Kentucky’s current basketball lineup is a recipe for future recruiting success
For young backcourt players assessing their future college basketball options, what Kentucky has going this season is a sight to behold.
The three-pronged attack of Ashton Hagans, Immanuel Quickley and Tyrese Maxey — all five-star point guard recruits before they got to Lexington — is more on-the-court proof that John Calipari can utilize multiple backcourt talents in a way that both helps UK’s team and furthers the players’ professional aspirations.
Hagans, Maxey and Quickley are all starting. They’re all getting between 33 and 34 minutes per game. They’re all averaging double figures in points. They’re all now projected in the top 60 for this year’s NBA Draft. Kentucky has won eight games in a row.
And recruits and their connections are paying attention.
“I think it’s been phenomenal. Because you never know which one’s going to have a monster game,” Kenny Clark — father of highly touted guard Skyy Clark — told the Herald-Leader. “It seems like it’s no jealousy, no competing against each other, all competing with each other trying to get to one goal, and that’s the national title.
“They use them the right way, and they play the right way. I love it.”
On Saturday afternoon, Clark and his son got an up close look at UK’s trio of star guards. The family made the trip from Los Angeles to Lexington and sat directly behind the Wildcats bench for the victory over Auburn, their first experience of seeing a game in Rupp Arena.
Clark’s father told the Herald-Leader on Monday that the entire visit was “phenomenal” and only heightened the family’s already-lofty thoughts regarding Kentucky’s program.
Before coming to Lexington, he talked about how well all three of UK’s guards were meshing. Such a dynamic could hold even more importance in future recruiting cycles.
With UK’s backcourt recruiting for next season largely set — point guard Devin Askew and shooting guards Brandon Boston and Terrence Clarke have already signed — the Wildcats’ coaching staff has made major inroads with prospects in the 2021 and 2022 classes.
Kennedy Chandler — the No. 1 point guard in the ’21 class — was in Lexington two weekends ago for a recruiting visit. Clark is one of at least a half-dozen highly touted guards in the 2022 class that have visited UK this season or have drawn serious early interest from the Cats.
And Kentucky is already seen as the favorite for shooting guard Jaden Hardy, the top-ranked backourt prospect in the class of 2021.
With Askew not projected as a one-and-done NBA Draft pick next season, the Wildcats’ backcourt of the future could become crowded with point guard talent. And it’s clear that could work just fine.
Clark’s father told the Herald-Leader that UK assistant coach Joel Justus — the lead on this recruitment — compared his son to Maxey upon first seeing him last year.
“There’s some similarities there,” Kenny Clark agreed. “Maxey can fill it up on any given night. And he can handle the rock and slide over to the point. Or he can play the ‘2’ and still not miss a beat.
“Skyy’s been watching Maxey forever. He loves Maxey’s game. He loves his style of play. And he loves the way they’ve plugged him into their system. And he’s gone, man. He’ll be a lottery pick this year.”
Clark, a versatile 6-3 guard who could ultimately reclassify to 2021, is looking more and more like a Kentucky lean with each passing week. Those who follow UK recruiting closely are already looking ahead to the possibility of an Askew/Hardy/Clark backcourt for the 2021-22 season — or two of those players and Chandler, or some other similar combination of three highly touted prospects — and imagining the possibilities.
And the pool of players that UK is targeting are open to the idea of playing with other top guards. “That doesn’t concern me,” Clark’s dad said. “That’s why people label Skyy a combo guard — he can play on or off the ball.”
The 2021 outlook
Kentucky has the No. 1 ranking for the 2020 class all but locked up with its early signing period haul of Devin Askew, Brandon Boston, Terrence Clarke, Cam’Ron Fletcher, Isaiah Jackson and Lance Ware.
So, what’s in store for 2021? More of the same, it seems.
A common question from UK fans over the past few weeks has been related to which players in the 2021 class have a good chance of ultimately ending up at Kentucky.
