Local Five-Star 2027 Talent Visiting Cincinnati Bearcats Basketball This Spring

The Bearcats basketball team has its first huge recruit coming to visit next week in the Jerrod Calhoun era. Five-star 2027 Princeton (Ohio) wing Kam Mercer is visiting the program just down the road from him on May 5.

WCPO's Mike Dyer reported the visit.

"Princeton High School five-star guard Kam Mercer is scheduled to visit the University of Cincinnati campus and meet the men’s basketball coaching staff on May 5, according to his father, Craig Mercer," Dyer wrote Tuesday. "Mercer spoke with UC coach Jerrod Calhoun on the phone last week. Mercer, a 6-foot-5 guard, helped to lead Princeton to its first boys basketball state championship this past March. Mercer averaged 14.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 2.4 steals for Princeton (25-3) during its Division I state championship season."

Meteoric Talent

Princeton's Kam Mercer battles Hilliard Bradley's Kypton Norris and Anderson Felix for a rebound during their Division I state championship game Sunday, March 22, 2026. | Tony Tribble for The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

According to 247Sports, Mercer is ranked 11th nationally in 2027 and first among shooting guards. He is widely considered the best player in Ohio from the 2027 class and has 11 offers from schools like Maryland, Florida State, and Missouri at 6-5, 180 pounds.

Getting Mercer in the fold would be historic. He would rank as the best recruit to ever commit to Cincinnati in the 247Sports era, eclipsing Lance Stephenson.

It's part of a full-court press for Calhoun to get the program jump-started in the right direction. He is going to field an entire team of transfers this coming season, with eyes on Mercer to be the first headliner of his Cincinnati recruiting classes.

UC will not be signing a freshman from the 2026 class, but they are already up nine additions in the transfer portal and counting.

“I think this is probably the wildest year,” Calhoun said to WCPO about the 2026 transfer portal. “I think a lot of coaches, a lot of fans, a lot of administrators, kind of thought that the market would go down a little bit. In fact, I think it's actually different. You know, what we're essentially fighting is that we have not been in the NCAA Tournament in seven years. So we are selling our style of play, our recent history. We (as a staff) have 101 wins in four years. We have three postseason appearances, 55 and 15 in two years, and a top 30 in offense. So you're really selling yourself, and then you're selling the style of play. But when you step on this campus, there is a ton to sell, right? I think our facilities are top-notch."

“I think the university as a whole has changed so much since I've been here. I think we have a lot to offer. And I'm very, very happy with my decision. I've been here a couple of weeks. Obviously, it's chaotic, but the theme that I've heard from the fans, from the student body, is that they want one thing: they want to be back in the NCAA Tournament. We don't play college basketball to go to The Crown or to the NIT. You know, as Coach Huggins would say, the not-invited tournament, right? This is a real program, and we need to strive to get in the tournament, but really make runs in the tournament, and we have everything we need to do that here at Cincinnati.”

Check out highlights from Mercer below:

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