Four Kentucky freshmen named to 2023 Jordan Brand Classic roster

The Kentucky men’s basketball freshmen class has already arrived in Lexington in preparation for the 2023-24 season, but a handful of them are still receiving recognition as the nation’s top high school seniors from this past season.

The Jordan Brand Classic recently announced its 32-man boy’s high school basketball roster for the class of 2023 where four Wildcats made the cut. Five-star SF Justin Edwards (No. 2 overall in the On3 Industry Ranking), five-star C Aaron Bradshaw (No. 4), five-star CG DJ Wagner (No. 7), and four-star PG Robert Dillingham (No. 15) were all announced as part of this year’s Jordan Brand Classic roster.

Since its inception in 2002, the Jordan Brand Classic is connected to an annual All-Star Game, which typically takes place every April. However, the event was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and did not start back up again until 2022 in Chicago. For whatever reason, the game was sidelined in 2023, but the event still made sure to recognize the best of the best.

Edwards, Bradshaw, Wagner, and Dillingham are just four of head coach John Calipari’s seven-man incoming recruiting class. Four-star CG Reed Sheppard (No. 37) was nominated to the McDonald’s All-American Game (as were Edwards, Wagner, and Bradshaw), but he did not receive the Jordan Brand Classic mention.

The other two UK freshmen only recently joined the program as three-star SF Jordan Burks and three-star SG Joey Hart committed and signed with the ‘Cats in just the last week. All seven signees have arrived on UK’s campus since the start of June.

Calipari could still look to add another rookie to the 2023-24 roster, too. Class of 2024 four-star C Somto Cyril recently visited Lexington and is trending towards Kentucky as he looks to wind down his recruitment. The expectation is that Cyril will reclassify to 2023 and enroll this summer with whichever college he chooses, with many believing UK will be the choice.