Nation’s No. 1 shooting guard visiting Kentucky. Do the Cats have a chance?

The nation’s No. 1 shooting guard recruit is scheduled to be on Kentucky’s campus soon for his first trip to Lexington amid an understandably ultra-competitive battle for his college commitment.

Keyonte George — a 6-foot-4 prospect from Lewisville, Texas — established himself as one of the top offensive players in the class of 2022 early in the recruiting process, and he has continued to live up to that standing over the past few months, as the grassroots basketball circuits have returned to normal and scouts and analysts have had better chances to see the nation’s top stars play against each other.

In that 2022 class, few pack the offensive punch that George does.

“I think he’s getting to the point now where the high school game is starting to get a little bit easy for him. You can just tell in the way he’s able to score,” 247Sports analyst Brandon Jenkins told the Herald-Leader. “His scoring touch is probably as elite as any prospect in the country. You can just tell that his confidence is at another level — he’s carrying himself in a more confident light, and that kind of started last summer.

“But it’s continued, and he’s just understanding his worth and playing within himself, and it’s fun to watch.”

George is coming off his first season for iSchool of Lewisville — a program that played a national schedule — and he averaged 23.8 points per game in that junior campaign. The scoring outbursts haven’t slowed this spring and summer.

Jenkins named George the most valuable player of a major Memorial Day showcase in Texas late last month. 247Sports colleague Eric Bossi wrote that George impressed NBA scouts at the recent Pangos All-American Camp, perhaps the most star-studded event so far this summer.

Rivals.com bumped George up to the No. 5 spot in its recent 2022 rankings update. ESPN has him in the same position. He’s No. 6 in the 247Sports composite rankings. No other player designated as a shooting guard is within 20 spots of him there.

George can light it up from long range and get to the basket with the best of them. He can also change speeds effectively with the ball in his hands and settle into an offense to bring out more from the players around him.

“Yeah, he can score it anytime he wants, but if the opportunity presents itself, he is not afraid to make the right basketball play,” Jenkins said. “I think the reason that schools are attracted to him is — yeah, he does have that scorer’s mentality — but he also looks to play the game the right way. He’s a terrific open-court passer, a terrific passer in the halfcourt.

“He’s a player that other great players would enjoy playing with, and I think that’s why he brings so much value to each of the schools listed in his top five.”

.@Keyontekg1 putting on a SHOW at @PangosAACamp! pic.twitter.com/dAXWfbkihf

— Who's Next (@WhosNextHS) June 8, 2021

Keyonte George to Kentucky?

Going into the summer, that top five consists of Kentucky, Baylor, Kansas, Oklahoma State and Texas, and George isn’t wasting any time getting a better feel for his recruitment.

The NCAA lifted its “dead period” on recruiting travel June 1, and George has been among the most active stars in the 2022 class since then.

He was on Texas’ campus just a couple of days after the new travel period opened. He spent a few days at Baylor last week. An official visit to Kentucky was originally scheduled to begin Monday, though George is not yet in town and there’s no set day for his arrival (as of Monday night). Instead, he showed up at Kansas for an official visit there starting Monday. He is still expecting to visit Lexington soon, however, and an Oklahoma State trip is also likely to come in the near future.

Going into this past high school season, the buzz in recruiting circles — especially around Texas — was that George was leaning toward the professional route as the next step in his basketball journey. “I think the kid has his mind focused on college,” Jenkins said this week, adding that the preps-to-pros option had died down considerably in the discussion surrounding George’s recruitment, with those around him expecting him to play college basketball next season.

Unfortunately for Kentucky, there’s a different favorite heading into these June visits.

“If I was a betting man, I would definitely choose Texas, as of now,” Jenkins said.

Thanks to Coach Beard and the @TexasMBB staff for having me on my first official visit #hookem #notcommitted pic.twitter.com/EGMdcmrZ6o

— UNO (@Keyontekg1) June 5, 2021

247Sports analyst Travis Branham, who also covers recruiting nationally for the website, logged a Crystal Ball prediction in favor of the Longhorns last week. Rivals.com national analyst Rob Cassidy told the Herald-Leader earlier this month that he would give the edge to Texas in George’s recruitment. A few days after that, he put in a pro-Longhorns pick on the star guard’s Rivals Future Cast page.

The new Texas coaching staff has had George pegged as a major recruiting priority going back to their tenure at Texas Tech. Ulric Maligi was the first coach to express interest in George, and that came when he was still at Texas A&M. Maligi joined Chris Beard’s staff at Texas Tech two years ago — George ultimately emerged as a top target for the Red Raiders — and both coaches have kept pursuing him hard since arriving in Austin this offseason.

Jenkins noted that Oklahoma State Coach Mike Boynton, who is becoming a popular figure with high school recruits and their families, is making a major push to get better positioned in George’s recruitment. “But I don’t think they can beat Texas,” he said.

Kentucky is certainly the outlier in this one. UK is the only program from outside of Big 12 country to make George’s final five. The Cats carry a unique national brand, which will only be more enticing to top players with the impending name, image and likeness reforms. UK also has long-standing ties to George through assistant coach Jai Lucas, who was recruiting him in his previous job at Texas.

With George planning to make a college decision before his senior year of high school, the upcoming visit marks the Wildcats’ best chance to make a winning impression.

“Obviously, Kentucky is Kentucky,” Jenkins said. “Jai has always had a great relationship with him and has always been high on Keyonte George’s talent, ever since he was at Texas. But I still think that the Longhorns end up winning this one.”