recruiting service.

Perry is the lone prospect based in Kentucky to appear in the current RSCI rankings for class of 2024 players.

In the final edition of the 2023 RSCI rankings, five incoming UK players were ranked among the top 33 recruits.

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Kentucky basketball’s only 2024 commit is trying to bring more top recruits to UK

‘Strike the balance.’ Here’s what UK’s Mitch Barnhart thinks of the NCAA transfer portal.

Kentucky men’s basketball making recruiting progress with Boozer twins, Darryn Peterson

Kentucky commit Somto Cyril among biggest standouts at Overtime Elite’s Fall Combine