Jaden Smith, a former 4-star Michigan signee, has committed to Kentucky.

Linebacker Jaden Smith (6-3, 201) of West Charlotte, N.C., has committed to Kentucky after being released from his National Letter of Intent to Michigan. Other schools that had been interested in Smith were Auburn, Florida State, Miami, NC State, USC, and Virginia Tech.

Following the dismissals of linebackers coach Charlie Partridge, defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, and Michigan head coach John Harbaugh, the Charlotte native decided to reopen his recruitment. Having already made an offer to the linebacker back in March, UK was among the first colleges to enter the competition. His selection was heavily influenced by defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach Brad White, as well as defensive backs coach Chris Collins.

He revealed that he was frantically pacing his house with his smartphone on silent when the UK offered when CatsPause.com met with him soon after his offer in March. Up until then, Collins had done a decent job of building a rapport with him.

“I like coach Collins. He will check up on me every once in awhile,” Smith told CatsPause.com. “He will hit up my mentor and make sure we are still coming up. I have a good relationship with him. It has been a good time getting to talk to him. First, he will talk about how my day went and what I did. Then, we will talk about me coming up there and start talking about other things really.”

West Charlotte head coach Sam Greiner had the following to say about his star pupil when he signed with the Wolverines in December:

“Jaden’s potential is enormous,” Sam Greiner stated to 247Sports. “I haven’t seen a player with his ability in a very long time. His length and size are excellent. I’d say he’s more like 6-3 than 6-2. However, you don’t often see a runner and bender like that. His hips are really fantastic. He is a firecracker. Furthermore, we haven’t seen the best of him yet; this young man has the potential to be really talented. He could play inside linebacker or edge rusher. He is capable of covering. He’s the kind of linebacker that’s in demand these days. You will witness this 190-pound man grow to 230 pounds at the dinner table while maintaining his ability to bend and

Smith is the No. 11 athlete in the country and the No. 284 prospect overall, according to the 247Sports Composite, which rates players from 1.000 to.9087. With his acquisition, UK rises to No. 24 overall and No. 12 in the SEC, behind Texas and Oklahoma, in the team recruiting rankings. He becomes the first state commitment from North Carolina’s 2024 recruiting class, meaning that of Kentucky’s 23 pledges, 11 states are represented among the signees. Four other linebackers have been signed by UK in this class: Antwan Smith of Atlanta (Ga.) Westlake, Steven Soles of Powell (Tenn.), Devin Smith of Brunswick (Ga.), and Quintavion Norman of Covington (Ga.) Newton.

UK stands to suffer after losing Martez Thrower, Luke Fulton, and Trevin Wallace this offseason.Following the next season are D’Eryk Jackson, Jamon Dumas-Johnson, and Daveren Rayner.

In addition to rising five positions to No. 17 in the most recent Associated Press Top 25 Poll following SEC victories over Ole Miss and No. 13 Auburn, Kentucky’s Wildcats were also awarded national team of the week by a number of publications.

While the Wildcats did not make it into Andy Katz’s Power Rankings (the top 16), ESPN’s Jeff Borzello awarded the United Kingdom the week’s national team of the week. Andy Katz of NCAA March Madness selected Kentucky his national team of the week.

A week ago, Kentucky was in a mess, with concerns swirling about its chances of making it to the NCAA tournament, the future of head coach John Calipari, and everything in between. The Wildcats are currently playing well and fresh off one of the greatest road victories of the season.

returning to the discussion on the Power Rankings. They started the season with a victory against Ole Miss at home. They concluded the first half with a long run that kept the Rebels at bay for the majority of the second half. Then came the shocker: Kentucky defeated Auburn 70-59 at home to inflict them their first home loss of the year.

The defensive end, where the Wildcats had suffered greatly from the beginning of the season, particularly since the beginning of their downturn in mid-January, was where the key was. From Nov. 10 to Feb. 13, they only allowed one opponent to score fewer than 65 points, and they also kept Ole Miss and Auburn under that mark. Auburn recorded a point total of 0.88 and Ole Miss recorded a mere 0.87 per possession, marking two of Kentucky’s four finest defensive outings of the season.

