{"id":78148,"date":"2024-05-21T14:06:30","date_gmt":"2024-05-21T18:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=78148"},"modified":"2024-05-21T14:06:30","modified_gmt":"2024-05-21T18:06:30","slug":"kentucky-basketball-in-the-mix-for-a-highly-touted-transfer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/21\/kentucky-basketball-in-the-mix-for-a-highly-touted-transfer\/","title":{"rendered":"Kentucky Basketball in the Mix for a Highly Touted Transfer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>North Florida transfer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/chaz-lanier-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chaz Lanier<\/a> is in Lexington today on his official visit to Kentucky. Lanier is an elite talent and is the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/transfer-portal\/industry\/basketball\/2024\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">second-best uncommitted player<\/a> in the transfer portal. Lanier offers a lot to the Wildcats and can help new coach Mark Pope bring Kentucky Basketball back to its full potential.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Pretty big day for Kentucky in its pursuit of perhaps the most important piece of the roster. Coveted North Florida transfer Chaz Lanier visiting UK between visits to BYU and Tennessee. <\/p>\n<p>Averaged 19.7 ppg, 4.8 rpg, shot 44% from 3 with 106 makes last season. A bucket.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_ATH) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KyleTucker_ATH\/status\/1792559263144874415?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 20, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Kentucky Basketball in the Mix for a Highly Touted Transfer<\/h2>\n<p>After an underwhelming first three seasons at North Florida, Lanier exploded for 19.7 points per game last season and nearly had 50\/40\/90 shooting splits. He shot an unbelievable 44% from three on 7.5 attempts per game. He is also an incredible athlete and defender. Upon entering the portal, he was immediately coveted by the nation&#8217;s best programs. Kentucky is one of the teams that has appeared to have a legitimate shot at landing his services.<\/p>\n<p>The Wildcats have landed some incredible players from the portal so far. This includes a few elite guards like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/koby-brea-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Koby Brea<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/kerr-kriisa-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kerr Kriisa<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/lamont-butler-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lamont Butler<\/a>. But, it appears Mark Pope wants another lead guard. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/26\/johnell-davis-choosing-between-two-sec-schools\/\" target=\"_self\">Kentucky and Arkansas were competing<\/a> for the services of FAU transfer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/johnell-davis-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Johnell Davis<\/a> before he decided to head to Fayetteville. This left his spot open, which Pope now wants to use on Lanier. Despite this, bringing a ball-dominant guard into an already crowded backcourt is still a tough sell. If Pope can convince Lanier to come to Lexington, Kentucky will start the season as one of the title favorites.<\/p>\n<h3>Other Teams Interested In Lanier<\/h3>\n<h4>Tennessee<\/h4>\n<p>Kentucky Basketball&#8217;s biggest rival, Tennessee, is the biggest threat for Lanier at this point. Lanier is a Nashville native and was linked to the Vols before he even entered the portal. Rick Barnes is looking to find his next <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/dalton-knecht-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dalton Knecht<\/a> with Lanier. Both players have similar skill sets, they are highly athletic guards who can also hit threes at an efficient clip. Tennessee also offers a much better situation than Kentucky. The Vols have not been nearly as active in the transfer portal, so the backcourt in Knoxville is a bit less crowded. With that being said, Kentucky is still a blue blood and will definitely play a factor in this recruitment.<\/p>\n<h4>BYU<\/h4>\n<p>Another school in the mix for Lanier is BYU. This won&#8217;t be the first time BYU and Kentucky are linked together this offseason as current Kentucky head coach Mark Pope coached at BYU for the last 5 years. After Pope&#8217;s departure, BYU&#8217;s roster took a tremendous hit with six players entering the portal. If Lanier were to go here, he would be the star of the team. However, BYU seems like a long shot in this recruitment.<\/p>\n<h3>Where Will Lanier End Up?<\/h3>\n<p>At this point, it appears to be a Kentucky and Tennessee battle. While other schools could always enter, it seems unlikely at this stage. After he visits Kentucky today, Lanier will be visiting Tennessee soon. There will likely be a decision soon after. It is believed that Tennessee is the current frontrunner in this recruitment. The Vols have been in on Lanier for a while and the hometown sell is helpful. But, never count out Kentucky, especially in the NIL era.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>North Florida transfer Chaz Lanier is in Lexington today on his official visit to Kentucky. Lanier is an elite talent and is the second-best uncommitted player in the transfer portal. Lanier offers a lot to the Wildcats and can help new coach Mark Pope bring Kentucky Basketball back to its full potential. Pretty big day [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4878,"featured_media":78292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[773,2,3],"tags":[2792,776,50027,1763],"class_list":["post-78148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-basketball","category-featured","category-news","tag-byu-cougars","tag-kentucky-wildcats","tag-ncaa-transfer-portal","tag-tennessee-volunteers"],"modified_by":"Andy Grutkowski","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4878"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}