KU loses out on blue-chip guard TyTy Washington. Here’s who else Jayhawks are chasing

TyTy Washington, a 6-foot-4, 180-pound senior basketball point guard from Compass Prep School in Chandler, Arizona, who listed Kansas as one of his four finalists, has orally committed to play basketball at Kentucky.

Washington, the No. 12-ranked men’s player in the recruiting Class of 2021 by ESPN.com, No. 16 by 247sports.com and No. 32 by Rivals.com, chose John Calipari’s Wildcats over Kansas, Arizona and LSU. Oregon and Baylor aldo were on his list of schools.

“There is a big challenge at Kentucky for playing time and a leadership role. I always liked a challenge.” Washington told Jeff Borzello and Paul Biancardi of ESPN.com.

Washington decommitted from Creighton on March 11 after committing to the Big East school on Nov. 15, 2020. On March 14 he indicated he’d been offered a scholarship by KU. Washington at one time also considered Illinois, Arizona State, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Texas, Pitt and others.

“He’s going to start right away and play high-level minutes,” Compass Prep program director Pete Kaffey told Zagsblog.com.

“He’s going to bring that winning culture. He’s a kid that’s going to get his teammates better, a feverish competitor that is going to step in day one and be impactful,” Kaffey added.

Washington won the three-point contest at the Iverson Classic on Friday in Memphis, then scored a game-high 22-points in a losing cause in the Iverson all-star game on Saturday.

KU, which has added seven players in the recruiting Class of 2021, is still in the market for a point guard.

The Jayhawks are in the running for 5-foot-10, 180-pound Georgia sophomore Sahvir Wheeler, who has a list of KU, Kentucky, LSU and Oklahoma State.

A native of Houston, Wheeler averaged 14.0 points, 7.4 assists, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.7 steals per game while starting 25 of 26 games for the Bulldogs as a sophomore last season. Bryce Hamilton, a 6-4 junior combo guard from UNLV, also has KU on his list of possible transfer destinations.

Other possibilities include Nolan Hickman, a a 6-2 senior from Wasatch Academy in Utah, who recently decommitted from Kentucky as well as 6-0 Arizona State senior Remy Martin, who declared for the NBA Draft and also entered his name in the transfer portal this week.

KU has signed high school point guards Bobby Pettiford and Kyle Cuffe and also has signed Drake sophomore point guard Joseph Yesufu. KU also has signed frontcourt players KJ Adams, Zach Clemence, Cam Martin and Sydney Curry. Dajuan Harris, who played meaningful minutes his redshirt freshman season at KU, is KU’s sole returning point guard off the 2020-21 roster.

KU has one scholarship available in recruiting, more if Ochai Agbaji and/or Jalen Wilson keep their names in the 2021 NBA Draft.