Five-star basketball recruit Julian Phillips no longer considering Kansas State
Kansas State men’s basketball coach Jerome Tang may lure a five-star recruit to Manhattan at some point during his tenure with the Wildcats, but it won’t happen this month.
Julian Phillips, the top-rated uncommitted basketball prospect of the 2022 recruiting cycle, no longer plans to make an official visit to K-State later this week.
It is unclear why Phillips decided to cancel his visit. But one thing is for sure: He is no longer considering the Wildcats.
Phillips announced Wednesday that he will make his college decision on May 12. His five final schools are Auburn, Florida State, South Carolina, Southern California and Tennessee. He is also considering a jump to Overtime Elite and G-League Ignite.
The 6-foot-8 and 175-pound small forward from Link Academy appeared to be seriously considering the Wildcats when he scheduled a visit to Manhattan earlier this week. But that is no longer the case.
Phillips is a five-star recruit who is ranked No. 13 nationally in his recruiting class. He holds scholarship offers from 30 schools. He played in the McDonald’s high school All-America game earlier this year and was bound for LSU before the Tigers fired coach Will Wade for allegedly committing five Level I NCAA violations.
The mere possibility of Phillips visiting Manhattan was big news for K-State basketball fans. The Wildcats haven’t landed a five-star recruit since Wally Judge in 2009. And they have only signed four over the past 20 years. The others were Michael Beasley (2007), Bill Walker (‘07) and Jason Bennett (‘06).
K-State will likely now need to wait a little longer before it is in the mix for another elite recruit.
Still, Tang has been hard at work on the recruiting trail since he was hired as coach and lost nine scholarship players to the NCAA transfer portal. He has since surrounded returning players Markquis Nowell and Ismael Massoud with five new incoming players.
They are: LSU forward transfer Jerrell Colbert, Mississippi State guard transfer Cam Carter, New Orleans guard Dorian Finister, junior college transfer Nae’qwan Tomlin and Taj Manning, who originally signed with former coach Bruce Weber.
That gives the Wildcats seven players for the 2022-23 season.
More could soon be on the way. The Wildcats are in the running for Detroit transfer guard Antoine Davis and top 50 high school recruit Shawn Phillips.
Wichita State transfer Dexter Dennis also announced that K-State was one of the final six schools he was considering on Wednesday.
This story was originally published May 4, 2022 at 1:45 PM with the headline "Five-star basketball recruit Julian Phillips no longer considering Kansas State."