Live updates: Kentucky basketball begins recruiting period by visiting Bradshaw, Wagner

Starting Friday, the NCAA Division I men’s basketball recruiting calendar shifted from a quiet period to a recruiting period.

A quiet period is defined as a “period of time when it is permissible to make in-person recruiting contacts only on the member institution’s campus. No in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts or evaluations may be made.”

A recruiting period is defined as when “authorized athletics department staff may make in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts and evaluations.”

What does this mean?

This means the likes of John Calipari — along with associate to the head coach Bruiser Flint and assistant coaches Orlando Antigua, Chin Coleman and K.T. Turner — are expected to make plenty of visits in the coming days to Kentucky’s biggest recruiting targets in upcoming classes.

Below is an updating tracker of where Kentucky’s coaching staff has been spotted since the recruiting period began Friday, and which players UK has visited.

Tracker lists the most recent visits by the UK coaching staff at the top

Kentucky to visit Dink Pate next week

Saturday 2:22 p.m.

Class of 2024 four-star shooting guard Dink Pate is expected to be visited by a litany of college basketball programs next week, including Kentucky.

According to Stockrisers, Pate will be visited by coaches from schools like Houston, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky and Texas next week, among plenty of others.

Pate is ranked as the No. 32 overall player in the Class of 2024 by the 247Sports Composite and is ranked as the No. 9 shooting guard in the class.

Pate is another Texas-based recruit that should be the focus of new Kentucky assistant coach K.T. Turner, who has plenty of recruiting ties to Texas.

Kentucky expected to visit Asa Newell

Saturday 10:26 a.m.

Kentucky is expected to visit another promising future prospect who doesn’t yet hold a scholarship offer from the Wildcats.

Four-star power forward Asa Newell — a class of 2024 player from Florida’s Montverde Academy — is expected to be visited by UK staff members next week, according to On3’s Joe Tipton.

Newell (6-9, 205 pounds) holds offers from a host of high-major programs including Arkansas, Illinois and Indiana.

Newell is ranked as the No. 34 player overall in the class of 2024 by the 247Sports Composite and the No. 5 power forward in the class.

Newell was one of a host of Kentucky recruits to win a gold medal this summer playing with the United States at the FIBA Under-17 World Cup in Spain, an event John Calipari watched in person.

Kentucky to visit a pair of in-state recruits from same school

Friday 5:36 p.m.

Kentucky is keeping tabs on a pair of class of 2026 recruits from the same Kentucky high school, and the Wildcats are set to visit them both later this month.

Class of 2026 small forward Jordan Bender and forward Sam Mbingazo both attend DeSales High School in Louisville, and UK is expected to watch both players work out sometime in September.

Several other high major programs are also expected to visit the duo, including Michigan, Florida and Indiana.

Kentucky set to visit several top recruits next week

Friday 4:48 p.m.

There will be plenty of time this recruiting period for John Calipari and others to make their priorities known when it comes to future UK recruiting classes, but nothing beats being first. UK has lined up several recruits to visit next week, the first full week of the recruiting period.

According to Jake Weingarten of Stockrisers, Kentucky will be visiting the following recruits next week: Ian Jackson and Karter Knox.

Jackson is a five-star shooting guard ranked as the No. 2 player overall in the class of 2024 and the No. 1 shooting guard in the class by the 247Sports Composite.

Jackson is a reclassification candidate to move into the class of 2023, but Jackson told the Herald-Leader last month he would would make the reclassification decision after his upcoming high school season.

He received a Kentucky scholarship offer in June.

Knox (the younger brother of former UK player Kevin Knox) is a five-star small forward ranked as the No. 9 player overall in the class of 2024 and the No. 4 small forward in the class by the 247Sports Composite.

Knox also received a scholarship offer from Kentucky in June.

Additionally, Weingarten has reported Kentucky will visit class of 2026 prospect Jayden Johnson sometime in September.

Johnson, who doesn’t have a Kentucky scholarship offer, is a shooting guard and an in-state recruit from Louisville who attends Trinity High School.

Kentucky expected to visit combo guard from New Jersey

Friday 12:32 p.m.

While John Calipari has started in New Jersey to begin the recruiting period with Aaron Bradshaw and DJ Wagner in mind, Kentucky is also planning to visit a player who doesn’t yet hold a scholarship offer from the Wildcats.

Pro Insight Basketball Director of Scouting Andrew Slater tweeted that Kentucky is one of the schools planning to visit Dylan Harper, a class of 2024 combo guard.

Harper plays high school basketball for the prestigious Don Bosco Prep program in Ramsey, New Jersey, and for the NY Renaissance on the Nike EYBL circuit.

Slater reported that UCLA, Duke, Michigan, Indiana and Kansas are other programs, along with Kentucky, expected to watch Harper at open gyms.

Harper is currently ranked as the No. 27 player overall in the class of 2024 according to the 247Sports Composite, and the No. 2 combo guard in the class.

Harper is one of several recruits in the region that Kentucky is expected to visit to begin the recruiting period.

Harper is the younger brother of former Rutgers star Ron Harper Jr., now in the NBA with the Toronto Raptors.

Calipari tweets that he’s in New Jersey

Friday 9:47 a.m.

Over the years, John Calipari has developed a habit of leaving breadcrumbs on social media during recruiting trips, and that habit held true Friday morning.

Calipari tweeted “Up in the northeast getting ready to hit the recruiting trail and I visited one of my all-time favorite spas today, Exhale AC. Great spot and exceptional service!! Easy to see why it’s ranked as one of the best spas in the country!!”

Exhale AC is located in the Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey, which places Calipari just an hour drive from Camden, New Jersey, the home base for a pair of prized class of 2023 recruits in Aaron Bradshaw and DJ Wagner.

247Sports analyst Travis Branham has reported that Calipari will make his first visit of the recruiting period to Camden High School to visit with Bradshaw and Wagner.

By starting his visits for this recruiting period in this part of the country, Calipari has positioned himself to visit plenty of top Kentucky recruiting targets in the class of 2023 and class of 2024.

Boogie Fland, Ian Jackson, Justin Edwards (already a UK commit) and Tahaad Pettiford are some of the players based in the area that Calipari can easily visit from a geographical standpoint.