Several star basketball recruits will be in Kentucky this weekend. Here are five to watch.

The nation’s premier grassroots basketball league is coming to Louisville, and this next stop on the Nike EYBL’s 2022 schedule will feature several of the Kentucky Wildcats’ top recruiting targets.

Games will be played Saturday, Sunday and Monday at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville. Since this event will not fall during one of the NCAA-approved evaluation periods, college coaches won’t be permitted to attend the weekend showcase.

Curious fans in the area, however, can watch the games in person. Tickets can be purchased in advance through Nike, with prices set at $20-25 for single-day passes and $60 for a complete weekend pass.

As usual, most of the top prospects on John Calipari’s recruiting radar are playing Nike ball this spring and summer, with more than a dozen of this weekend’s participants already linked to the Wildcats. Here are five major players to watch, with the latest on each recruitment.

Aaron Bradshaw

Perhaps the best center in a 2023 class that is largely lacking in dominant big men, Aaron Bradshaw is a 7-footer from Camden, N.J., who’s quickly becoming one of the Wildcats’ top targets in the class. Kentucky extended a scholarship offer last month, but Calipari and his coaching staff had seen plenty of Bradshaw before that move. He’s a high school and Nike league teammate of No. 1 overall recruit DJ Wagner (more on him later), and his New Jersey Scholars program is off to a 7-1 start in EYBL play, with UK’s coaches in attendance for most of those games.

Bradshaw has been a major reason for the team’s early success, earning league defensive MVP honors following the first session of games this season and ranking among the EYBL leaders in blocked shots. He recently narrowed his recruitment to seven options: Kentucky, Louisville, Maryland, Michigan, Oklahoma State, UCLA and the G League.

There’s been a lot of buzz in recent weeks that U of L might now be the team to beat for Wagner, but these two recruitments are not intertwined, and Kentucky appears to be in very good shape with Bradshaw, who is expected to visit Lexington in the near future.

He’s the No. 24 overall prospect in the 2023 class, according to the 247Sports composite rankings, though he could be due for a bump up that list at the next update.

Matas Buzelis

An intriguing prospect at 6-10 with guard skills, Matas Buzelis is a Chicago native who plays his high school ball for Brewster Academy (N.H.), alma mater of the late Terrence Clarke. Buzelis also plays for Expressions Elite, which was Clarke’s squad on the Nike circuit, and the rising high school senior has been wowing scouts and analysts with his unique game.

Buzelis took an official visit to Kentucky in December and already holds a scholarship offer from the Wildcats, with Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, Arizona and UCLA among the many others that have already extended offers. Florida State has been mentioned as a possible frontrunner this spring, but there are no predictions yet on Buzelis’ 247Sports Crystal Ball page.

That kind of speculation over his recruitment is likely to heat up soon. Buzelis has tremendous size for a perimeter player and outstanding ball skills for a 6-10 prospect, with the ability to move well away from the basket and a knack for seeing the floor and getting teammates involved. He also shoots with range, and that combination of size and skill has made him one of the top prospects in the 2023 class. He currently ranks No. 6 nationally on the 247Sports composite list.

Robert Dillingham

At one point last fall — after an official visit to Kentucky — it looked like it was only a matter of time before Robert Dillingham would announce a commitment to the Wildcats. Instead, there was a last-minute switch in his process, and the dynamic combo guard from North Carolina ended up committing to N.C. State. That pledge lasted only a few months, and Dillingham is now searching for a new landing spot, with UK’s coaching staff making it clear in recent weeks that they still consider him a major target.

Dillingham is arguably the most gifted perimeter scorer in the entire 2023 class, and UK is looking to add at least one more five-star guard to complement lone commitment Reed Sheppard in its incoming group. It’s been a little more than two months since Dillingham — a 6-2 combo guard — backed off of that N.C. State pledge, and there was little clarity on his recruitment in the immediate aftermath of that decision. However, 247Sports analyst Travis Branham logged a Crystal Ball prediction in favor of Kentucky on Wednesday, and it’s sounding like some good news could be coming UK’s way in the next few weeks.

Justin Edwards

Earlier in his high school career, Philadelphia-area star Justin Edwards referred to Kentucky as his “dream school,” and there was a thinking in recruiting circles that a scholarship offer from the Wildcats might lead to a commitment in relatively quick order. The Cats are still among the top choices on Edwards’ list — they hosted him for an official visit last fall and offered during that trip — but league rival Tennessee has emerged in recent weeks as a possible team to beat.

Still, it’s worth keeping an eye on Edwards, a 6-7 wing widely viewed as a can’t-miss player at the college level. He’s a high-floor prospect who takes a particular interest in the defensive side of the game, a trait Calipari is always looking for with high-end recruits. Immediately following the April evaluation periods, Calipari and the entire Kentucky coaching staff traveled to Philly to meet with Edwards and his family amid the rumors that the Vols had jumped to the top of his recruitment, a sure sign that the versatile wing still holds a top spot on UK’s recruiting board. Edwards plays his Nike ball for Team Final and is the No. 10 overall prospect in the 2023 class, according to the 247Sports composite rankings.

DJ Wagner

You can’t talk about high school basketball these days — especially in these parts — without discussing DJ Wagner, a 6-3 combo guard from Camden, N.J., who has long been considered the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2023 class.

Wagner was on Kentucky’s recruiting radar before he even played his first high school game, thanks in large part to his family connection to the Wildcats’ program. His father, Dajuan Wagner, was a star player for Calipari at Memphis more than two decades ago and remains close to the UK coach. His stepbrother, Kareem Watkins, is entering his third year as a Kentucky walk-on.

Obviously, Louisville has a connection here, too, with grandfather Milt Wagner being a star player for the Cardinals and earlier this week rejoining the program in a staff position under new head coach Kenny Payne, another longtime friend of the Wagner family. That move had been expected for months, and there have been several pro-Louisville predictions from recruiting experts in the weeks leading up to the announcement.

It’s true that Calipari remains confident Wagner will ultimately end up at Kentucky. It’s also true that Calipari has been wrong about UK’s standing in a few high-profile recruitments under similar circumstances in the recent past. As of now, the general consensus outside of Lexington is that U of L will be the most likely landing spot for Wagner, but Calipari and company clearly won’t be giving up on this recruitment without a major fight. And the Cats certainly aren’t out of it yet.

Others to watch

This weekend’s Nike event will also feature a few other prospects with Kentucky scholarship offers, some additional players who are on UK’s radar, and no doubt some recruits who will eventually work their way onto the Wildcats’ board.

Class of 2023 prospects Kwame Evans Jr. (Team Durant) and JJ Taylor (Mac Irvin Fire) are both top-10 national prospects with early UK offers. Naas Cunningham (New York Rens) is the consensus No. 1 player in the 2024 class, and he’s already been a focus of Kentucky’s coaches. Texas shooting guard Tre Johnson (Team Griffin) is also on UK’s radar, along with fellow 2024 star Karter Knox (Florida Rebels), an early top-10 recruit and the younger brother of Kevin Knox.

Another Texas native, 2023 forward Ron Holland (Drive Nation), has made plans to visit Lexington next month, and he’s expected to land a UK offer during that trip. The Cats have also shown some recent interest in 2023 forward Milan Momcilovic, who plays for a Nike team affiliated with former UK star Tyler Herro.

There will no doubt be a few future Kentucky Wildcats on the courts in Louisville this weekend. It’ll just be a matter of who those players will be, and when they’ll be ready to make their college decisions.

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