No. 1 point guard recruit visiting Kentucky this weekend. ‘I think they’re in the mix.’
So far in the 2021 basketball recruiting cycle, there’s been no question as to the top point guard on John Calipari’s wish list.
Only one player at the all-important position — Memphis native Kennedy Chandler — has earned a Kentucky scholarship offer. And, while the Wildcats have already been strongly linked to several point guards in the 2022 class, Chandler remains the only 2021 playmaker to get much attention from UK.
This weekend, he’ll be in Lexington for a recruiting visit, the next step in a pursuit that started over the summer and included a coveted scholarship offer that came on Christmas Day.
Chandler — a 6-foot prospect — is ranked by Rivals.com as the No. 10 overall recruit in the 2021 class and the No. 1 point guard nationally in that group. Only two other players at the position — Indiana native Khristian Lander and Nebraska native Hunter Sallis — have earned a five-star ranking from Rivals, and while Lander was linked to UK earlier in his high school career, neither has been tied to the Wildcats over the past several months.
With Devin Askew signed for next season and a group of talented point guards on the radar for 2022, it’s Chandler that is getting all of Calipari’s attention in his class.
There’s good reason for that.
Despite his diminutive stature — relative to other No. 1-ranked point guards in recent years — Chandler has proven himself to be one of the best playmakers in the country, on both sides of the ball.
Though already a top 50 national recruit when he joined Kansas City-based Mokan Elite as a last-minute addition for last year’s Nike circuit, it was making the most of that opportunity that propelled Chandler to five-star status. The Nike season ended with Mokan Elite as champions, and — though he was a year younger than most of the top competition — Chandler was arguably the most important part of the title run.
A two-way player
Chris Neff, the head coach of Mokan Elite, said Chandler almost didn’t end up on his team.
Mokan — a well-respected fixture on the Nike circuit — had other guards committed for the 2019 season, but those commitments fell through on the eve of the spring season. One of the team’s other coaches had seen Chandler at a USA Basketball camp, and Mokan scrambled to get him on the roster. “Word had gotten out that he was awfully good and had some potential to be what he is,” Neff told the Herald-Leader. “So we made some phone calls and got lucky.”
At that point, Neff had only seen video highlights of what Chandler could do. It didn’t take the point guard long to make an impression.
“I was amazed at how well he defended. I just thought he was tenacious on the ball,” Neff said. “He’s a long-armed kid and he just has good range with his length. He was able to really, really harass the handler. And he had an affection for it. It was interesting for him. He enjoyed it. So that stuck out, as much or more than anything.”
He’s just 6 feet tall, but Chandler plays bigger than that on defense. His length, quickness and energy level add up to make a disruptive competitor.
“He’s pretty quick, which helps. But his No. 1 trait is he’s fast, which are two totally different things. Like, he’s fast,” Neff said. “It’s like he’s got jet engines coming out of his rear end — he’s just so fast down the floor, and that lends itself to him being able to go to other gears that some people cannot. … Whether it’s in the halfcourt or not, it feels like transition. It feels like he’s in a run, and he’s racing you to the rim, and you ain’t gonna win. And when you aren’t 6-4, but you are that, you can play with about anybody.”
Chandler is also capable on offense.
He averaged 14.0 points per game through the Nike regular season and caught fire on the last two days at Peach Jam, going for 21.5 points and 8.0 assists in the semifinals and finals.
Rivals.com national analyst Corey Evans told the Herald-Leader that Chandler reminds him of Juwan Evans, another 6-foot point guard who recently played college ball.
“And I know people might say, ‘Oh, that’s a slight,’ but Juwan Evans was one hell of a ballplayer at Oklahoma State,” he said. “And that’s who Kennedy reminds me of. He’s a fiery little point guard that can really get into tight spaces on offense. He has a great feel for the game. He’s tough. He’s gotten better at making shots. I don’t think he’s a deadly three-point shooter, but he is very good at taking what the defense gives him. He’s very good at getting places with the ball.”
Evans has struggled to find his place in the NBA, but he was the Big 12 Freshman of the Year and earned All-America honors as a sophomore at Oklahoma State before turning pro.
Recruiting Kennedy Chandler
Still only a high school junior, Chandler has taken a proactive approach to his recruitment.
Neff and Evans both credited the player and his father, Kylan Chandler, with doing their due diligence early in the process. The family has already taken campus visits to several schools, including a trip to Michigan last weekend and one to Duke last month.
“They’ve really done their homework,” Neff said.
“I think he and his father have done a great job with that,” said Evans. “Sometimes, these kids go through life and they have a dream school, and then they go to that dream school for a visit and it’s not what they thought it would be. So I just think it’s an educational process for them and trying to figure out what they like and what they don’t like. And they’re doing a good job of finding that out early in the process.”
Evans has intimated recently that he thinks Duke might be the early leader for Chandler, who landed an offer from the Blue Devils a couple of weeks before he got the one from Kentucky.
“I think it’s the dream school,” Evans said. “I think Duke was the school he always wanted that offer from. I think that’s why Duke leads. But, there’s still a lot of time to go. … A lot still has to go right for any program, including Duke, to land a guy like that.”
This weekend, Kentucky gets its first big shot to show the Chandlers what a basketball future in Lexington could look like. Neff had nothing but positive things to say about UK’s program, specifically Calipari, who he credited with the development of one of Mokan Elite’s most famous former players, Willie Cauley-Stein. “We’re going to say nothing but good things about UK,” he said.
It’s probably too early to realistically handicap Kentucky’s chances with Chandler, but it’s clear he’s on the Wildcats’ recruiting radar to stay.
“That list is blue bloods,” Neff said of Chandler’s options. “I can’t imagine Coach Calipari and that staff at the University of Kentucky being fearful of anything in recruiting. They’ve won a lot of wars. They get a lot of the kids they want. Obviously, he’s coming to visit. So, they’re right there.
“I don’t see a decision coming anytime soon. I think they’re in the mix.”
