Cincinnati lands first 5-star recruit since Lance Stephenson

The Cincinnati Bearcats are entering a new era this upcoming season following the departure of Wes Miller and the hiring of Jerrod Calhoun as the team’s new head coach. And Calhoun has immediately made an impact on the recruiting trail with the recent commitment of Kam Mercer, the highest-ranked recruit in Cincinnati program history since Lance Stephenson, as per Jeff Borzello of ESPN.

Kam Mercer’s commitment gives Cincinnati their first high school recruit since Calhoun took the helm. Mercer was originally part of the 2028 recruiting class, but he will reclassify and be eligible to play for the Bearcats for the 2027-28 season. He will play his last year of high school basketball this upcoming season at nearby Princeton High School.

Mercer was one of the top ranked shooting guards in the country and drew plenty of interest from other high-major Division 1 programs before ultimately choosing his hometown college.

It’s a great start for Calhoun who brought in several players from the transfer portal to compete his roster for next season. His job is to try and get Cincinnati back into the NCAA Tournament after six consecutive seasons now of missing out, while they await the arrival of Mercer. The last time the Bearcats were in the tournament was in 2018-19 under Mick Cronin when they were still in the American Athletic Conference.

The program did not reach the NCAA Tournament in the five seasons under Miller as head coach, and he has since become the head coach at Charlotte.

Cincinnati will welcome 11 new players via the transfer portal for the upcoming year including guards Tylen Riley, Akai Fleming, Trevian Carson and Elijah Perryman, forwards Myles Coleman, Adlan Elamin, Eric Mahaffey and Tyler Tejada, and centers Riley Allenspach, Jayden Hastings and David Iweze.

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