Kentucky basketball makes early move for a top 2028 guard

Kentucky basketball is still living in the urgency of the 2027 recruiting cycle, but Mark Pope’s staff is not recruiting with tunnel vision. The Wildcats are already looking further down the road. That is where Liam Mitakaro enters the picture.

Mitakaro, a 2028 guard out of Bella Vista Prep in Scottsdale, Arizona, has become one of the more compelling young names on the national board. The 6-foot-4, 175-pound playmaker is currently rated by 247Sports as the No. 29 overall player in the country, the No. 4 combo guard nationally, and the No. 2 player in Arizona for his class.

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That ranking is strong. It also may not hold high enough for long. Kentucky’s offer puts the Wildcats into one of the faster-rising recruitments of the summer. Mitakaro already has offers from Ole Miss, Arkansas, Kansas, Syracuse, and others, while programs such as Texas, UCLA, Oregon, Cal, UNLV, Oklahoma State, and Arizona State have also been around the conversation. The board is getting crowded because the film is not difficult to understand.

Mitakaro looks like a guard built for where basketball is going.

At 6-foot-4, he has the kind of positional size that changes the math. He can see over smaller defenders, pass over pressure, and finish through angles that shorter guards do not always have. But the size is only part of the story. What makes him different is how he moves with it.

Mitakaro is not a blur who plays every possession at one speed. He is more controlled than chaotic. He glides, hesitates, changes pace, and lets the defender make the first mistake. That is a mature trait for a young guard. Some players attack because they are fast. Mitakaro attacks because he understands timing.

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That is why defenders have trouble staying attached.

Switch a bigger body onto him, and Mitakaro can stretch the possession with his handle before using his stride to turn the corner. Put a smaller guard in front of him, and he can use his length to finish near the rim or pass over the…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/kentucky-basketball-makes-early-move-200553795.html

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Publish date : 2026-07-06 20:05:00

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