Kentucky has offered a rising prospect in the 2026 class

Mark Pope and the Kentucky staff extended an offer quickly to one of the fastest rising players in the class of 2026. After watching him last week and over the weekend at the Adidas 3SSB championships in Rock Hill, four-star big man Arafan Diane earned himself an offer from the Wildcats. Diane announced the news on social media Wednesday night.

The 7-1 big man has received a good amount of interest from some Power 4 programs, but that list is sure to grow after his impressive showing in Rock Hill last week. Among those interested in Diane that have extended an offer include Arkansas, Arizona, Kansas, Houston, UConn, Florida, BYU, Indiana, Purdue, Arizona State, Miami, and others. Kentucky now joins that list, and expressing interest early during his massive stock rising and before many of other top programs join the fold will only help the relationship over the next few months.

Kentucky not only got eyes on Diane last week, but also at the NBPA Top 100 Camp, where Mark Pope and the entire staff spent a few days analyzing targets and expressing interest in new targets, including the 7-1 big man. They must have liked what they have seen from Diane, as the offer came a couple of days after the Adidas event was over. Diane was also named one of 247 Sports' top performers from the event. 247 Sports is way ahead of other outlets when it comes to Diane's ranking, as they have him slotted in at #15 overall and the best Center in the class. Their composite rankings, which takes all of the outlets rankings of him into account, have Diane at #70 overall.

The Kentucky staff certainly seems high on Diane, and based on his recent trend upward, it looks like they know where Diane's stock is heading. His list of schools is going to grow very fast and soon, and Kentucky is making sure they're ahead of the surge.