Pitt Target Reacts to Kentucky New HC

Pitt Panthers five-star guard target reacted to the new head coach hiring at Kentucky, who has recruited him with intensity.

Lincoln Park s Meleek Thomas goes in for a layup against North Catholic s Jude Rottmann during a / Sally Maxson / for BCT / USA TODAY

PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers have worked incredibly hard to land one of the best players in the country, who happens to hail from just a county over.

Meleek Thomas comes in as a consensus five-star guard with a number of offers from schools all over the country. 247Sports, Rivals and On3 all have the guard in their top 10 recruits for the Class of 2025 and he is the consensus best recruit in Pennsylvania in his class.

He has starred for Lincoln Park in Midland, Pa., north of Pittsburgh in Beaver County, winning back-to-back WPIAL and PIAA state titles, as they've dominated Pennsylvania in more recent years.

Pitt is one of the likely teams to land Thomas, not just for being the closest Power Five school to him, but they also landed his teammate, Class of 2024 guard Brandin Cummings, the brother of former Pitt guard Nelly Cummings.

Despite Pitt having a great chance, they aren't the only school with a good shot to land the five-star guard.

Kentucky and Auburn are two schools that Thomas has visited this spring on official visits, along with Pitt. Other schools interested in the guard include back-to-back National Champions UConn, Kansas State, Indiana, Kansas, Tennessee and Alabama.

John Calipari shocked the college basketball world this past weekend when he resigned as head coach of Kentucky to take the same job at Arkansas in the SEC.

Kentucky hired BYU head coach Mark Pope, who played two seasons for the school, 1994-96, as their new head coach on Friday, officially.

Thomas spoke to Joe Tipton of On3 Sports about the new hire and what that means going forward in his recruiting process.

“I would say my reaction is still not going to be used to seeing any other coach there cause of all the time Cal put in," Thomas said. "Also a full circle moment since (Pope) played there.”

Thomas is one of the best players in the country, as he uses his athleticism to dominate opponents on both ends of the court. Standing at 6-foot-4, he has great length that allows him force turnovers, block shots, grab rebounds defensively and create great opportunites for both himself and his teammates offesnively.

If Pitt did land Thomas, he would rank as one of the highest-rated ever players to sign with the program. This includes the likes of Houston Rockets center Steven Adams, who came in as a five-star center himself in 2012.

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