Notre Dame Offers In-State Five-Star Wing Kris Wilkes
As of Friday evening, Notre Dame really wasn’t even showing up on Kris Wilkes’ radar.
“I would love to hear from them,” he said at the Under Armour circuit event in Indianapolis. “I’m kind of surprised I haven’t.”
Consider that wish granted.
The Irish offered the five-star junior wing on Monday, after the staff was able to evaluate Wilkes this April in his games with his AAU squad Indy Hoosiers.
“I watched Notre Dame a lot,” Wilkes said Friday. “I watched them at [Bankers Life] Fieldhouse [vs. Indiana] down here, I watched it on TV.
“I think it’s a good style of play. They like to get up and down the floor.”
Wilkes, who is ranked as the No. 12 overall player nationally by Rivals.com, was averaging 20.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game while shooting 54.5 percent from the field for Indy Hoosiers through six games this spring.
The Indianapolis North Central standout has early offers from Indiana, Kansas, Michigan State and Michigan, among others, and listed the Hoosiers, Maryland and UCLA as the schools recruiting him the hardest.
“I feel about the same about everybody,” Wilkes said. “Just keeping an open mind, and at the end of the summer I’ll start cutting it down.
“I’ll look for building a good relationship with the coaches, and talking with the players going there and what they also think about the coaches.”
Wilkes has no upcoming visits scheduled, but could start taking officials after he has scheduled the SAT.
He added he would “love” to visit Notre Dame — he has never made the two-and-a-half hour trip up north — but it should be noted an official may not be necessary given the South Bend campus’ proximity to Indianapolis.
Rivals.com’s Dan McDonald saw Wilkes play in New York City over the April 16 weekend.
“On a team that doesn’t have a ton of size, Wilkes is forced to show off his versatility by playing more on the interior,” McDonald wrote. “He’s more than capable of playing on the block offensively, and showed the toughness to battle in the low post on the other end.
“What makes him a mismatch offensively is his ability to also play on the perimeter and take advantage of opposing forwards.”
Brey — along with Kentucky head coach John Calipari, Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon, Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo and Michigan head coach John Beilein — was among those in attendance in NYC.
“They have told me to keep working hard and they are going to keep watching me,” Wilkes said of Kentucky. “They were here today, so we’ll see where that goes.”
Indianapolis North finished 22-4 overall this year, falling 94-82 to Terre Haute South in the semifinals of Indiana’s Class AAAA Southport Regional.