John Calipari with Pennsylvania guard Adou Thiero and his family during a UK home visit. (Twitter Photo)
Adou Thiero is a 6–5 senior guard in Pennsylvania who is quickly emerging as a hot recruit in the 2022 recruiting class, especially after Kentucky coach John Calipari came to see him play Thursday and then offered him a scholarship Saturday.
Thiero, who has grown eight inches since his freshman season, had both Calipari and assistant Orlando Antigua watch him in the Class 4A state title game Thursday. He got a home visit from Calipari Saturday when the scholarship offer came.
The player’s father, Al Thiero, played for Calipari at Memphis from 2002-05. That’s why Ado went to summer camps at Kentucky before his fifth and eighth grade years.
“He’s always liked Kentucky growing up,” Al Thiero told George Michalowski of https://pittsburghsportsnow.com. “He went to camp and always liked the players there, and then all of a sudden the coach (Calipari) is in your living room, saying he wants you and to come play for him. That’s a whole lot to handle.
“Adou hasn’t said anything to us yet about what’s on his mind. We’re going to give him some time and then we’ll sit down and talk and see how he processed the information.”
The guard averaged 23 points per game last season and had 18 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks and three steals in the game Calipari and Antigua watched.
The guard also has scholarship offers from Duquesne, where his father played, along with UC-Santa Barbara. Indiana, Pittsburgh, Ohio State, West Virginia, Cincinnati, Marquette and others have also been in touch recently.
Thiero didn’t play last travel ball last spring/summer due to a foot injury — another reason for his late rise on the national scene.
Calipari is also exploring other options to help next year’s roster and could be in great position to land Texas Tech transfer guard Terrence Shannon who averaged 10.4 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists as a junior to help the Red Raiders reach the Sweet 16 before losing 78-73 to Duke. He shot 45 percent from the field and 38 percent from 3-point range. For his career at Tech he averaged 11 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game and shot 35 percent from 3 while starting 53 games. He’s also known as an elite defender.
Kentucky has a direct connection with Shannon, a Chicago native. He played for Mac Irvin Fire on the Nike EYBL — the same team where UK assistant coach Chin Coleman was the head coach at one time. Antigua also tried to recruit Shannon to play at Illinois when he was on the staff there.
Kentucky has also been reported to be in contact with transfer portal entries Fardaws Aimaq of Utah Valley, Trevon Brazil of Missouri and Xavier Pinson of LSU.
One Response
Looks like another mass exodus for us.
Next season is going to be a bad one with Cal trying to scrap together a team.