Cats earn second commitment in five-star Washington

John+Calipari+looks+towards+the+bench+during+Big+Blue+Madness+on+Friday%2C+October+14%2C+2016+in+Lexington%2C+Ky.

John Calipari looks towards the bench during Big Blue Madness on Friday, October 14, 2016 in Lexington, Ky.

Kernel Sports Staff
November 10, 2016

UK men’s basketball secured its second commitment for the 2017 class on signing day Thursday with the announcement from five-star forward P.J. Washington, moving into the top 10 in national recruiting class ranking at No. 5, per ESPN.

 

Washington joins fellow five-star Nick Richards as the first two commitments for Calipari’s 2017 class, giving UK two quality frontcourt pieces to build off of. 

Washington, a 6’8” power forward from Dallas, Texas, is listed as the 15th best prospect in the nation by 247Sports, and a consensus five-star by all other recruiting sites. 

Washington chose UK over North Carolina, UNLV and Texas. He took an unofficial visit to UK for Big Blue Madness and followed that up with a visit to UK’s practice the next week. 

The last Dallas-native commit for the Cats came from another power forward in Julius Randle. Randle helped lead UK to a national runner up finish in 2014, before being drafted by the Lakers in the top ten in the proceeding NBA Draft.