Kentucky basketball signee becoming a three-point threat (and other recruiting notes)
With so many talented perimeter scorers likely to be on Kentucky’s team next season, it’s expected that the bulk of incoming freshman Cam’Ron Fletcher’s contributions will come in the form of energy plays.
Those who have followed Fletcher’s high school career see the super bouncy, 6-foot-6 wing impacting games with his athleticism — rebounding over bigger players, providing defensive intensity, getting to 50/50 balls, and generally keeping plays alive through hard play.
That doesn’t mean Fletcher can’t provide an offensive boost.
Vashon (Mo.) head coach Tony Irons told the Herald-Leader that his star player has been paying special attention to improving his outside shot over the course of his senior season. And it’s worked.
Irons said that Fletcher is currently 36-for-96 from three-point range — good for 37.5 percent — and that he’s shooting around 50 percent from deep over the past eight games, a sign of continued improvement throughout the season. Fletcher shot just 25.7 percent from deep in 20 games on the Nike circuit last spring and summer.
“Obviously, he’s been working on his shot,” Irons said. “I think he gets kind of a bad rap about his jump shot. A lot of people think that it’s not as good. Obviously, he needs to continue to get better at it, but it’s not one of those deals where it’s like mechanically broken or anything like that. It’s just continuing to get reps in. He’s been doing a good job of getting up in the morning and getting shots in. Stay late after practice and get shots in.”
Irons said that because Fletcher is so athletic — and, to be clear, he’s among the most athletic high school prospects in the country — opposing players have tended to play off of him in the past, trying to limit his ability to move and slash and instead daring him to take outside shots. The future Wildcat is improving his shot to counterbalance that, and he’s also been working on moving without the ball. “When he does move and when he does curl or do different things like that, he is really hard to guard,” his coach said.
Rivals.com national analyst Eric Bossi told the Herald-Leader last month that he could envision Fletcher ably playing the type of role UK wanted Kahlil Whitney to fill midway through the season — a player who uses his athleticism to disrupt on defense, keep plays alive on offense, and spark his team on both ends of the court. Bossi also said that — while evaluating Fletcher further this high school season — he’s been much more effective when he doesn’t settle for jump shots. And he can actually make them when he takes smart shots.
Fletcher should get opportunities to do that next season while playing for a team that will feature star guards Devin Askew, Brandon Boston, Terrence Clarke and whoever comes back from the current UK squad. As those players create space offensively, Fletcher could be left with open shots.
“I do think his shot is going to be a surprise for a lot of people,” Irons said. “And I think that — playing with the other guys that he’s going to be playing with — he’s going to get a lot of open shots that he’s going to have to be able to knock down.
“And if he just plays with that motor — the one thing about it is, he’s going to be able to protect the rim, get second and third opportunities on offense. And people are probably going to fall in love with that — just the fact of how hard he plays.”
‘We love Kentucky’
When it comes to recruiting, it never hurts for a college program to have the backing of as many people in a young prospect’s camp as possible. Players and their parents often seek the advice of folks they trust throughout the decision-making process. A good word can always help, but a bad one can often torpedo a college team’s chances of landing a coveted recruit.
In the case of No. 1-ranked point guard Kennedy Chandler, he won’t be hearing anything negative about Kentucky from those connected to his Mokan Elite travel team.
“When you have AAU programs like ours that have pretty prolific players, sometimes kids succeed and fail at different places. But our relationship with Kentucky is amazing,” Mokan head coach Chris Neff told the Herald-Leader. “I know when I have gone to Kentucky and spent time with their staff, they speak really highly of the people in our organization. And that’s no different than we do, because we had a kid who had a tremendous amount of success there. They did a lot for him as a man. So that’s got to help, because we’re going to say nothing but good things about UK.”
That former player is Willie Cauley-Stein, who once played for Mokan and later evolved from four-star recruit to one of the best players in all of college basketball. Cauley-Stein was ultimately selected with the No. 6 pick in the NBA Draft and is now in his fifth season in the league. He also blossomed into a media and fan favorite during his three years at UK.
“We love Kentucky and what they did for him,” Neff said. “He came a long way.”
The Mokan coach added that Cauley-Stein typically shows up for at least one Nike event every year to spend some time with the team’s current players and share the story of his own path to the NBA.
