Michigan Basketball Recruiting: Five-Star Kris Wilkes Sets U-M Visit

Michigan head coach John Beilein and his staff continue to cast a wide net in 2017 recruiting, and they're pursuing some of the big fish. Indianapolis North Central small forward Kris Wilkes (6-7, 185, Rivals.com's No. 12 junior nationally), a five-star prospect, will be in Ann Arbor soon for an unofficial visit.

"Next week," he told TheWolverine.com.

If all goes well, Wilkes will likely receive a Michigan offer. U-M has a pledge from Milwaukee King's Jordan Poole (6-4, No. 95) and has extended scholarship tenders to Pontiac, Mich., Cornerstone's Jamal Cain (6-7, No. 70), Indianapolis Park Tudor's Jaren Jackson (6-10, No. 63) and Massillon, Ohio, Jackson's Kyle Young (6-7, No. 139).

Wilkes has offers from Butler, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Purdue, Xavier and others and he has visited Kentucky, hoping for a coveted offer. Indiana Rivals reports he's had in-home visits with UCLA and Xavier, while Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Michigan State have been to his high school.

"[I'll officially visit] UCLA for sure, maybe Maryland," he said. "I want to use my official visits to see those longer (distance) schools."

Rivals.com's Eric Bossi called him "one of the Under Armour Association's premier performers."

"Wilkes averaged 20.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game while playing with the Indy Hoosiers during April's two live evaluation periods," he wrote. "He showed strength near the rim, ability to hit more jumpers than in the past and an under control but plenty effective all around game.

"After watching Wilkes play this spring it's somewhat surprising that his recruitment hasn't been even more heated. He is a big wing who is strong and polished enough to play some as a power forward in a smaller lineup and he allows a coach to play many different styles. While Wilkes has improved tremendously as a jump shooter from between 12 and 17 feet, he needs to continue to extend his range and he has to become a more reliable free throw shooter."

Wilkes has made it a point to become a better scorer.

"I think I've gotten better at shooting the ball and being more aggressive. I really have to keep working hard because there is a lot of fatigue not coming out the whole game," he said. "I've got to learn how to keep making my free throws and keep playing hard even when I know I'm not coming out."

Bossi noted Wilkes "appears to be pretty open," with schools on either coast such as UCLA and Maryland involved, as well as a "nice push" from Michigan State. In a strong 2017 class in Indiana (tracking to have four top 50 players), he wrote, Wilkes is currently the highest ranked and the one that the Hoosiers have probably spent the most time recruiting.

"Probably at the end of the summer I will see who hasn't offered yet and start cutting it down from there," Wilkes said. "First, I'll cut it to whatever schools have offered me and keep it there. Then I'll keep going down from there."