Keeping in mind that commitments are likely still several months away, it looks like UK is in a great spot for Seattle power forward Paolo Banchero and Las Vegas-area shooting guard Jaden Hardy, the No. 2 and 6 overall players in the Rivals.com rankings, respectively. (And if current No. 1 junior Jonathan Kuminga reclassifies to 2020, which he probably will, that would move Banchero and Hardy up an additional spot).
Along with those two, UK appears to be in good shape with two 2022 recruits that have often been mentioned as reclassification candidates to 2021: forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield and combo guard Skyy Clark, the No. 6 and 17 players in the Rivals rankings, respectively.
Huntley-Hatfield, who visited Lexington for the UK-Louisville game, is widely expected to reclassify. Clark’s father told the Herald-Leader last week that his son won’t turn 17 years old until late July — thus making him young for the 2021 class — but said reclassification was still being discussed.
If UK is able to build its 2021 class around Banchero, Clark, Hardy and Huntley-Hatfield, another No. 1 recruiting ranking is probably in the Wildcats’ future.
Banchero-Chandler package deal?
The term “package deal” won’t be leaving the recruiting lexicon anytime soon, even if such arrangements — two highly touted players making the mutual decision to attend the same college — rarely pan out the way they’re publicized.
For a while, there’s been buzz that top-10 recruits Paolo Banchero (the No. 1 power forward in the 2021 class) and Kennedy Chandler (the No. 1 point guard in the 2021 class) are entertaining such a scenario.
Both are major Kentucky targets. And both have many other schools — notably Duke, North Carolina and Tennessee — among their list of shared favorites. The talk related to Banchero and Chandler (a Memphis native) won’t go away until college decisions are made, and it’s likely to pick up even more once Nike league play begins next month.
They could end up at the same school, but the actual potential for this package deal — like so many others in recent years — seems uncertain.
“I think it’s going to be an independent decision,” Rivals.com national analyst Corey Evans told the Herald-Leader. “Those two guys definitely are talking to each other. They both realize they need each other — they each need a guy like that. And there aren’t many guys like that in 2021. And they have some of the same schools on their list.
“It definitely is an appealing situation for both of those guys. But, do I think it’s a matter of, ‘Oh, he’s going there? So am I.’ I don’t think so.”
Greg Brown watch
Just when it looked like this Texas basketball team was finished, Shaka Smart’s squad has found a winning streak.
After losing four straight games — including a 29-point drubbing at Iowa State — the Longhorns have put together four straight victories, including wins over ranked opponents West Virginia and Texas Tech in the last two games.
Texas goes into Tuesday night’s game at Oklahoma with an 8-8 record in the Big 12 and another opportunity to make a case for NCAA Tournament inclusion. In Monday morning’s bracketology updates, CBS had the Longhorns as one of its last four teams in, and ESPN listed them as its fifth team out.
While there’s still work to do, this late run has bolstered Smart’s case for more time in Austin, and — if that happens — it could put Texas back in a better spot for five-star forward Greg Brown, the son of a former Longhorns football player and one of the top uncommitted recruits in the country.
Brown — a 6-foot-9 prospect from Austin with NBA lottery pick potential — has narrowed his choices to Kentucky, Auburn, Memphis, Michigan and Texas. His father told the Herald-Leader recently that Brown’s interest in the Longhorns was highly dependent on Smart still being at the school next season. Texas has failed to win an NCAA Tournament game in his tenure, which is now in its fifth season, and the speculation over his future has only intensified in recent weeks.
Texas’ poor showing on the court earlier in the season coincided with some predictions from national analysts that Memphis had emerged as the favorite in Brown’s recruitment, and his father’s recent statements have indicated UK might be in a strong position by the time a decision came.
The other schools on Brown’s list probably have a better chance in the recruitment if Texas misses out on March Madness.
UK’s next game
No. 6 Kentucky at Florida
1 p.m. Saturday (CBS-27)
This story was originally published March 3, 2020 at 7:39 AM.
