Kentucky five-star target Caleb Wilson picks North Carolina over the Wildcats

Caleb Wilson will not be joining Mark Pope's 2025 recruiting class.

Mar 7, 2020; Greenville, SC, USA; The Kentucky Wildcats mascot dances during the second half against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-Imagn Images / Jeremy Brevard-Imagn Images

The battle for five-star power forward Caleb Wilson came down to the Kentucky Wildcats and North Carolina Tar Heels. After the conclusion of the Lakers-Celtics game, Wilson committed to the Tar Heels in front of the Inside the NBA panel, which was a big blow for the Wildcats.

For a while, Wilson seemed locked in with Coach Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats, but a late push that included a lot of NIL money led Wilson to pick the Tar Heels.

This one is going to sting a little extra for Big Blue Nation as it felt like Wilson was a Wildcat, but over the last few weeks, things slowly started to shift toward North Carolina.

It will be interesting to see what Coach Pope does with the power forward position going forward, as it seems the Wildcats likely won't have one in the 2025 class, and the bigs on the roster, aside from Brandon Garrison, will be out of eligibility, after this season.

The last power forward in the 2025 class is Nate Ament, but Kentucky isn't near the top of his list. It will be fun to monitor whether or not Coach Pope makes a late push after the five-star now that Wilson has picked the Tar Heels.

If Coach Pope doesn't make a push after Ament, the power forward, position will be the biggest need in the transfer portal for this program this offseason. There is no question that Coach Pope will find the perfect fit to fill this hole ahead of the 2025-26 season.