Comparing major UK target to current NBA star (and other basketball recruiting notes)
In the eyes of one national recruiting analyst, few top-flight basketball prospects have been as impressive so far this high school season as Jaden Hardy.
Hardy — a 6-foot-4 shooting guard from Las Vegas-area Coronado High School — was the first backcourt player in the 2021 class to land a scholarship offer from Kentucky, and he’s been one of the Wildcats’ top targets for that group ever since. His recruiting stock has only gone up since John Calipari extended the UK offer in late September, and he’s likely due for a bump in the rankings when the new lists come out later this month, according to Rivals.com’s Eric Bossi.
“It’s not like he’s some guy that needed to prove himself. He’s already ranked in the top 10 at No. 9, and he’s the highest-ranked guard we have in the class of 2021,” Bossi told the Herald-Leader. “But, we still wanted to see a little more consistency in his all-around effort, and helping make those around him a little bit better, and just be more efficient with things. And he’s done all that. He’s always been a good shooter — a very good shooter — but he’s taken that a step above when I’ve seen him play this year. He’s been great with the ball. He’s made guys better. I’ve seen him communicating a lot more. He’s just added elements to his game that maybe you saw in flashes (previously) but not all the time.
“And what I really like about him is he plays at a different pace than everyone. And when I say that, I don’t mean that he plays faster. What he does is he doesn’t get sped up by things. If he gets down, he doesn’t get crazy. If he gets too high up, he doesn’t get crazy.”
Hardy has been tremendous for Coronado this season. He’s had multiple games with 40 or more points (even dropping 62 points Monday night). He’s seemingly always flirting with a triple-double, regularly around the 10-assist range. And he’s doing it against top competition at some major national events.
Judging what a high school recruit can do on the court is often the easiest part of evaluating long-term success. A more difficult aspect of projecting the futures for young players can be figuring out their feel for the game, how hard they work, what motivates them to get better, and how such traits carry over to the next levels.
With Hardy, those attributes don’t appear to be lacking.
Bossi, who is based in Kansas City, noted that he saw quite a lot of St. Louis native Bradley Beal as a high school recruit. Beal was the No. 4 overall prospect in the 2011 class. He was drafted with the No. 3 overall pick after one season at Florida, and he’s developed into one of the NBA’s best scorers in the years since.
Hardy’s mentality, according to Bossi, is a lot like Beal’s.
“Now, their games aren’t exactly similar, but just in terms of approach and demeanor and how they carry themselves — it’s eerie to me how similar they are at this stage in their careers,” he said. “You watch him, and he kind of has that pro approach to things, with just how steady he is, and he’s not going to be forced out of doing what he wants to do. When it comes time to switch things up, he’ll switch things up dependent on how the game dictates he does things.”
Bossi later said that the word to best describe Hardy would be “maturity” — an impressive distinction for a 17-year-old that already has a world of basketball talent. Bossi said he talked with Hardy at the end of the summer and went over the aforementioned areas where he thought the rising high school junior could improve. A few months later, it was clear that Hardy had been working on those aspects of his game.
“He just seems beyond his years in his approach,” Bossi said. “Maybe I’m a sucker, and maybe some of these guys are snowing me when they do this, but I love guys who come and seek you out and ask for other opinions on what they’re doing. ‘Hey, what do you see that I can work on?’ And they take it and they don’t get upset, and they understand that when you’re providing feedback, it’s to help them. And he seems to me to really be one of those kids that does that.
“He’s going to seek out anything he can to help get himself better. And then he’s going to utilize it to the best of his ability. And those are the kind of guys that seem to achieve their potential the most often.”
Watch Hardy on TV
Want to see what all the fuss is about with Jaden Hardy? You’re in luck. The top-10 recruit will lead Coronado High (Nev.) against nationally ranked Bishop Gorman (Nev.) on Friday in a game that will be televised live on ESPNU at 11 p.m.
