Kevin Knox has finally made his long-awaited decision

Kentucky.

That is where Kevin Knox II, the No. 8 recruit in the country, will attend school and play college basketball. Knox made his announcement on Twitter Saturday evening, capping off a long wait for fans hoping their schools would be the one to land the five-star recruit.

“BIG BLUE NATION LETS GO,” Knox tweeted.

Knox is a 6-9, 203-pound wing-forward from Tampa Bay, Fla. His decision came down to Duke, North Carolina, Missouri, Florida State and Kentucky. Missouri was a late addition after the No. 1 recruit in the nation Michael Porter Jr. committed there.

Both Duke and UNC had high hopes for landing Knox. He met with UNC’s Roy Williams and Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski a few times in February and March. He attended the Duke-Carolina game in Chapel Hill and had meetings with both coaches after the game.

Krzyzewski had hoped Knox would step in for Duke like freshman star Jayson Tatum did. And Williams had hoped Knox would step in for the Tar Heels like Justin Jackson, who won ACC Player of the Year, did.

However, John Calipari and Kentucky were the winner of the Kevin Knox sweepstakes, despite having already secured seven commitments and signees from the 2017 recruiting class.

Knox played all four years of high school basketball at Tampa Catholic. Last season, he averaged 28.9 points per game and 11.3 rebounds. His team lost in the finals of the Florida 5A state playoffs.

The previous season he averaged 30 points per game and 11 rebounds.

“He’s going to be a really good teammate,” Don Dziagwa, Knox’s high school coach, said Friday. “Now that may be a one year, but even for that one year, I think his teammates are going to be real happy with him and the coaches are going to be real happy with him.”

This story was originally published May 6, 2017 at 7:41 PM with the headline "Kevin Knox has finally made his long-awaited decision."