According to reports, BYU basketball submitted an early bid for Tyran Stokes, the number-one recruit in this year’s high school class, but the relationship was short-lived, since Kevin Young’s program was eliminated relatively quickly, and the star forward narrowed his final options to the Kansas Jayhawks, Kentucky Wildcats, and Oregon Ducks.
Stokes told Inside the NBA on ESPN that he would be putting on his boots in Allen Fieldhouse for the Kansas Jayhawks.
It’s been a long journey, and I’m thankful, Stokes said, adjusting his spectacles and carefully unwrapping his presentation. Having stated that, I’m bringing my abilities to Kansas University. Rock Chalk!
Even though BYU basketball will not profit from Stokes’ abilities, the Cougars will still have to get through him and a historically extremely strong Kansas team if Bruce Branch and company want to win a Big 12 Conference championship.
To make this narrative even more insane, a source revealed that Stokes had already signed his non-revenue share paperwork with Bill Self’s Kansas program around the same time as his visit to Lexington, where astonishing head coach Mark Pope made a home run swing to save the Wildcats’ pathetic recruiting season.
Mark Pope has failed repeatedly in his attempts to fill out his squad after so many players left due to the transfer portal. Regardless of how terrible the Rob Wright issue was, Stokes’ spur of the Wildcats is devastating for a program used to attracting the nation’s top recruits. Meanwhile, in Fayetteville, Arkansas, John Calipari recently clinched his fourth 5-star commitment for the current recruiting cycle.
Not a nice look.
Tyran Stokes was always going to be a Kansas Jayhawk, despite leaning towards Kentucky early in his recruitment process, but I’m sure Big Blue Nation fans in Kentucky can’t help but wonder if Pope’s recruiting pitch was the final nudge that cemented Stokes’ decision to stay away from Lexington.
Like Darryn Peterson before him, BYU will need to find solutions for this McDonald’s All-American if they want to compete with the group of top schools that dominate the Big 12 Conference. Just one more star on the way to the top.
