Kentucky head men's basketball coach John Calipari added his third five-star prospect in the class of 2016 with a verbal commitment from Edrice "Bam" Adebayo.
The six-foot-eight power forward is ranked sixth overall on the 2016 ESPN 100 and is the second highest ranked power forward behind Harry Giles, who committed to Duke last week. Adebayo's commitment moved Kentucky's 2016 recruiting class to second overall in ESPN's rankings, trailing only Duke.
"They're a winning program with a great all-around environment," Adebayo said on ESPN's "Mike and Mike" radio show Tuesday morning. "I just like the staff, and I like Coach Cal [John Calipari]."
Calipari is building another elite class of potential one-and-done players, and will join fellow ESPN 100 prospects point guard De'Aaron Fox, power forward Wenyen Gabriel, and power forward Sacha Killeya-Jones at Kentucky next fall.
In discussing his decision to commit to Kentucky on "Mike and Mike," Adebayo indicated he has thought about spending one season in college before declaring for the NBA Draft.
"It's something that pops in your head every now and then," he said. "But I'm focused on college basketball right now. I'm just worried about winning the national title."
247 Sports rated Adebayo with a 0.9962 composite score, which ranks among the 10 best players in the class. Calipari is still pursuing other Top-100 prospects and may be angling to overtake Duke to have the number-one class.