Chandler — a 6-foot-1 point guard from Memphis — led Mokan to the prestigious Nike Peach Jam title last year and will be back next month for his final season on the circuit. He’s also the only point guard in the 2021 class to land a UK scholarship offer, and he visited Kentucky last month. The reviews from that trip have been positive. Perhaps — like many Mokan players before him — he’ll get an opportunity over the next few months to speak with Cauley-Stein about his time in Lexington and his transformation under John Calipari.
“A lot of people would take this 7-footer and try to stick his rear end in that post, make him play back to the basket,” Neff said. “Cal was like, ‘No, he’s a runner, man. This is a screen-and-run kid. He’s a transition kid.’ He let him be Willie. And, man, did he flourish.”
Cliff Omoruyi moves on
The decision last week by four-star center Cliff Omoruyi to cut Kentucky from his list — and concentrate on Arizona State, Auburn and Rutgers — leaves five-star forward Greg Brown as the only uncommitted player in the 2020 class with a UK scholarship offer.
The Cats already have the No. 1 recruiting class in the country for next season, but they’re still missing a player in the mold of Omoruyi, a dominant post presence who plays a physical brand around the basket and brings automatic rebounding and rim-protection. Brown is a tremendous talent — and would still be a terrific addition to UK’s class — but the versatile 6-9 prospect who likes to play on the perimeter wouldn’t fill that bruiser-in-the-paint role either.
If Nick Richards heads to the NBA after this season, as expected, UK wouldn’t have anyone like that on the roster.
Though some 2021 reclassification options remain, it seems more likely that the Cats would be better suited to find such a player through the graduate transfer process. What if no such player emerges? It could still work out fine for Kentucky, but it would probably hinge on EJ Montgomery.
If Montgomery were to return for a junior season — and he’s not projected on any prominent NBA Draft boards as of now — he could team up with incoming 6-9 freshmen Isaiah Jackson and Lance Ware to form an intriguing mix in the post.
Montgomery, who would have two full seasons under Calipari at that point, should have the versatility to play alongside either Jackson or Ware. Jackson is a terrific rim protector with the necessary athleticism to defend multiple positions. Ware is a quickly improving player who’s especially adept on the offensive end and projects as a solid rebounder who can defend multiple positions.
It would be a group without a physical center like Richards — and rebounding would likely be the main concern — but if that trio could hit the boards, the other aspects of their games could prove to be an exciting mix on both ends of the floor. And UK’s expected overabundance of talented guards and wings next season could make it possible to match four such players with either Montgomery, Jackson or Ware at certain times and against certain opponents.
This isn’t to say UK wouldn’t jump at the chance to land a grad transfer like Reid Travis or Kerry Blackshear Jr., but if no such option emerges, Calipari would still have some lineup alternatives.
Leader on the court
Jaden Bradley is the No. 8 overall recruit in the 2022 class and the top available point guard in that group, and Cannon School (N.C.) head coach Che Roth told the Herald-Leader last week that UK has done a “fantastic” job in his recruitment so far.
That’s not really a surprise. John Calipari’s success with point guards has been exhaustively documented, and UK is expected to land at least one talented player at the position in every recruiting cycle.
Leadership is just as important as talent at the point guard spot for Calipari, who often asks his playmakers to be the “coach on the floor” for the Wildcats, tasking them with bringing together a squad filled with five-star recruits and NBA dreams and making everything work in the context of the team.
Even though he’s still just 16 years old, it sounds like Bradley is becoming that type of player.
“He’s a naturally quiet kid, but one of the things over the course of the past year that we’ve really worked on … is just getting him comfortable in his own skin to have tough conversations with his teammates,” Roth said. “He’s one of the hardest workers, but he can do more with his voice. To have him step into that leadership role as a sophomore — it’s not something he was unprepared for. He put the time in. And I give him a ton of credit: he invested a lot of time with his teammates off the floor. So it allowed for him to have a different level of a relationship on the floor with them, in film sessions, in the locker room.
“And, obviously, he can back it up with his play.”
Bradley, who led Cannon School to its first state title in 14 years last month, was in Lexington for the Blue-White Scrimmage in October and will certainly be on Kentucky’s watch list as travel ball ramps up later this spring.