Kentucky defeated Auburn at home on Saturday night, something they hadn’t done all season.

The Tigers had won all 13 of their games at Neville Arena by double digits and an average of 22 points per game going into Saturday. They were a perfect 13-0 at the venue this season.

Auburn had won 43 of its past 45 games at home, dating back to the 2021–22 season, making their 16–game winning streak the sixth longest active home win streak in the nation.

John Calipari, the head coach, pushed his players to play greater defense and to be more tough, and boy did they ever come through. The Wildcats, who had just once this season scored fewer than 80 points, never trailed and had a 16-point lead in the second half while restricting Auburn to a season-low 59 points at home and 30.9% shooting. They also scored 23 points off of 11 Tigers turnovers.

Adou Thiero contributed 14 points and eight rebounds, Rob Dillingham ended with 11 points and three assists off the bench, while Antonio Reeves led Kentucky with a game-high 22 points. For the Wildcats, Reed Sheppard was likewise incredibly reliable, finishing with four points, five rebounds, three assists, and five steals.

On Wednesday, the No. 17 Wildcats (18-7, 8-4 SEC) will play their next game against LSU (13-12, 5-7 SEC), with an ESPN kickoff at 9 PM ET.

The Boilermakers lost at Ohio State, their worst loss of the season, little over a day after Purdue was selected by the NCAA Tournament selection committee as their midseason top overall seed. For the first time in weeks, Purdue was knocked off of the top place on CBS Sports’ predicted bracket, which proved expensive for Matt Painter’s team, one of the three teams mainly spared from the college basketball season’s deluge of shocks.

In Palm’s most recent perspective, the teams vying for the top slots in the field of 68 are mostly unchanged, while there was some fluctuation in their rankings following yet another week of incredible performances. Purdue’s defeat completed aperiod that also saw Auburn defeat an SEC title candidate by 40 points and Kansas lose by 29 points.

Conference tournaments start in three weeks, which means teams fighting for playoff slots deeper down the bracket have few opportunities left to record victories that can enhance their resumes.

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Palm’s most recent predictions for the 2024 NCAA Tournament bracket are as follows:

Cincinnati

Gonzaga

Oregon

Hall at Seton

With a 68-62 victory against St. John’s, Seton Hall wrapped up a busy week, advancing into the 68-team field and setting off Red Storm coach Rick Pitino’s record-breaking tirade after the game. The Pirates have two opportunities to strengthen their resumes with upcoming away games at Creighton and UConn, but both opponents are among the best in the Big East.Quinnipiac v

Last week, Gonzaga, Oregon, and Cincinnati teamed for a 4-1 record; the Bearcats’ lone setback came against a top-10 opponent.

SOUTH AREA:

No. 16 s. No. 1 Houston

No. 9 Boise State at. No. 8 Florida

Indiana State at No. 12 vs No. 5 Auburn

No. 13 Yale vs. No. 4 Illinois

In a game played in the state, Houston easily defeated Texas over the weekend, stifling Max Abmas, Dylan Disu, and company with its superior defense to win by 21 points. Just two teams have managed to score more than 70 points this season as the Cougars continue to exhaust their Big 12 rivals.

It would be exciting to see SEC rivals Florida and Auburn play in the Sweet 16. With victories in seven of their previous eight games, including a head-to-head triumph against the Tigers, who are among the league’s hottest teams, the Gators

No. 11 Texas A&M / Colorado vs. No. 6 Texas Tech

No. 14 Louisiana Tech at. No. 3 Alabama

Oklahoma State at No. 7 vs Ole Miss at No. 10

No. 15 Morehead State at. No. 2 Marquette

The explosive offense of Alabama, ranked first by KenPom, is playing at a breakneck speed. In their past two games, the Crimson Tide scored over 100 points apiece, and they haven’t finished below 85 points since January.

For the first time since the 2007–08 season, Washington State secured a berth in the national rankings as it reached this week’s AP Top 25. They didn’t qualify for the competition again after that season. Their second-longest postseason drought among big institutions, spanning 17 years, is almost coming to an end.