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Why 2026 basketball recruiting is frozen—and what it means for Kentucky

If you have been following the recruiting news, you may have noticed a deep slowdown in the amount of commitments coming out. We talk about why that is and what it means for the Cats down below.

Kentucky v Gonzaga | Steph Chambers/GettyImages

Welcome to the quietest recruiting cycle in recent memory.

It’s mid-July, and not a single player ranked in the top 10 of the 2026 class has committed to a school. That’s not a typo. Zero. Zilch. And among the top 35, only three have made decisions—all of them staying close to home: JJ Andrews to Arkansas, Elijah Williams to Baylor, and Marcus Johnson to Ohio State.