Kentucky in good shape with Wroten

When Kentucky received a commitment from Mike Gilchrist earlier this month it was a huge deal because Rivals.com rates the Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick small forward as the best player in the 2011 class.

With Gilchrist's pledge, the Wildcats also moved up the list for Seattle (Wash.) Garfield point guard Anthony Wroten Jr. because Wroten, the ninth-best prospect by Rivals.com, and Gilchrist are close and want to play together in college.

"He and Mike are great friends and really want to play together so quite honestly that is a positive deal for us," Tony Wroten, Sr. said.

"That's just been out there a couple days. I haven't heard anything (from Kentucky) other than I talk to them quite a bit. It's a very intriguing situation for us and what Kentucky is doing, that's one of the top, if not the top program right now. He and Mike have wanted to play together for a few years now."

Villanova, Washington, Syracuse and Connecticut are also being seriously considered by Wroten, who has Kansas and Tennessee on his list, too. By getting Gilchrist, that could be the key to landing Wroten, who missed his entire junior season with a knee injury but is playing AAU this spring.

"As a parent, I'm looking at it as what's best for my son," Wroten, Sr. said. "We certainly can't rule out Kentucky and with Mike going there that helps it even more.

"They've wanted to play together, they've tried to manipulate situations where they can play together in AAU but with the distance between us that didn't work out. They're looking forward to playing together on the USA team and at the college level that would be another step.

"They complement each other and they like each other off the court and they're both great talents so it's a natural situation for them to want to do it."

Wroten, a 6-foot-4, 180-pound point guard, certainly seems excited about the opportunity to play with Gilchrist, a 6-foot-6 small forward.

A quick look at Wroten's Twitter page will convince anyone of that since the Garfield standout talks about playing with Gilchrist, wearing No. 13 because Gilchrist plans to wear No. 14 and other hints that lead one to believe Kentucky is in good shape.

"We haven't eliminated anybody in our top five," Wroten, Sr. said. "Everybody is still there. They were both looking at Villanova as well. With Mike going to Kentucky, that's just another thing going for Kentucky. We haven't eliminated anybody at all."