With high school recruiting revving back up, Kentucky basketball is making a move with one of the top bigs in the class of 2026.
Earlier this week, Kentucky head coach Mark Pope visited 5-star center Arafan Diane, who later moved up his scheduled visit with the Wildcats by a week.
Now, Diane has trimmed his list to five schools, and Kentucky made the cut. Joining the Wildcats were the Houston Cougars, Indiana Hoosiers, Virginia Cavaliers, and Arkansas Razorbacks, according to Joe Tipton.
Louisville,
UConn, Kansas, and Oregon were among the schools cut from consideration.
Ranked as high as ninth overall in the 2026 class by Rivals, Diane is a 7-foot, 280-pound native of Guinea, located in West Africa. He now plays for Iowa United Prep and has been pursued by many of the nation’s top college basketball programs.
Diane was planning to visit Arkansas on September 12, but Kentucky will now host him that weekend, with the trip to see the Razorbacks set to come September 19. He’s also set to visit Houston on October 10.
Safe to say this will be an important stretch coming up that may decide who comes out on top for the No. 1-ranked center in the 2026 class.
