Top recruit Karter Knox picked UK basketball as his college destination. He explains why.

The Karter Knox recruitment has come to an end.

On Saturday night, the 2024 McDonald’s All-American and No. 19 overall player in his recruiting class — per the 247Sports Composite — picked Kentucky as his college destination later this year.

Knox chose head coach John Calipari’s Wildcats from a final shortlist that also included Louisville, South Florida and the Atlanta-based Overtime Elite (OTE) program, where Knox is playing his final season of prep basketball.

Knox, who is teammates on the RWE team at OTE with another future Wildcat in center Somto Cyril, made the announcement that UK was his choice during halftime of RWE’s second game in the ongoing OTE Finals.

That very act was simple enough: In a ceremony with minimal fanfare, Knox selected UK when presented with hats adorned with the logos of all four of his final options.

“Coach Calipari, he’s sent a lot of people to the league, and I want to be a pro. He told me he’s gonna make me a pro,” Knox said during the announcement. “So I’m ready to hoop and win a national championship.”

Knox, a 6-foot-6 small forward, is the sixth class of 2024 recruit set to join the Wildcats next season, along with guards Boogie Fland and Travis Perry, wing Billy Richmond and centers Jayden Quaintance and the aforementioned Cyril.

And on Monday afternoon, Knox dove further into why Kentucky ended up being his college choice.

During an in-house interview with OTE that was streamed live on Instagram and TikTok, Knox spoke about his decision.

Karter Knox talks about why he picked Kentucky

One of the driving factors behind Knox’s successful recruitment by UK was the special connection the Knox family has to the Kentucky program.

One of Knox’s older brothers, Kevin, was a one-and-done star at UK under Calipari and helped lead the Cats to the 2018 SEC Tournament title and a Sweet 16 appearance in that year’s NCAA Tournament.

After that one-and-done season in Lexington, Knox was selected with the ninth overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft.

“It definitely means something,” Knox said Monday about following in his brother’s footsteps by going to UK. “(He) was a top-10 draft pick. But, I’m trying to be better than him. Obviously get drafted higher than him. That’s really the goal.”

The other two colleges on Knox’s shortlist also held family ties to the Knox family.

Louisville head coach Kenny Payne was UK’s associate head coach during that 2017-18 Kentucky season, and Payne later worked with Kevin with the NBA’s New York Knicks.

Another Knox brother, Kobe, is a starting guard at South Florida and is averaging 8.6 points per game for a Bulls team led by first-year head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim that will be going to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 12 years.

“It was a tough decision. Louisville, USF, they have great coaches,” Knox said, adding that both of his brothers have congratulated him on his college choice.

Ultimately, it was Calipari and Kentucky that won out.

“With Cal, they run the dribble-drive (offense). So, really, everyone is going to touch (the ball),” Knox said of Kentucky’s style of play.

“So the role I’m in, obviously do everything: score, defend, make plays for my teammates. … It’s all set there for me. It’s just, I’ve got to execute, put the work in, do my job on the court and stay focused.”

During the 2023-24 OTE regular season, Knox averaged more than 23 points and 5 rebounds per contest.

Karter Knox the latest family, OTE connection to join UK basketball

In going to Kentucky, Knox will also continue a recent trend for Calipari: bringing in recruits with family ties to past players he’s coached.

In each of the last three recruiting classes, Kentucky has brought in a player whose father played under Calipari at Memphis. In 2022, it was Adou Thiero. In 2023, it was D.J. Wagner. In 2024, Richmond will fill that role.

And now there’s Knox, who was clearly influenced by the fact Calipari coached his older brother up to the status of being an NBA draft lottery pick.

“Cal, you know, he got my brother to the league. So, it kind of makes sense,” Knox said. “Like, ‘Yo, maybe I should go to Kentucky?’ He got my big brother to the league. He could make me go to the league. … It’s all going to come.”

During Monday’s interview, Knox recalled attending the final game his older brother played for the Cats: a Sweet 16 defeat to Kansas State that was played in Atlanta.

“The environment was still crazy. … It wasn’t in Kentucky, and there was still a whole bunch of Kentucky fans,” Knox said.

In more recent times, Knox has also gotten a glimpse at what’s been one of the most entertaining UK basketball seasons: He took an official visit to Kentucky in January and watched a 105-96 win over Georgia that marked the college basketball debut of much-hyped UK freshman center Zvonimir Ivisic.

Knox also said he watched UK’s weekend win at Tennessee, which wrapped up just a few hours before Knox announced his commitment to the Cats.

“I know my way around the arena, the practice gym … I’ve been (to UK) so many times,” Knox said.

Knox — who said he’d like to wear the number 11 or 21 (freshman guard D.J. Wagner’s current number) at Kentucky — also praised the development program in place at OTE with getting him ready for the high-level college basketball environment that will come at UK.

Three players will have now gone from OTE to Lexington: current UK freshman guard Rob Dillingham, along with Cyril and Knox in a few months’ time.

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