Top-Ranked '23 Prospect, Louisville Target D.J. Wagner Commits to Kentucky
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - One of the most high-profile recruiting battles to ever take place between in-state rivals Louisville and Kentucky has finally come to an end, and it didn't end in favor of the Cardinals.
Camden (N.J.) HS guard D.J. Wagner, who has been the longtime No. 1 prospect in the Class of 2023, officially announced Monday that he has committed to the Wildcats.
Ever since the summer of 2020 when rankings for 2023 cycle were first released, Wagner has been the No. 1 player in the class according to the 247Sports Composite. Even with pushes from various prospects, Wagner has maintained his position atop the throne in the cycle.
The 6-foot-3, 165-point guard was named the 2020-21 New Jersey Boys Basketball Player of the Year as a sophomore, then averaged 19.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 3.2 steals per game as a junior for Camden. Wagner also had multiple standout performances on the Nike EYBL circuit this past summer, and was also named to the USA Basketball Men's U17 World Cup Team.
For years, Kentucky had been the runaway favorite to land Wagner due in part to the deep family ties with Wildcats head coach John Calipari.
Back in 2000 while at Memphis, Calipari hired D.J.'s grandfather, Milt, in an attempt to land his father, Dajuan, who was viewed as the top prospect in the 2001 cycle. It worked, with the middle Wagner playing a season for the Tigers before being selected at No. 6 overall in the 2002 NBA Draft.
Many schools not named Kentucky also came to the consensus that trying to recruit D.J. Wagner would be a wasted effort. He held just six Division I scholarship offers, while only taking official visits to Kentucky and Memphis back in October of 2021.
Louisville made up a ton of ground in Wagner's recruitment with two crucial hires. The first one was when UofL opted to hire Kenny Payne, a former national champion with the Cardinals and longtime assistant at Kentucky, as their next head coach.
The next hire was one directly out of Calipari's playbook, when Payne hired Wagner's grandfather, Milt, to his staff as the Director of Player Development and Alumni Relations. The eldest Wagner is No. 6 all-time in scoring at Louisville and was a teammate of Payne's on the 1986 championship team.
There was even a Louisville connection to Wagner's AAU team, the N.J. Scholars. Pervis Ellison, who is one of just five players to have his jersey retired by the Cardinals, serves as one of the Scholars' program directors.
However, as the recruitment progressed over the summer, the momentum that Louisville had gained in Wagner's recruitment began to swing in the other direction. When it was reported this past September that Wagner would not visit take a visit with Louisville, and that he would later sign an NIL deal with Nike - Kentucky's apparel outfitter - the writing was on the wall that he would end up a Wildcat.
Even though it was always going to be a big of an uphill battle given Wagner's ties with Kentucky, this is no doubt a huge blow for Louisville and Payne. As it stands right now, the Cardinals have only two commitments in the 2023 class, and have just two scholarship offers to uncommitted prospects in the cycle: point guard A.J. Johnson and center Isaiah Miranda, both of whom are teammates at Castaic (Calif.) Southern California Academy.
Fortunately, the two players already in the fold are both high-caliber players. La Porte (Ind.) La Lumiere small forward Kaleb Glenn and Bloomfield Hills (Mich.) Brother Rice small forward Curtis Williams Jr., who are both four-star prospects, each signed their National Letters of Intent to play for Louisville last week.
(Photo of D.J. Wagner: Gregory Payan - Associated Press)
You can follow Louisville Report for future coverage by liking us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram:
Facebook - @LouisvilleReport
Twitter - @UofLReport
Instagram - @louisville_report
You can also follow Deputy Editor Matthew McGavic at @Matt_McGavic on Twitter
