Mark Pope and his staff are showing no signs of slowing down as they continue to put the final touches on this upcoming season’s Kentucky Wildcats roster.
Chaz Lanier — a 6-foot-4 scoring guard who spent four seasons playing for the North Florida Ospreys — is the team’s latest target.
Kentucky will reportedly host Lanier today after he spent the weekend visiting with BYU.
Lanier arrived in Lexington last night to begin his visit. He’s also set to visit Tennessee on Tuesday and has already tested the NBA Draft waters, but he’s expected to return to college for another year.
The mission for Pope and his staff is to win over Lanier while he’s in Lexington. They’ve had a strong closing ratio with the players they’ve targeted over the last month, but as Kentucky continues to add players that also means the amount of opportunities shrinks.
If Pope can make it clear to Lanier that he will be a key offensive piece on a team full of veterans who want to win, it’s hard to imagine the veteran guard having a better option. However, if he wants to transfer and be the focal point of the team’s offense, Kentucky might not be the best fit for him.
The good news is Lanier is a highly efficient scoring guard (51% shooting, 44% from 3-point range) who only took 13 shots last season, so he’s used to sharing the ball and spreading the love around.
It seems pretty clear that Lanier being able to average more than 19 points per game at that efficiency level is exactly what Kentucky needs, so now it’s up to Pope and his team to close the deal.
