Getty Image / Wesley Hitt
The college basketball world was upended earlier this month when longtime Kentucky Head Coach John Calipari left Lexington to become the new head coach at Arkansas. He replaced Eric Musselman, who moved on to USC.
As always, Kentucky had a great recruiting class coming in prior to John Calipari leaving the Wildcats. Now, he’s flipped a big-time Kentucky recruit to follow him to Fayetteville for the upcoming 2024-2025 season.
KARTER KNOX HAS FOUND HIS HOME 🚨 @thekarterknox pic.twitter.com/SnK3drr1jN
— Overtime Elite (@OvertimeElite) April 22, 2024
“The last two weeks, I’ve spent time with my family to figure out my next steps. I’ve decided to commit to the University of Arkansas and play for Coach Calipari. Throughout my whole recruiting process, Coach Cal always said he wants to make me a pro, and I trust that he will do that for me at Arkansas. I also have a great relationship with KP, so getting to play for two coaches I admire is a dream come true. I’m looking forward to getting there, getting to work and bringing a championship to Fayetteville,” he said.
This is huge get for John Calipari. Knox is an electric scorer with great size at 6-foot-6, 211lb.
Karter Knox is the first player in Nike EYBL history to lead the 15U, 16U and 17U age-groups in per-minute scoring in three consecutive summers. He made 80 3s in 30 games this season with OTE, averaging 22 points per game. https://t.co/k3VPxeVHDq pic.twitter.com/ePDD1gG6oc
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) April 22, 2024
Calipari inherited a team that didn’t have a single scholarship player coming back. He recently got Zvonimir Ivisic, a center that played for Coach Cal at Kentucky last year, to commit to Arkansas out of the portal. And, former Kentucky commits Jayden Quaintance, Boogie Fland, Billy Richmond and Simoto Cyril have backed off their Kentucky commits and could join John Calipari in Fayetteville.
He’s going to have to add quite a few more top-tier players to put out a competitive team in the SEC next year. But, Karter Knox is part of a good start to that effort.