Jeff Goodman has good (and bad) news for BBN with Wright, Stokes and Freeman

Will Kentucky land either or both of No. 1 recruit Tyran Stokes and top-ranked point guard transfer Rob Wright III? Jeff Goodman of The Field of 68 has updates on both potential Wildcats that will be of interest to Big Blue Nation, for better and worse.

We’ll start with the good news, specifically with the latter. Wright officially arrived for his visit this early evening, sources tell KSR, and things appear to be on the right track — barring any massive hiccups on Kentucky’s side.

“The heavy favorite is Kentucky for Rob Wright,” Goodman said Monday. “It’s basically down to Kentucky and BYU at this point, and I think Kentucky, all signs are — unless they screw this thing up, he’s probably going to end up in Lexington. That’s a good start for Kentucky. … A really, really good offensive player. Really good. Defensively, he’s okay.”

As for Stokes, well, that one is complicated. Goodman didn’t share any earth-shattering intel that should make BBN panic, but there wasn’t a lot of optimism on his side about the fit between the No. 1 recruit and Mark Pope as his head coach.

In his eyes, Stokes needs to be coached by a ‘MFer,’ as he described it.

“The Tyran Stokes thing, man, I don’t know. I don’t see it working,” Goodman continued. “I don’t love it with Mark Pope and Tyran Stokes. I’ll be frank. I’ll be totally honest with you on this one. I just think Pope is too nice, and I think you need an MFer with Tyran Stokes. I really believe that. Whether it’s John Calipari, Bill Self, [Tom] Izzo, somebody like that. I think he can walk all over Mark Pope, to be honest. Tyran Stokes — his body language has been atrocious a lot of the time.

“I like the kid. It’s not that I don’t like the kid. I love his talent, but, man, he’s going to need somebody to stand up to him. I don’t know.”

Goodman added that other targets are monitoring his situation and are ‘scared’ of playing with Stokes, saying his decision will impact theirs, whether he ends up at Kentucky or Kansas.

“I will tell you this straight out — some guys are scared right now of playing with Tyran Stokes. Some kids have heard about Tyran Stokes, and they’re scared about him because — not just the body language and all that, but the fact that he’s going to come in and be the guy, right?” Goodman added. “He’s going to come in and be the guy and demand certain things, whether it’s at Kentucky or Kansas. There are some players out there like, ‘Yeah, I’m not sure I want to deal with that. Let’s wait and see where he ends up before I make my decision.’

Those are Kentucky’s 1A and 1B options right now, but what about the target right behind? That would be Syracuse transfer Donnie Freeman, who Goodman reports will be making his way to Lexington starting Tuesday.

The bad news there? The national runner-up may be ahead for the standout forward at this stage — but the Wildcats are still firmly in the mix. And everything can change with a visit, obviously.

“Donnie Freeman, the former Syracuse forward, will be visiting Kentucky tomorrow, per source — and potentially UConn on Friday. Alabama, I believe, is visiting him, as well. They’re coming up and visiting him,” Goodman added. “So, those are the three right now that are really firmly entrenched with Donnie Freeman. My money would probably be on UConn on this one, but Kentucky’s got a chance here.”