Acaden Lewis previews commitment with recruiting roundtable

It’s not often you get the chance to pick the brain of a high-profile recruit ahead of his college decision. Acaden Lewis opened his doors to ESPN to do just that, though, the top-30 prospect documenting the process of weighing the pros and cons of each finalist and coming up with a choice.

Lewis, who is down to Kentucky, Duke and UConn with a commitment scheduled for November 2, talked through all three official visits, the roster makeup and coaching staffs with his parents on camera.

“Putting stuff in the air always helps, some of the things you don’t like and some of the things you do like about each school,” Lewis said in the 13-minute clip. “You think about different stuff — my dad had some questions, my mom had some questions that you don’t really think about. Even like dorms and stuff, I didn’t really think about that, because it’s not too important to me. It’s just something else that went into the equation. I already started to get a feel for where I think I’m gonna end up, but conversations always help.”

First up? The coaches and their wives, Mark and Lee Anne Pope an early topic for the Lewis family.

“She’s very protective, Coach Pope’s wife, over the boys,” Lewis’ mother, Farrah Flosscett, said. “She made a point to tell me she’s kindly threatened people in a laughing way. I was like, ‘Oh, I like her. She’s spunky.'”

“Pope, him and his wife make sense,” Lewis responded. “You can see why they’re together — spunky is a cool word for them, I guess.”

As for potential concerns, Lewis singled out the Duke roster as one with moving parts up in the air while he has a solid feel for where things stand with Kentucky. All he needs is for Mark Pope to be as good a coach as he seems to be.

“Kentucky, it’s just kinda like you’re betting on Pope. I’ll be there his second year, he’ll be losing his whole starting five — plus the sixth and seventh man. So you’re betting on him being a great coach and being basketball smart,” Lewis said. “… I’ve talked to him, I think he only wants four freshmen. They’re bringing back five returners, so it’ll be four freshmen and five returners. Then they’ll get three from the portal, so only a third of the team is going to be freshmen. How young the team is wouldn’t really be a problem, it would actually be a majority older team with five guys coming back from last year.

And then the best quote of the video: Lewis singling out Kentucky as the best visit among remaining finalists.

“Pure visit — no background info, just looking at it — it was definitely Kentucky,” he said. “You can’t beat what they were doing.”

Should he commit to Kentucky, who is he pushing to join him? That’s an easy one.

“Caleb Wilson, that’s who I’m gonna go after,” he said.

Music to Big Blue Nation’s ears.

Take a look at the complete sit-down with ESPN below:

Will Acaden Lewis pick the Cats? We’ll find out Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.