{"id":88011,"date":"2025-04-14T15:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T20:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/acaden-lewis-visits-rick-pitino-and-st-johns-following-kentucky-decommitment\/"},"modified":"2025-04-14T15:30:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T20:30:00","slug":"acaden-lewis-visits-rick-pitino-and-st-johns-following-kentucky-decommitment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/acaden-lewis-visits-rick-pitino-and-st-johns-following-kentucky-decommitment\/","title":{"rendered":"Acaden Lewis visits Rick Pitino and St. John\u2019s following Kentucky decommitment"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was some early chatter about Maryland and Villanova, but could former Kentucky signee Acaden Lewis<\/a><\/strong> actually <\/em>be teaming up with a (very) familiar face in the Big Apple? Rick Pitino was back at Rupp Arena wearing a UK pullover back in October, but now, he could be on the cusp of stealing a Wildcat from Mark Pope.<\/p>\n

Lewis, the No. 32 overall prospect and No. 5 point guard in the 2025 On3 Industry Ranking, is currently on a visit to St. John\u2019s.<\/p>\n

The four-star point guard posted two photos from campus on his Instagram story, the first at The Ritz-Carlton New York \u2014 fancy! \u2014 and the second from inside the locker room with a No. 55 jersey ready to go for him next to Chris Mullin, Moe Harkless and Ron Artest uniforms and Big East championship trophies. <\/p>\n

Lewis previously had a Zoom meeting with Villanova on the day after his decommitment from Kentucky with Maryland, Georgetown, Texas and Indiana among the others to reach out. He originally committed to the Wildcats over Duke and UConn.<\/p>\n

His decision to back away from his pledge left UK with just two high school signees in 2025, in-state standouts\u00a0Jasper Johnson<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Malachi Moreno<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will always be grateful to Coach Pope and the entire Kentucky staff for believing in me,\u201d\u00a0Lewis said in a statement sent to ESPN.\u00a0<\/a>\u201cIt is clear Kentucky is a special place with an amazing fanbase, but as I reflect on what is best for my future, I have decided to re-open my recruitment. This was an incredibly difficult decision, but after a lot of discussion with my family and people I trust, I feel this is necessary. This is not in any way a reflection of any negative feelings towards Coach Pope and Kentucky. I appreciate your understanding and am excited for what the future holds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last we heard in early April, Pitino and the Red Storm were planning on an exhibition matchup vs. Kentucky inside Rupp Arena \u2014 a pivot from the non-conference battle we hoped to see in the regular season. Either way, the hope is to honor the 30th anniversary of the 1996 national championship team with Pope and Pitino leading the two programs and the former players all in attendance to support their old coach and teammate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe may be going to Kentucky for an exhibition game,\u201d Pitino said when accepting Coach of the Year honors by the Associated Press<\/a>, per\u00a0C.L. Brown of the Courier-Journal<\/a>. \u201cWe were hoping to go there for a regular game, but they can\u2019t; they can\u2019t get it done, unfortunately. We were hoping to do a home-and-home (series) with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

In January, the\u00a0NCAA eased the rules<\/a>\u00a0to allow Division I teams to play up to two preseason exhibition games against any four-year school, including other Division I teams. Previously, Division I vs. Division I exhibitions required a waiver, and the proceeds from the games had to be donated to charity. Now, schools can play whoever they want and decide for themselves how to share the revenue.<\/p>\n

Will Lewis be on the opposing bench inside Rupp Arena when the Wildcats take on the Red Storm in an exhibition today? His visit to St. John\u2019s today suggests it\u2019s on the table.<\/p>\n

The post Acaden Lewis visits Rick Pitino and St. John\u2019s following Kentucky decommitment<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There was some early chatter about Maryland and Villanova, but could former Kentucky signee Acaden…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88011\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}