Top uncommitted 2025 prospect set to announce live with 247Sports

Huntington (W.V.) 4-star forward Braydon Hawthorne is down to five schools and is set to announce his college decision. 

The 6-foot-8, 175-pound wing is down to Duke, Kentucky, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia and will make his commitment live on the 247Sports YouTube page at 7 PM ET on Tuesday, May 20. 

The one-time West Virginia signee, who reopened his recruitment in March, has taken official visits to all five of his finalists this spring.

Hawthorne jumped 38 spots from No. 71 to No. 33 overall in 247Sports’ final player rankings for 2025 last week. 

247Sports National Basketball Director Eric Bossi says the long-term ceiling for Hawthorne, who is ranked 101st nationally by the industry average 247Sports Composite, is extremely high.

“The reason I’m so high on him is not for what he might do as a freshman, I’m thinking long-term here in the next three, five, seven years down the road,” Bossi said recently.

“He’s a 6-foot-8, long and skilled wing who I first started to really notice at the Wooten Camp back in September of 2024 and then [247Sports national recruiting analyst] Travis [Branham] got to see him during the high school season after he took another step forward. When he initially committed to West Virginia, we thought, ‘Hey, great get, long-term potential for him’ and as the season wore on we were like, ‘Oh wow, this guy could be a difference-maker given time.’ We see these guys come along every couple years where they’re a little bit of a late bloomer who have those translatable skills with the size, length, the shooting and now we’re looking at a deal where you can see the recruitment really started to explode where someone is going to get themselves, depending on the situation, may not be the biggest contributor as a freshman but long-term we may look back and say, ‘Oh wow, how was he only ranked wherever he ends up being ranked.'”

For the second straight offseason, Kentucky head coach Mark Pope has put together a top-5 transfer portal class. 

According to 247Sports final transfer rankings, Pope has the No. 4 class nationally behind only St. John’s, Michigan, and Louisville with five transfers ranked among the top 65 prospects in the portal, including 12) Arizona State center Jayden Quaintance, 39) Pittsburgh point guard Jaland Lowe, 45) Tulane forward Kam Williams, 57) Florida combo guard Denzel Aberdeen, and 64) Alabama forward Mouhamed Dioubate. The Wildcats also landed Miami (Ohio) 7-footer and Lexington native Reece Potter.

In addition to his top-5 transfer portal class, Pope also inked a top-25 high school class, which features 4-star combo guard Jasper Johnson, 4-star center and McDonald’s All-American Malachi Moreno (No. 28) as well as coveted Croatian power forward Andrija Jelavic, who will not be rated by 247Sports but is widely considered to be one of the top international prospects to play college basketball next season. 

Kentucky currently has 13 scholarships spoken for, the maximum allowed under the current rules, but the NCAA House Settlement could push that number to 15. The Wildcat are also awaiting the NBA Draft decision of leading scorer Otega Oweh, who has until May 28 to withdraw in order to return to school next season.