No. 10-ranked prep player Immanuel Quickley to start KU visit Friday

Five-star high school point guard Immanuel Quickley recalls having a great time at the 2016 Late Night in the Phog.

“I really liked the feel of Allen Fieldhouse when I visited,” Quickley, a 6-foot-4 senior from John Carroll High School in Bel Air, Md., told Rivals.com — the organization that rates him as the No. 10 player in the recruiting class of 2018.

Quickley, who spent just a brief amount of time on Kansas’ campus on an unofficial visit last October, returns for a second, more extensive look at KU’s hoops program Friday through Sunday. He will follow this weekend’s official campus visit with trips to his other finalists — Miami, Fla., and Kentucky the following two weekends — then likely announce a visit shortly after the tour of the three schools.

He recently told Scout.com that “Kentucky is definitely the favorite,” in large part because he became acquainted with Wildcats coach John Calipari while playing for Calipari’s USA Basketball Under 19 World Cup team this summer in Egypt.

Yet KU and Miami remain on a list that was sliced from four to three last week, with Maryland getting eliminated.

“Their skill development stands out,” Quickley said of KU in an interview with Rivals.com. “Frank Mason was supposed to go to Towson and ends up being All-Big 12 team and one of the best players in the country.”

Quickley added to CSNmidatlantic.com: “I think they (KU coaches) have taken players, not even like myself, players that haven’t been as talented as me and gotten them to the highest level, so I think that’s been a big part of what’s stood out.”

Of Kentucky, he said: “What they have done with their point guards like John Wall; the list goes on and on. What he (Calipari) has done with freshman and getting them to the NBA I think is pretty cool.”

Of Miami, he told Rivals.com: “Miami has great facilities and the NBA guys come back in the summer to work out there, which is good to know.”

Quickley, who will attend Saturday’s KU football game at Memorial Stadium on this visit instead of a basketball event, averaged 23.7 points and 7.2 assists as a junior at John Carroll School. He’s considered a one-and-done college player.

“He’s a big lead guard with great size and even better length. He has pretty naturally broad shoulders with equally long arms and legs. He has a high IQ and good instinctive feel for the game,” reads ESPN.com’s scouting report on Quickley.

“He’s very fluid with the ball, a dependable decision maker and good passer in a variety of situations. He uses his size to see and pass over the defense, feeds the post beautifully and throws ahead in transition. He’s equally adept at handling to both sides and even moves pretty well without the ball. He’s capable of making some tough shots, both from behind the arc and off the dribble, and also has a good knack for utilizing his length — both going through the lane off the dribble as well as on the defensive end of the floor.”

The bottom line according to ESPN.com: “Quickley is a blossoming big point guard who might not be a truly elite athlete and still needs to polish some aspects of his individual offense but has terrific size and length for the position, a good instinct and ability to make plays for himself and others.”

As to whether anybody can overtake Kentucky in this recruiting battle … Jide Sodipo, executive director of Team BBC (Quickley’s AAU team), told SECcountry.com: “He’ll listen to what everyone has to say and then he’s going to make the right decision.”

This story was originally published August 31, 2017 at 9:24 PM with the headline "No. 10-ranked prep player Immanuel Quickley to start KU visit Friday."