Rivals.com national analyst Corey Evans has said repeatedly this winter that he thinks Kentucky is the early leader for Hardy, and Kentucky chose his high school to practice at during its two-game trip to Las Vegas this season. This could be an opportunity to watch a future Wildcat in action.
Another UK frontcourt target
As Kentucky continues to look for additional help in the paint for next season and beyond, a new, intriguing target has emerged over the past few weeks as a realistic option.
Franck Kepnang — a 6-foot-10 native of Cameroon, now playing for Philadelphia-area Westtown School — has drawn the attention of John Calipari and UK assistant coach Tony Barbee, who both watched him play last week.
“I think he’s kind of like Udoka Azubuike,” Rivals.com analyst Corey Evans told the Herald-Leader, comparing Kepnang to the formidable Kansas center. “He’s definitely an imposing figure. … From a low-post perspective, and from a rebounding perspective, and a finishing perspective, Franck’s elite. That’s why he’s a top-30 prospect in America. His game is going to translate to a high-major level. He’s definitely not that face-up, perimeter-based guy. He’s trying to shoot the three a little bit; he’s not quite there yet. But, when it comes to a low-post guy, a true ‘5’ man — Franck kind of sets the bar for what that is in the ’21 class.”
Rivals.com ranks Kepnang as the No. 23 overall recruit in the 2021 class, though the Herald-Leader has been told that he could still reclassify to 2020 and play next season. Georgia, Indiana, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, UCLA, UConn and Vanderbilt are among the many programs that have extended scholarship offers to Kepnang, who will turn 19 years old in October.
Greg Brown’s next move
The big visitor on Kentucky’s campus two weekends ago was Greg Brown, who is getting close to wrapping up his tour of finalists as he prepares to make his college decision.
UK was the fourth school to host Brown, a 6-foot-9 forward in the 2020 class who had previously taken official visits to Auburn, Memphis and hometown Texas.
Brown — No. 7 in the Rivals.com rankings — confirmed in his new Sports Illustrated blog that he will take his final official visit to Michigan on the weekend of Feb. 8, when the Wolverines host Michigan State.
Brown heaped praise on John Calipari and Kentucky following the official visit to Lexington, but he obviously won’t be making any snap judgments. The Texas native reiterated that he plans to wait until the spring to make a college decision. The vibe in recruiting circles remains the same: Kentucky has a chance to land him, but the Cats shouldn’t be seen as the favorite.
McDonald’s Game rosters
A reminder that the selections for the 2020 McDonald’s All-American Games will be announced Thursday during ESPN’s “The Jump” program, which begins at 3 p.m.
Kentucky is sure to be represented once again this season. Future UK shooting guards Brandon Boston and Terrence Clarke should be shoo-ins for the game. UK point guard signee Devin Askew also has a strong case, as does Wildcats power forward signee Isaiah Jackson.
Another future UK power forward, Lance Ware, could also be selected. The Cats’ other 2020 signee, four-star wing Cam’Ron Fletcher, was not on the list of nominees released by the McDonald’s Games last week.
The UK women’s team could also be represented at this year’s games. All three of the Wildcats’ signees — Treasure Hunt, Nyah Leveretter and Erin Toller — were nominated, and Hunt has an especially strong case for inclusion.
The McDonald’s Games will be played April 1 in Houston.
On the road again
Kentucky Coach John Calipari showed up in Massachusetts on Sunday night for the tail end of the annual Hoophall Classic, one of the nation’s premier high school showcases.
Calipari got there in time to watch UK signees Devin Askew and Brandon Boston, who drew positive reviews from national recruiting analysts in attendance. Calipari did not get to see Wildcats signee Lance Ware, who wowed scouts with his performance earlier in the weekend, getting the better of No. 1-ranked national recruit Evan Mobley, a Southern Cal signee.
Highly touted UK signee Terrence Clarke was supposed to play at the Hoophall event, but his Brewster Academy (N.H.) squad was unable to make the trip due to weather issues.
